The self-portrait is a time-honored art form, of course, and...I love seeing my son and daughter-in-law smiling, cheek to cheek, in their travel photos. But the natural world does not exist for them primarily as a backdrop, and selfies aren’t the only photos they take.
Ha ha. Good to know your family's selfies aren't the bad kind. Renkl absolves them because they also take other photographs, photographs that show the sights without them in it. But isn't that true of many of the other selfie-takers?
I also love seeing the gorgeous, miraculous world through their eyes. I wish social media were full of pictures of the gorgeous, miraculous world. I don’t mean just the breathtaking waterfalls or the glinting sea or the dizzying views from the tops of mountains or the apex predators sunning themselves at the edges of ponds or fishing in mountain streams or just ambling idly along in a wilderness increasingly filled with people. I mean the extravagant everyday world all around us, the one we mostly ignore, even as it disappears.
Ah! Now, Renkl is in my zone, questioning travel, and that's what Portia was doing. You are still yourself in this new place where you've gonewith the dream of finding something interesting, but you've brought your baggage, the baggage of your bored mind. Why haven't you sharpened and excited your mind through the observation and appreciation of life as you live it on ordinary days?
I keep thinking of what it might be like if we all took the time to photograph such commonplace miracles.... There is no simple way to banish the ennui of our age, but maybe it would help if we stopped looking at our own faces and turned instead to documenting the vanishing natural world in all its manifestations....
She had to insert "vanishing." And "documenting." And she had to disparage what is a beautiful human instinct: gazing at faces. I want to banish that ennui and say you should always be paying attention to the world around you, seeing the details, noticing what is the same and what changes from day to day. What if you could find a 1-mile walk to a vantage point and witness the sunrise every day, see the lake freeze and thaw every year, remember the pattern of the emergence and decline of the different wildflowers?
Develop a practice of living observantly in your world at home — whether you photograph it or not — and then you may have the skill to see something other than your own boredom when you travel. Or maybe you won't need to travel at all. Why wait in line behind 100 people to pose under Delicate Arch when you might miss the return of the trout lilies?
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72 comments:
Of course there are two sides. I have travelled a bit and have pictures of things from around the world. But the photos I go back to are those of the people I was with at the time who meant something to me, even if those pictures were taken in the most dull of places.
I used to think people ruined a photo, now I think they might be the only thing worth photographing.
I spent most of my junior year in college abroad, studying at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.
(That was a blast. I loved Australia).
Spending months and months abroad is super-interesting, because you see an entirely different culture and way of life. And it takes time for those observations to appear. Going abroad for a week can be exhausting (because you're trying to see so much in a short period of time) and boring (because your experience is going to be shallow and superficial)
I would highly recommend living abroad for a while. And you don't have to be a student or a retiree to do this. If you have a thirst for adventure, Airbnb, along with Zoom, has really changed the concept of "working from home." You can spend months and months abroad, even years, thanks to Airbnb. And you can check in with your company via Zoom. Lots of young people are doing that now. (I can't, because my dog keeps me grounded).
I keep thinking of what it might be like if we all took the time to photograph such commonplace miracles...
When I was taking a major bus ride, all the way from Sydney to north Australia to see the Great Barrier Reef, at one point in the middle of the night the bus stopped because of massive rain. The driver wanted to wait for the rain to lighten up, I guess.
Anyway, I had been sleeping, and his action of stopping the bus woke me up. And I'm sitting there in a dark bus, with a lot of sleeping people. And the rain is just pouring down.
Suddenly a bolt of lightning struck, and the entire outside of the bus lit up for a couple of seconds.
It was so beautiful! Just sheets of rain in a desert. I got an amazing, momentary glimpse of something profoundly beautiful. A few minutes after that, I fell back asleep. But the shock of going from gloomy, rainy darkness to this amazing image has always stayed in my mind.
Ironically, I never saw the Great Barrier Reef. I did a mid-course correction because of finances and decided to do white-water rafting instead. And I spent a week in a hotel above a bar, working on my first novel.
