Be still and know nothing.
Fine art Friday. w3.
This felt like an appropriate shot for the week. It is a single photograph taken in the middle of the day. It was taken with a filter that allows me to take a very long exposure even in broad daylight. (really powerful sunglasses for my lens).
The key to the photo is the absolute stillness of the camera. 55 seconds is a long time to steady the tripod at rush hr. During that time, anything in motion disappears from view.
If you look closely, you can see the lights of cars traversing across the bridge. Busy, but in the stillness, you just don’t see them anymore. Light as feathers in the wind. Quiet.
It was cause for contemplation. But not too much.
We’ve really built a world that equates stillness with laziness, and quiet as problem to be solved.
There isn’t any room to simply “be”, anymore. Sitting still isn’t always an option in a busy life. Real presence and authentic critical thinking have been erased from the priorities list.
We are constantly told to be someone, somewhere else. It’s a race against time. Don’t think.. Do.
Then I stopped. I questioned.
I thought this was a race against something, but its actually a sit with something.
The truth is this, the clearest thinking, creativity, deductive reasoning, and grounded decisions are always best to be made with less noise and more stillness.
Presence is found there.
I sat with the quiet and my sketchpad this week. Each afternoon has been a lesson. I will confess that I have been lazy with this gift. The truth is that drawing takes me back to a very core part of who I am.
The first afternoon, I decided to draw a feather. It’s seemed to best represent the feeling at the time. I saw my hand holding one for observation. Another drawing perhaps.
Being still and knowing something seemed important. I was still trying to resolve issues that were not mine to solve. I knew better, but it persisted.
So I sat with it. Intentional paralysis by analysis, pencil in hand.
Then I realized it didn’t matter, and it didn’t matter what I thought or did. The weight was out of my hands, it wasn’t mine to carry. The lead and wood replaced it.
So, I sketched.
Drawing something real from nothing was easier than drawing from nothing at all. Then I recalled the theme for the week.
Be still and know.
I am learning to trust, and I feel like I just opened the textbook.
Psalm 46:10 - Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
That’s a good verse for the current situation. It says to sit still and watch.
Have a wonderfully still weekend everyone.
-Nate
