Basing peace, calmness and perception on the energy of the landscape

For 2-3 years now a favourite tome I reference often, seeking clarification for my journey, has been a paper back written by the Dalai Lama called "The Way to a Meaningful Life"

...lent to me by a dear friend I'll have to give it back when the opportunity presents! So just before my recent holiday traveling to Nelson, I ordered another of his books, and then the serendipity began again...

While visiting an artist's gallery in Upper Moutere, an aspect of Nelson's environs I'd never checked out before, I asked her if there were any good private/remote places to camp the night in my 4wd camper. "Yes", she replied, "a cleared forestry area over in that direction, oh, and up Sunrise Road that goes to the Buddhist center that the Dali Lama stayed at, you might find something"

The forestry area won the day near this school and the Toss Woolaston gallery, and the curiosity that is the landscape photographer in me was piqued by the light and the energy I felt about me...




So... having identified a lovely spot overlooking Nelson City for the night, exploration of Sunrise Road was called for by my intuition.

With a growing sense of peace I was led to this amazing... Supta, a concept quite new to me. It's overlooked by the Chandrakirti Centre Tibetan Buddhist Study and Meditation Centre , but above all else it was the setting that impacted on me, with it's inherent peace and tranquillity, no doubt extended by the Centre ...


The brief stay, and walk around the Supta taking photos [apparently there are benefits from circumambulating Stupas], made a profound mark on me: I knew in my heart great peace - one I've known many times before often in people's homes or gardens, my own even, and our mountains and high country. The experience was so heightened this time though, that I believe it's a message to explore the concept further, and share it, raising awareness to aid all in a "Way to a Meaningful Life"!

The head of the Fox Glacier in South Westland - despite numerous alpine hazards such as crevasses, avalanche terrain, high altitude and the potential of nasty weather to arrive almost instantaneously from the Southern Ocean, this place is recognized by many to be conducive to human well being and growth...


However before I diverge into wrapping this post up, there was a funny side to the visit: at the end of Sunrise Road there is a nudist camp. I'm sure the Dali Lama with his renown sense of humour, and others will join me in a grin if we ponder how we could become totally at one with ourselves at the Center, then finish the break with a sojourn down the road being "only" ourselves!

Attributes of energetic and non energetic places:

Some people refer to the energy on the earth's surface as Geopathic Stress lines or areas.

I believe there is nothing mystical about high or and low energy locations - one day science will learn to measure same [radon gas emissions from the earth are already implicated as are overhead power lines]

A peaceful energy in a place lends itself to healing, creativity and growth.

Sensitive people should avoid spending time in places they feel are low energy, and especially should not sleep in same.

Plants don't seem to flourish in low energy locations

People with an open heart will gravitate subconsciously to healthy locations, those who are closed off will actively promote less than ideal locations

Low energy locations can be detected with techniques similar to water dowsing

In-sensitive people may not, in the short term, be affected unduly by low energy locations, but maybe in the medium to long term. Manifestation examples being relationship problems, tenseness, divorce, conflict, and less than perfect health mentally and physically

Feng shui must surely be just another name for what I'm on about!

Another high energy mountain location in South Westland I've spent aprox. 80 days of my life in: from the slopes of Mt Hooker looking down into the Clarke valley, and The Solution Range, beyond which is the The Landsborough River, and further away yet my home town of Wanaka...


Wrapping it up: The two posts below talk about perception. Raise sensitivity and awareness and perception changes, then the identification of healthy areas to live in simply follows! This is one [rather odd I'll admit], technique that works for myself:

I imagine an aspect of myself being anywhere from 10 metres to hundreds of meters away from myself looking in my direction observing myself.

Then, and this is where for me it gets rather multi dimensional: I then observe this observer observing myself.

When I get it right I then notice my vision and other senses, but especially my vision, notices multiple instances of acute attention to details, in rapid succession - the end result being I simply see objects and patterns of light and shade I'd normally miss. Thus I look at my New Zealand landscape photography literally through new eyes, but the real implication is the way to a means of a "Meaningful Life". Of course astute composition can draw the attention of others to seeing things differently, and hopefully with compassion we'll all get there sooner rather than later!

