As a photgrapher, I am constantly amazed at the compositional opportunities presented by the "dull, mundane and downright ugly." I use quotation marks here to designate that those adjectives are subjective. There is NO definitive rating for beauty. What you consider beautiful or not is entirely subjective.
I find it interesting that my growth as a spiritual human BEing parallels somewhat my growth as a photographer. The more I grow and allow and accept spiritually, the more I recognize that what I see as unappealing, is based on my JUDGMENT, and not on any implicit reality. I have BEcome enchanted with the prospects for great shots, attainable in a tangle of dried sticks, or a pile of dead leaves. Seeing things in this way has opened the door to ideas that were not possible as long as I was hampered by thinking only "beautiful" things were "good" as subject matter...
You don't have to be a photographer or an artist of any type to benefit from this new way of seeing. Most people have experienced the absolute bliss of living when they stand in front of the Grand Canyon, or some other spectacular vista for the first time. We see the face of God in the face of a new baby. Playing with a loving, licking puppy, elicits laughter from anyone with a heartbeat. One's responses to "beauty" seem Universal, but they are actually learned. Through cultural conditioning, and through Egoic judgment we decide what is "beautiful" and what is not. You don't have to have an advanced degree in fractal geometry to see beauty in the "ugly," you simply have to BEgin looking at things in a new way, an accepting way, in the way God does.
Beauty is a part of the simple bliss of living. The bliss of living is available to us all, at ALL times. We, however, have decided that some living is not as good as other living. We have narrowly defined bliss to be only a tiny segment of living. We actually block out our bliss the rest of the time, as we complain and whine and judge, waiting and hoping for one of those moments WE classify as blissful. If it ain't up to our standards, it ain't cool...!
Once we BEgin to see the face of God in everything, we BEgin to see bliss appearing through the fog of judgment. Life and everything in it BEgins to look differently. All elements are seen as working cooperatively, seamlessly... Everything BEcomes beautiful...
Today, look hard at something you think is ugly. Try to imagine it as God would. What is its purpose? How is it helping the wheel of the Universe turn? Recognize that it is only your judgment that is making it ugly. God makes no distinction between beautiful and ugly, so why do you?
Duffy
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