Monthly Archives: March 2014

A Simple Case of Beauty

25 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by in art, beauty, eroticism

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One of the qualities of a good photo is a nice combination of light, shade, figure and form. A good photo, especially a good erotic photo, should evoke something, a type of atmosphere, a more ethereal quality which helps us escape from the mundane sameness of our daily material world. Healthy love and eroticism must always be imbued with a certain degree of spirituality, or at least psychology. Sex cannot be merely physical; it must also be spiritual, rooted in some type of love, and seeking some type of transcendence.

Art has the power to express these things, whether in writing or painting or photography. Photography is a great modern medium for erotic art, because it is both real, yet also imaginary. A good nude photo can represent and ideal of love and beauty, of the mysteries of sensuality and eroticism, in a way that few other artistic mediums can.

I find the above photo a nice example of such things. There is nothing too extravagant in this photo, and yet in its simplicity, a nude set against a soft white background, there is a sense of mystery and beauty that somehow expresses something deeper than the mere physicality of a nude body. It is a nude which hints at the fuller meanings of our erotic existence, the love and beauties of life, and the healthy respect for the hidden yet ever present powers of our sexuality.

This Year’s Difficult Lent of Doubts

16 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by in religion, spirituality

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Rembrandt captured so well the spiritual side of life...

St. Peter In Prison by Rembrandt. Rembrandt captured so well the spiritual side of life…

Although it is now Lent, this year’s Lent for me is pretty much non existent. The spiritual life however is not.  What is religion and what is spirituality? What is the spiritual world? Does God even exist? These are some of the questions that have been plaguing me for well over a year.

I don’t have any answers at the moment. What I do know, at least for myself, is that prayer and spirituality are still important, despite my estrangement from all forms of organized religion. There is a certain kind of eternal beauty to a healthy spirituality, a truth and beauty that surpasses all other kinds of beauty, even the erotic.

I love the above painting by Rembrandt. It is, in all its simplicity, an expression of the deeply complicated world of the spirit, a world we often must confront in the isolation and loneliness of our own existence. Although others can help us along our path and journey towards God, in the end it is always an individual bond that we must either accept or reject, a bond that we might find liberating or stifling and one with which we often find ourselves struggling. Prayer and contemplation are one means of finding our truth path in the spiritual world, and this painting seems supremely contemplative, as St. Peter is surely musing on his own death and what lies after.

I hope to once again find clarity in my spiritual life, but until that time arrives, in the meantime, I do find some clarity on the beauty and eternity of God through such wonderful artistic works as this.

I Wish I Were An Elephant

04 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by in nature

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Well, I wish that I were this particular elephant. Some elephants have all the luck.

I know why that elephants looks so happy...

I know why that elephant looks so happy…

As I have written before, elephants are magnificent creatures. Due to the illegal ivory trade, the African elephants is in serious danger of possible extinction; the Asian elephants, which is what this particular, lucky elephant is, is not quite as endangered, but still, such large land animals are always under constant threat from diminished habitat and other environmental problems.

At least his elephant is enjoying life right now. God bless him.

The Strange Beauty of Mars

01 Saturday Mar 2014

Posted by in culture, history, mythology, nature

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Mars, the Red Planet close up.

Mars, the Red Planet close up.

Now that it is March, the month named after the Roman god of war, Mars, I thought I would post a few photos from the planet named after Mars. There is a strange beauty to this place. Also, I think it is remarkable the quality of photos that we now have of Mars. As long as man has been looking up at the heavens, the planet Mars has been a source of fascination and imagination, and throughout all the ages we are the first people who can actually see what the surface of the planet looks like. Right now there one lonely robotic machine wandering around up there, exploring and taking these photos, while we hustle and bustle about on our busy world. I like to imagine what it would be like for the first humans to step on this land in some distant future, perhaps with the intentions of somehow colonizing it, a place so vast and empty and free from all the plagues of our own world.

These rocks seem to be the result of volcanic activity.

These rocks seem to be the result of volcanic activity.

I really do not know a whole lot about the our explorations of Mars, but I find the photos fascinating, and even beautiful in their own strange way. We can actually see what others could only imagine only a few decades ago.

Even robots on Mars like to take selfies...

The Mars Rover: even robots on Mars like to take selfies…

From ancient mythology, to H.G Well (War of the Worlds) and Edgar Rice Burroughs (John Carter of Mars), Mars was and remains a part of our culture, and perhaps someday our future.

A Martian wasteland...

A Martian wasteland…

Here are few more photos…I like the how the sky is so different in this one.

Stark and strange...

Stark and strange…

And here we see a rocky terrain with a bare mountain the background…

It is hard to imagine anything could ever live on this world...

It is hard to imagine anything could ever live on this world…

And finally a Martian sunset. I think it has been digitally enhanced, but I am sure it is close to the truth of what a sunset on Mars is actually like….

A Martian sunset...

A Martian sunset…

And another Martian sunset, this one a bit different. Notice how small the sun appears from Mars.

Another Martian sunset...

Another Martian sunset…

So as March begins, here is toast to the planet Mars, named after the Roman god of war, and as fascinating to us as it was to the ancients.