Down in the bar, I was shocked to see women with black eyes and men with missing teeth.
I did my white water rafting trip, and it was fun. But I never saw the tourist trap that we're all "supposed to see." Instead I had a neat, off-the-beaten-path peek into a different side of Australia. (At uni, none of the girls had black eyes, and everybody had their teeth).
Truth is. whenever I'm off on a trip, I can't wait to get back home and return to the tasks of taking care of my landscape garden beds...seeing what leaves have unfurled, flowers have opened, ground covers have spread, etc. What has survived, thrived or died? Nothing is ever perfect and areas always need tweaking. I know my life might seem totally boring but it works for me.
I agree with Saint Croix, travelling abroad is exhausting and pointless. Living abroad for a few (or many) years broadens the mind. It teaches you that for all the superficial differences, people are people everywhere. Not much better, not much worse, no matter where you go.
I didn’t like Portia. She was uncomfortable with life itself and boringly smitten by the sight of grandiose pecs.
I now want to travel to Madison and walk Ann’s trail and see the lake from Ann’s spot. Let’s start a queue!
back in 1992, i went to Yosemite.. And I SWEAR TO GOD (not joking! my word, as a gilbar)
That there was a sign by a waterfall, that said:
IF YOU TAKE A PICTURE FROM RIGHT HERE, IT WILL LOOK JUST LIKE A POST CARD
now, i suppose it did NOT say that,
probably said something about 'here is the famous spot for viewing the famous waterfall
i was GLAD that i didn't have a camera. If you're looking at your camera, you're not looking. People go to places now, so they can look at them through their camera screens. It's like the people NEED a filter, to protect them from reality.
Put the Cameras DOWN people
oh, final comment, about 'self portraits'
If you're Not holding a fish.. WHAT is the point of your 'self portrait'?
What? you're showing the fish you didn't catch? i don't get it
I have the unfortunate habit of switching my focus from wherever I am to whatever's going to have to be done at home, starting anywhere from two days to a week before the end of a trip, depending on the length of the trip. So I miss immersing myself in whatever place we have traveled to for that period.
My husband is a selfie guy. I am a landscape "guy." Between the two of us we have the photography mostly covered - I'm not bold enough (or rude enough?) to take pictures of the locals, with or without their permission. I like having the pix because the older I get, the more images are stuffed into my brain, and my memories of things and places tend to merge; pictures help me straighten out the mess up in here, and spark good memories of interesting times. They scroll on various screens in our house, and throughout the day I'm treated to unexpected remembrances.
But our host's multi-year lake project is inspiring. I'll have to think about whether anything in my nice but very suburban suburb is worth observing at that level.
Wouldn't it be nice if iPhones exploded randomly?
"And now you come somewhere like this, and it’s beautiful, and you take a picture, and then you realize that everybody’s taking that exact same picture from that exact same spot and you’ve just made some redundant content for stupid Instagram."
What it must feel like to be Japanese, in Paris, selfie-stick optional.
It's a small world after all
It's a small, cramped world
travelling abroad is exhausting and pointless. Living abroad for a few (or many) years broadens the mind. It teaches you that for all the superficial differences, people are people everywhere.
I couldn't disagree more with the first part of this, and I only wish we had the opportunity to experience the second.
We love traveling abroad, have never found it boring or pointless - exhausting, yes, but it's the price we pay - and every trip we've ever taken has reinforced our belief that, as you say, people are people everywhere. We try very hard to get off the proverbial beaten track, though if a place is famous for a certain thing or vista, I do like to experience it in person. How else are you going to appreciate how dinky the Mona Lisa is if you didn't shuffle through the Louvre to see her?
I'm watching Emily in Paris. Terrible show, I don't recommend it. But I'm learning Spanish and I find the simple language and common situations useful for that. The main character is a budding social media influencer, so every show has her doing some filming and picture taking of the beautiful scenery around Paris.
