Our normal waking consciousness...is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it,
parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely
different ...No account of the universe in its totality can be final which leaves these other forms
of consciousness quite disregarded – William James
My gaia girl image was not staged or photoshopped.
As I was photographing the dunes on the solstice,
she magically appeared and, just as I snapped the shutter, she jumped off the other side.
Winter Solstice 2014
Hampton Beach State Park
“ Far the best part, I repeat, of every mind is not that which he knows, but that which hovers in gleams, suggestions, tantalizing unpossessed before him."
– Emerson
Bald Cypress in Congaree National Park
CC Jean Stimmell: March 2015
This is a Photoshop image I made from
the following vividly real dream I had –
As I wade across a small, insignificant stream,
it suddenly transforms into a raging river
with an irresistible, swirling current attempting to suck me under.
Resisting with all my might, I escape to the other sideto a world of utter stillness – totally alone – sitting on a shimmering ice sheet extending to infinity.
This is from Buddhist scripture:
Dhammapada 85-86
Few are there among men who go across to the further shore; the rest of mankind only run about on the bank. But those who act rightly according to the teaching, as has been well taught, will cross over to the other shore, for the realm of passions is so difficult to cross.
CC Jean Stimmell: 6/2/15
Seeking salvation
the headless heron
springs from the
shimmering marsh
Headless Heron
CC Jean Stimmell: Lamprey River 5/30/15
And dead trees
spontaneously
ignite
CC Jean Stimmell: Lamprey River 5/30/15
A Dream
I am hiking with Russet and her cousin, which I often do. We come to a wide stream. Normally we would hop from exposed rock to exposed rock to get across. But this time, the spaces between rocks are a little too wide and the water is a little too deep and the current a little too strong. While we ponder what to do, a nun dressed in a black robe comes along and, without a moment's hesitation, calmly strides into the rushing waters and safely out the other side.
We somehow get across and continue hiking but soon are blocked again, this time not by a mere stream but a raging river. We agree it is impossible to cross. Then, just as before, along comes the nun who, without a moment's hesitation, strides calmly into the maelstrom. Amazingly, she doesn't get swept downstream or bashed against the rocks. We watch the only part of her that is visible, her bopping head, moving smoothly and resolutely to the other side.
Afterwards I catch a glimpse of the nun on the other side, partially hidden by the surrounding forest. She is taking off her sodden, black habit.
Photoshop image of my Big Dream 4/30/13
Mammoth Sunflowers in our garden: 12/5/12 – Bowing gracefully to their fate
Just as old man winter was symplifying the landscape, I simplified my sunflower image, reducing it in Photoshop to a minimalist symphony of bare, bowing sunflower stalks harmonizing with the swaying white birches in the background.
The feeling tone resonates with another photograph of mine, stalks standing tall in South Carolina this spring
Dream 5/16/15: I find myself standing in an absolutely still and silent expanse of silvery, translucent water, criss-crossed by the dark shadows of standing-dead trees.
So this is what Hades is like, I think. The dream feels important. The feeling tone is somber, yet somehow uplifting.
During the dream or as the dream was ending and I am floating back up toward everyday consciousness, it suddenly dawns on me that I know exactly where this dreamscape is: A beaver pond wetland near my home! I vow to go there that very day and photograph my dream.
And so it came to be… as the above image attests.
For more details see:
jeanstimmell.blogspot.com/2015/05/springtime-in-hades.html
