"Only the real can know the real, the true can know the truth, the authentic can know the authentic that surrounds you." OSHO in talks on emotions

As a photographer, an artist and as a man living life this is to what I aspire. I hope my photography helps us to know the real; to know the truth; and to communicate the authentic that surrounds us all. I have had experiences in nature that were quite simply spiritual. These moments when the power and energy of the natural setting made me forget who I was or why I was there. These moments of clarity and insight into the real, the truth of experience. Tibetan buddhism calls these moments mahamudra or the great sign or the great seal. They can be likened to epiphanic moments where the divine from without speaks to the divine from within. And in these moments there is no separation, there is no within and no without. There is only being. Beautiful being.

this side of the shore, polihale, kauai 

Colors.

I should probably study up on Kandinsky's color theory before discussing such a lofty topic, but rather than discuss the emotive connections of various colors, I'll just say that colors and their divine shades are part of the authentic that surrounds us. We just have to be attune to the real and the truth to see it. 

lehua and halo, polihale, kauai

ajana chakra (the third eye), polihale, kauai

la and lehua, polihale, kauai

visions of the divine, polihale, kauai

I feel like I have a lot more to say about the topic, but I just can't get my head around it all. I do know that when I select photos for the gallery, I will keep the quote by OSHO in mind and ask myself if that criteria has been met: does this photo communicate the real, the truth and the authentic? Will this photo help me and others become more aware of the real, the truth and the authentic in the world that surrounds us? 

And at some point I'd like to use the same criteria for the viewer as well. In a world that has become so far removed from the Romantic ideal that "Beauty is truth, truth beauty" how can we know the real? When what is often presented as beauty is far from the truth, where is the authenticity? And where is the belief?

favorite t-shirt faded, polihale, kauai

Aloha,

lee