Except it's not the beautiful scenery, it's her standing in front of the beautiful scenery. Every single picture, every single video, she has her camera pointed at her face, the beautiful city is just background to her real subject--herself.
If it were a better show, I'd think that was subtle social commentary, but it's not a better show. I think that's just how the kids these days do things.
Delicate Arch in Arches Natl Park is infamous IMO for the line of people trying to get a shot in. There's a Natural Bridge that's an easy hike from Sedona; same thing. Line of people waiting to get a solo shot on the bridge.
Why is photo documentation so very needed?
Go to Pisa sometime, and watch dozens of people take the exact same picture of them "holding up" the tower. Not that it wasn't worth the trip, it was. And you know what? Everybody can't be "unique," embrace the fact.
Lyle Smith said...I didn’t like Portia. She was uncomfortable with life itself and boringly smitten by the sight of grandiose pecs.
I liked the way the show juxtaposed generational culture--season 1: the rich liberal parents saying all the right things about how woke is BS, while the teenage girls role their eyes at how retrograde their parents are. Except the teenage girls are awful narcissistic mean girls, while parents are flawed but decent.
Season 2: Portia is presented with a choice between a woke guy defending women and attacking the patriarchy and a soccer hooligan who likes a good time. She knows she should want the woke guy, but she doesn't. She runs off with the hooligan because he gets her motor running. Reminds me of an old observation--no woman ever fanaticized about being ravaged by a hippie.
+1 to Marek's comment.
I spent two months driving around the country with college chums after graduation more than 30 years ago. We took a lot of photos in national parks and at other points of interest. I'd even say that I'm proud of some of the photos with respect to composition and lighting, but the only photos I actually care about are the ones with my friends in them.
Know Your Meme traces this comic back to 2010:
KYM Photographing Something You Want To Show Everyone
There is a great scene in the movie Smoke where Harvey keitel's character talks about the photo he takes every day at the same time from his smoke shop - they are all the same but all different (shorturl.at/klJ26) only scene I remember from the movie
"What if you could find a 1-mile walk to a vantage point and witness the sunrise every day, see the lake freeze and thaw every year, remember the pattern of the emergence and decline of the different wildflowers?"
That's crazy talk. It'll never work.
That comment is a social media variant of Harukami's great quote about reading
"If you only read the same books everyone else is reading, you can only think the same thoughts everyone else is thinking."
That's the point. It originates from a character in "Norwegian Wood." The rest of it reads: "That's the world of hicks and slobs. Real people would be ashamed of themselves doing that."
Ditto for iconic art works in museums. Try to just stand and look at “Nighthawks” in Chicago on a busy day with all the (young) people popping up to photo themselves with the painting over their shoulder, just to prove they were there. Do they even look at the picture?
"Develop a practice of living observantly in your world at home — whether you photograph it or not — and then you may have the skill to see something other than your own boredom when you travel."
I love that line. And I agree. Speaking of ennui...I have a friend here who lives a boring life. That is, he is bored with his life. And he does nothing. Does nothing to change it. And refuses to see the beauty of the world all around him. It's not something that comes naturally to everyone and actually needs to be learned or worked at for most. I feel bad for him. I've known him for decades and he's always been bored with everything and it seems like he's waiting for all of it to just end. Not depressed. Just literally bored to death. By choice.
It's really so much simpler to learn how to see the world around you. There really is amazing beauty all around all of us, no matter where you live. It's a gift. Enjoy it.
And now...back to politics.
Some of my favorite experiences in Europe were when I wandered into an art museum and saw some justifiably famous piece of art that I had never known existed, for the first time, in person. "Olympia" comes to mind, and "Almond Blossoms" by Van Gogh. It turns out I was a real hick not to know about those paintings already, but the experience of seeing them without having already had them diluted by repetition of the imagery, was special.
Romano Tours Skit
SNL, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbwlC2B-BIg
"But remember, you’re still going to be you on vacation. If you are sad where you are, and then you get on a plane to Italy, the you in Italy will be the same sad you from before. Just in a new place. Does that make sense?"