Links:

The Way to a Meaningful Life... more>>

Stupa ..more>>

The Chandrakirti Centre Tibetan Buddhist Study and Meditation Centre ..more >>

Feng shui.. more >>

Geopathic Stress.. more >>

Landsborough River... more >>

NZ Photographer Tony Bridge has a wide range of beautiful work and textually diverse material on photography and perception ... more >>

My good friend Roger Wandless has a great New Zealand landscape photography site with shots that demonstrate what is possible in terms of how the eye can be taken on a journey [perception over time!]... more >>

PS just after posting Tony [as above] sent me this link to a couple of interesting posts... more >>

Acknowledgments:
Rika Couwenbergh ex Wanaka
His Holiness the Dali Lama
Roger Wandless
Sam [Pepper] White

Reality and impermanence

As a keen landscape photographer I've long been aware of how light in all it's various forms and flavours can shape the way we perceive reality. Now with Photoshop we have another dimension apart from how the photographer can present a scene in ways to draw attention to a particular point, or feel.

Without saying much I'll leave you to ponder what stories could be attached to this image...


... yet if I offer information such as "those rocks in the stream are among the oldest in New Zealand" then depending on your background that may, or may not change the relationship with the image.

And these rocks in Fiordland maybe nearly as old...


... yet although being the easiest example I can offer you of something that appears permanent [because of their mass and age], they are not permanent. By this I mean they're comprised of minerals, and even space between atoms, electrons or whatever. On analysis they are not what they appear to be!

Unless heat is applied rocks can be weathered to sand grains by our ancient sea...


... if we apply such thoughts to our lives, literally ourselves and the phenomena about us, we have to accept that our perception of reality is not quite what it seems, and that not one thing we perceive is permanent! It's tempting to draw the conclusion that we live in an illusion, but that's not quite the answer either.

What I see about me is a lot of suffering in the world and a lot of fear, and I can't help but believe that a lot of it comes about because we think we're permanent! Well we may or may not make grains of sand if you subscribe to a cyclic existence, but we'll make "dust" for sure at some point [which may or may not be the end point - this too depends on perspective!]. If we keep that thought in our minds, we'll find we handle day-to-day life in quite a different way and relate to others with more compassion and love, as we become more aware that an ethos of permanence is an illusion that enhances feelings of suffering [and ego]. Possessions will become less important, greed will diminish as we can't take these things with us.

Do we know the lives these people led, long ago in remote Fiordland? Yet, they probably thought their perception of "I" was important once. Apart from their names, about all we can assume is they endured a lot of moisture, and suffered the loss of a child...


When I was a young man I tended to see people and objects in life as permanent, and even got pretty immortal feeling while climbing, but my reality slowly changed, like just after this unprotected traverse near Mt Cook a spring snow avalanche swept this rock clean, just after the photo was taken, and before our very eyes...


... back then I saw the process of life as sort of permanent - this reached a peak during marriage and parenting. But the former showed it's impermanence to me in the form of divorce. Through this epiphany, and the wonder of child birth now I see literally everything in life as dynamic and shifting. Actually when I consider the fact that nothing is established in it's own right, but dependent on what cannot be identified [what is beyond particles in particle physics, will probably elude us forever, and the space between!], I'm then left with the conclusion that a lot of our reality is based on our thoughts.

If we're attached to someone or something we build up feelings that enhance them both and overlook faults. Conversely what we dislike or hate, does not seem so bad if we ask ourselves what our feelings are based on, then examine what this hate or dislike is dependent on! If we're honest with our studies we have to accept all is not as it seems, and much depends on what our attention is drawn too, in the quest to satisfying self!

The answer seems to be to detach, by taking the focus away from self, and reposition it towards helping others with love and compassion, thus letting the beauty and magic of our existence shine through in a more enlightened way...


...to be continued, and with thanks to the Dalai Lama for the inspiration above