---I'll have to think about whether anything in my nice but very suburban suburb is worth observing at that level.
@Jamie: Everything Is. Yours, Baba Ram Dass
Apologies, Haruki Murakami
I remember that line the moment she said it. I was horrified by it. Here is this kid with no accomplishments. No education. Sure she probably spent time in college but I mean educated. No real talents. She is brought to this unbelievably beautiful luxurious resort. And she finds no joy. In fact, if I recall, she starts crying realizing there is no joy in life. My thought was if you find yourself in this incredibly beautiful, luxurious situation where you can hike to see unbelievable landscapes, and take part in any activity, JetSki, there are dozens of people to serve you and you’re eating freshly made delicious creations anytime you wish and you think to your self how miserable life is because there is no real joy in life. Well, the problem is you not the world. You are simply a miserable person who never learned how to enjoy life and how to recognize what is good. Your life has been a waste. It’s time to back up and evaluate everything in your life. What does it mean to be a good person? What is Joy? What is beauty? What is the best in life? Because so far you failed at life. It was a horrifying moment for me
"Develop a practice of living observantly in your world at home"
As the 4th century desert monastic, Abba Moses said, "Stay in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything."
By "cell" he meant the living place of the monk. This was a profoundly important quote for me in retuning about 20 years ago. It's true, as you think about the importance of knowing thyself and practicing deep noticing.
Many people go, go, go. But they don't attend to what they bring as their self or what they bring back in meaning. It's just collecting places to provide a sense of self value, distraction-as Kierkegaard highlighted as an attempt to escape despair- or a kind of influencer rush where they just want to become real through attention from others.
Beauty is a commodity disconnected from truth. Yet the ability to notice beauty all around, without going anywhere, is a path to truth and the contentment that comes with it.
Tim, I had that experience at The Getty when I saw a painting by Caspar David Friedrich. Had no idea who he was, but his A Walk at Dusk grabbed my soul.
Going to places to look at the natural wonders is way overrated. Oh, there's the Grand Canyon. Ah, Ok..yeah.
Lets go get a burger.
the funniest part of people taking selfies is when they back up and fall off a cliff.
"I just feel like there must’ve been a time when the world had more, you know? Like mystery or something."
Duh. You’re doing it wrong lady. The world is still full of mysteries but you DON’T FIND THEM BY FOLLOWING THE HERD DOWN WELL TRODDEN PATHS. If you find yourself queuing up for a “unique” experience then you’ll be disappointed. Every time. To drago the point I should add, “but only every time.”
The idea of standing in line to see something or take a photo? No. Just no.
I tried to watch season 2 of White Lotus - but it could not hold my attention. I kept falling asleep. So I did what I did with Yellow-Train-Wreck and Stranger things. I went to youtube and watched the quickie synopsis. Saves watching hours of bore and snore.. and all in less than 40 minutes. and - Now I know what happened.
I would love to have the freedom and the funds to travel the world. I don't - so I don't. I watch home-made hiking on youtube. Hiking is where it's at for me. I've taken all the art history classes - so crowded museum hold no allure.
Decades ago I wandered into the V&A in London and it was empty of people. that was wild.
watching other people film their hikes in far off places is all I got right now. Harmen Hoek is amazing. Kraig Adams is also good.
@Tim Maguire: Great observations. I liked that about the 1st season as well. The young woke knows what is right, but ends up hurting the people they are trying to help, and is only there to do harm because the rich folk brought her there.
>Develop a practice of living observantly in your world at home — whether you photograph it or not — and then you may have the skill to see something other than your own boredom when you travel.<
Well, I didn't need practice at home to not be bored while traveling. But apparently some do, and that is a mystery.
If traveling bores you, that says something (sad) about you and little about travel.
I've traveled "everywhere" in the world. It is impossible for me to grasp the notion of travel being boring. If you're bored by it, you're doing it wrong. Of course most people only know traveling as flying into destinations and taking photos of iconic sites that they will post online for their cred and then never look at, and then flying back home. That's "travel"! (BTW, other than occasional pix of acquaintances and friends I've made along the way, I don't take photos when traveling - and most certainly not the pathetic selfies.)
Portia was bored in all aspects of her life. So were the two obnoxious self-absorbed girls in season 1. They were of course all trying a little too hard to be, pursuant to their traveling with older parental types. And much too enraptured by their iPhones of course. The season 1 brother, Quinn, and his epiphany are instructive here, answer questions raised in this post, and highlight the definitional issue of travel.
A side note...
One reason the world has "less mystery" is because you can reveal secrets with a simple Google search.
Geez, why are the rocks so vibrantly red in that canyon? Why did they erect a statue to [fill in the blank] guy in this town square? Why are all these chickens running around Maui? What restaurant near me has good BBQ?
Mostly trivial, some profound.
Slightly OT, apologies:
"Kai Akker said... "If you only read the same books everyone else is reading, you can only think the same thoughts everyone else is thinking.""
Like, all those Christians reading the same book only thinking the same thoughts?
(Not sure about the quote's context; could be making the same point, for all I know.)
Paddy: "Many people go, go, go."
Right. And I agree with the implied sentiment. But why is "staying in your cell" inherently better? Why does observing it not count as just another kind of "distraction"? On what grounds should we decide? Can we decide at all?
I work for the largest law firm in Seattle. Firm has held an employee art show for years. In the beginning, it featured actual art (paintings, drawings, craft) with some photography. Now, 90% of the images in the show are photographs of far-flung places that lawyers can afford to visit. Rather than a display of hand rendered creativity, a display of travel plus smart phone.
I look at my old photos now and realize I can get equivalent images of most wonders just by googling or going to flickr. I treasure the rare photos I took where I thought to include my wife and children.
I used to think people ruined a photo, now I think they might be the only thing worth photographing.
I'm starting to think that too. Most of my (peopleless) travel photos are awful anyway.
There's a lot to be said for spending a few months living abroad, and not much for breezing through for a few days or a week or two.
Anyway, like Thoreau (and Howard?) I have traveled a great deal around here.
Ice: "If traveling bores you, that says something (sad) about you and little about travel."
Correct. But the common fallacy of misattribution goes: I dislike x, therefore x is . . .
Example: I dislike hearing Dylan sing, therefore Dylan is a bad singer.
It is a useful fallacy, in that it can serve as an indirect assertion of superior taste or judgment. "No thoughtful/tasteful/real people would like/do x, since x is so . . ."
I'm reminded of a story Richard Feynman told of his father and trips to the Catskills. After walks with their fathers, the other kids challenged Feynman about the name of a bird. He did know off hand and was told his father didn't teach him anything. But his father had told him the name of the bird, and in many languages, but then told Richard that all he knew now as what humans called the bird. The he went on to talk about the bird: feathers, pecking, etc. Feynman's father taught him the difference between knowing about something and knowing something.
In addition, examining the bird rather than believing you know something once you can name it creates a habit of observing which makes the world around you rich in experiences and interests.
Similar with travel, a few facts do not hold interest, but learning to "see" things is how photographers find interesting photos in the most mundane locations.
https://youtu.be/m9NEkfS0ilY
Every time I happen to travel, which is rare, I always notice things that everyone who goes there must experience but no one mentions.
I agree on posting the same things everyone else does. I try not to put anything on the internet that repeats what a million other people say. What's the point? I'm not interested in proving my group membership, either as yet another person who has been somewhere, seen something, or believes something. So what?
Selfieshness. Twilight faith, ethical religion, liberal ideology, mortal gods and goddesses that hand out bennies to people who take a knee, beg, and sacrifice virginal human lives for social, redistributive, clinical, political, criminal, and fair weather progress.
The ever-prescient James Lileks: You used to take one picture and look at a thousand times. Now, you take a thousand pictures and never look at them again.
The thing about seeing that leaning tower in Pisa was to see, in person, the thing that has graced so many pizza boxes. That's the first thing that came to mind when I saw the top of it from the car park: pizza boxes. It was fun.
Another reaction I didn't expect was when I went into that museum in Florence to see Michelangelo's work, you know "The David" and the other stuff, and they had a room off to the side with large format photographs of bronze statuary done by the Ancient Greeks, a collection that had been discovered a couple decades ago in a river bank, and that struck me the most of any pieces in the museum, the rest of them having been sort of repetitioned to death for me, maybe. Look at those Greek bronze statues, and the MLK "sculpture" in Boston, and you can see what art has lost in its monotonic search for novelty.
The only problem with traveling to wonderful places is the actual TRAVEL part. I've always thoroughly enjoyed my downtime on business trips, and never been disappointed by a walk through a strange town. I'm a firm believer in ground level touring and the pace of a walk is magically designed to allow a lot of sensory input along the way. The Cotswolds in West Midlands, UK and the tiny old town of San Sebastian in Spain (just a nice drive south from Biarritz in France), the port area of Stockholm, Sweden and Milan, Italy are especially fond memories of local walks and street foods and people watching. And I really enjoy the area around my house with the same gusto. The hills on two sides of us are covered with early Spring growth right now and everything is changing daily. In fact the wind blew a ton "change" into the pool overnight so I need to go clean up.
There's there there, but you have to commit yourself to BEING there. Wherever you are.
Sebastian said...
Slightly OT, apologies:
"Kai Akker said... "If you only read the same books everyone else is reading, you can only think the same thoughts everyone else is thinking.""
Like, all those Christians reading the same book only thinking the same thoughts?
This statement implies you don't know many Christians, who tend to be voracious readers in my experience, or you have some weird idea "the same book" is the only book and referring to the Bible in some elliptical way. Which is strangely ignorant if I interpreted it correctly, and I'm not even sure I did. But that's how it reads.
OTOH could be if you had a compilation of Shakespeare and The King James Bible you could self-educate as well as Lincoln did, and he's considered one of the best orators (so writers) of our American history.
Mike: "you have some weird idea "the same book" is the only book'
Mike, apologies. I did turn books plural (from the quote) into one book, but that, I seem to recall, consists of several books, all of which, I also seem to recall, are the same ones Christians do read, though obviously not exclusively.
My point really wasn't about Christians as such. Leaving them out of it, I think the proposition (if in the original it was meant as a serious proposition) that "If you only read the same books everyone else is reading, you can only think the same thoughts everyone else is thinking" is false. That doesn't seem a shocking thing to claim. Nor is it at all shocking, or insulting, to say that Christians who read only the same book everyone else is reading, or used to in the past, don't think the same thoughts as everyone else.
Like, all those Christians reading the same book only thinking the same thoughts?
Principles of morality, principles of fitness, principles of moderation, and historical accounts to demonstrate cause and effect.
The Bible and social reconciliation on Sundays, then six days set aside for science, business, finance, medicine, engineering, community, etc., and family from Monday to Sunday inclusive.
"Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways
I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard"
@Sebastian: Wouldn't it be great if everyone were reading the books of the Bible? Including Middle Easterners?
The Bible has been having a publishing comeback for quite some time, it seems. But how many people who buy a new translation read it? How many get through the gospels? The Torah?
The context of the Murakami quote was reading classics versus reading the trendy "now" books. Everyone is hot to read the current hot titles but there is only so much time, so they are reading a much higher quotient of drek than those who let time filter out the dross and leave the nuggets more clearly visible.
This might vary from the literal sense of the sightseeing comment, but it's very similar in the sense of individuation and discovery, I thought. People who move as herds aren't discovering much, in novels or in sightseeing.
The trendy books of the Best-Seller list also carry society's zeitgeist, in one form or another. So those who focus on hot titles -- the literary novels all the best people keep up on, for example -- tend to have similar experiences, absorb the same assumptions, and be led to the same conclusions.
Then, at some point, the zeitgeist morphs into something else, and all that stuff looks quaint and dated. Who wants yesterday's papers?
Go to Pisa sometime, and watch dozens of people take the exact same picture of them "holding up" the tower. Not that it wasn't worth the trip, it was. And you know what? Everybody can't be "unique," embrace the fact.
ha ha
what's got to suck is when you work at the tourist trap
and you see different people from around the world
fly into your little part of the world
so they can all do the same fucking thing
"Kai Akker said... "If you only read the same books everyone else is reading, you can only think the same thoughts everyone else is thinking.""
Like, all those Christians reading the same book only thinking the same thoughts?
Actually, those two things aren't synonymous at all. If you've ever done a book club on a book, for me it can be a little boring because the author usually has one or two points he's making in that chapter that we read. And it's usually fairly obvious what that point is. So there's not a lot of divergence of thought.
That almost never happens in Bible study. The Bible isn't constructed like it's one story. If you try to read it like you would read a book (from the first page), you're likely going to be bored as shit. You're not going to make it out of the Old Testament. You'll never meet that Jesus guy who pops up way late in the book.
Bible study works like you're analyzing a huge set of poems. In one Bible study you might read 2 to 3 paragraphs from a random (or not so random) part of the Bible, and spend 45 minutes to an hour discussing what you read. And what's amazing is that it's like peeling an onion. Any passage in the Gospels is going to inspire a wide variety of thoughts in different people.
In fact, since the Gospels are rather short, and over the course of a long life you'll encounter the same passages multiple times, you'll be kind of amazed how the passage can inspire so many different thoughts in you.
There's a lot of disparagement of Christianity by people who live in a "Christian" country and feel like they know all about Christianity and it's very boring. They're missing this amazing mystic and spiritual thinker, and they have only a superficial or shallow knowledge of what he's teaching.
I suspect there are a lot of foreigners who want to study this mystical guy they heard about -- Jesus Christ -- and as such they get closer to the truth than worldly, secular people who live in a "Christian" country but somehow have no idea what that mystic is all about.
Also if you want to add mystery to your life? Bible study does that, in spades.
Who else remembers those old "Kodak Moment" spots at theme parks (and maybe National Parks)? It was Kodak's way to get you to take more shots, buy more film.
With digital photography, the marginal cost of that next shot is near zero, so why not take a selfie at iconic locations? I'd skip it if I had to wait more than a minute though.
I'm a "family photojournalist" always on the lookout for beauty where others might not spot it -- things like the trout lilies that Professor mentions, the flora and fauna in folks' own neighborhoods and local parks.
Travel will change your exterior life.
It may, or may not, change your interior life.
Your interior life can change, dramatically, even if you live in the same place your entire life.
"But why is "staying in your cell" inherently better? Why does observing it not count as just another kind of "distraction"? On what grounds should we decide? Can we decide at all?"
It's better in large part because it builds a discipline of noticing and depth in the moment, rather than needing always more input and staying at a shallow level of engagement. It can certainly be distraction, which is why there's a whole body of literature surrounding that quote that is part and parcel with answering your other question.
A quick answer is stillness rather than frenzy. Being at deep peace with self and the world rather than frantic and busied. At the core, it is about knowing thyself, a classical calling of maturity and one echoed in those early monastics, but rather completely disregarded in our age.
"If you only read the same books everyone else is reading, you can only think the same thoughts everyone else is thinking.""
The trouble isn't people reading the same book(s) having the same thoughts. If people really read the book(s) they generally have different thoughts because they bring different experiences or questions or issues to it.
The trouble is that most people don't read the book(s) at all, instead giving one or a few other people the responsibility to read it for them and tell them what it means and what is important. Then everyone has the same thoughts because that's the thoughts about the topic that they were told the book(s) emphasize or allow.
This is always why the Mona Lisa room is so crowded nowadays, as most people only know what they've been told about it, and don't bring their own informed aesthetic to help them see other art they may like or resonate with more. And living in a place where people come to do those influencer pictures, it's very interesting how apparent it is such people can have a picture of a place and not actually experience or realize the place for what it is.
Saint Croix: I meant to point to the variety or readings (and thoughts!) Christians bring to bear, so we are not disagreeing.
Paddy: I sympathize with your point of view, but am less sure how to defend it as better, or to argue for the grounds that make it so.
A few years ago, I saw the Mona Lisa.
Well not really. What I saw was a sea of heads and hands holding up cellphones to take a picture of the Mona Lisa or to take a picture of the photographer with the Mona Lisa in the background. So I took a picture of that. It was perfect.
And by the way, if it wasn't the most famous painting in the world, and you offered the Mona Lisa at a garage sale for twenty dollars, it would still be in the driveway at the end of the afternoon. Marked down to five.
I don’t think anyone will read this because it is not today’s post. But here goes. I was touring China. We visited this palace and the tour guy told us about it. And then that palace. And the tour guy told us about it. And then the other palace. And the tour guy told us about it. Having no understanding of Chinese history, it was all meaningless to me. I could not place any of it in context. I suspect it is like going to see the Mona Lisa or tower of Pisa as above. Unless you have a significant meaningful understanding of western art history. It is just a picture. As mentioned, if it were not the most famous painting in the world you could list it for $10 at a garage sale and nobody would buy it. I think there are three different ways to travel, having considered it only superficially. Nature travel, where you’re getting away from it all and appreciating creation. Adventure travel where you’re seeking a thrill. And cultural travel where the point is to be exposed to a particular culture. Most travel, I think is the latter. I think you can travel in the first two ways, and have a great appreciation of your travel without any significant preparation. I think to take part in cultural travel, as going to see the Mona, Lisa or tower of Pisa is silly and meaningless , without putting some study in advance to understand the context of what you were saying. It would be like me visiting China and seeing all these palaces. It was meaningless nonsense to me, as I had no significant understanding of the cultural history. At some point every palace looks like every other palace. They are interesting to look at but not worth traveling all the way to China and spending money as I suspect it would be like seeing the Mona Lisa. No different seeing it in person as compared to going on the Internet and looking at pictures. Had a knowledge and appreciation for the culture. It would be a different story, but having not studied it in advance it was meaningless. The simile , I visited Scotland. I have a good appreciation for Scotch Whisky, and the trip also entailed hiking in such which I could appreciate. My ex-wife have been reading a lot about the various kingdoms of Great Britain and had a good understanding when we toured the castles whereas for me, they were just interesting castles.
You'll never meet that Jesus guy who pops up way late in the book.
Oh He pops up in the OT here and there but you have to be looking for the foreshadowing. Think about the "fourth guy in the furnace" with Shadrach, Meshach and Abendego, for example.
When my daughter hiked the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mexico border into Canada, she sent us not selfies but a series of photos of grand vistas and glorious places she titled, "Scenic Poops." I'm glad she abjured selfies in that situation.
Keith, good post at 8:39
Peter Lynch, the famous money-manager, was off in Europe when the stock market crash of 1987 happened (I think that's the right one).
He was wriggling on his back, trying to kiss the Blarney Stone. Meanwhile, the market's crashing and frantic customers are trying to reach him. (This was before cell phones).
Imagine a billion dollars going poof while you're kissing a rock.
good one, Mike!
The priests at my church went to a Seminary where they hired a Jewish guy to teach the Old Testament. I love that.
We're Episcopalians so that's how we roll.
Anyway, apparently this particular professor would fail the shit out of you if you brought up Jesus in the Old Testament.
I could pretty much guarantee that if I was in that particular class, I would be bringing up Jesus all the time. "Hey, is this Jesus? It sounds like Jesus!"
Mikee
ha ha
sometimes "poop" is a funnier word than "shit"
that's a great story
hey Sebastian,
Sorry about that, your comment was short and I wasn't sure how to read it. Inspired some thought in me so it's all good!
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