Thoughts on The Tree of Life

Tree of Life - Image c Lynda Lehmann

Witness the great tree: the overarching Tree of Life.

It spreads and reaches....
soaking in light from above
to nurture the growth
of all its branches.

We are like the twigs,
works-in-progress growing,
turning, striving, streaming
and
bifurcating from branches
larger than we.

We are each rooted in
humanity, as each branch
springs from the tree.

But on a tree,
divergent branches although separate,
do not turn on themselves,
nor on others.
Nor do they ridicule those
weaker tentacles whose growth
does not rival their own.

Because they remember
being tender shoots
themselves,
barely differentiated from the flesh
of the great trunk,

they know their origin,
respect it,
and are humbled.

Mindful, they know their attachment
to something greater:
a force that nurtures them while still
enlisting them to provide.

There are no outcasts among branches.

Nor scorn for angling off
in a different direction.
For each twig and branch
sees its own way
towards the light.

****

The branch reaches far
yet gives thanks for its base,
its connection to
the larger tree.

No branch stands
on a pinnacle
to proclaim its sovereignty.
Lording not, over others.

Nor does it claim
more than its share
of root's nourishment
or succor of light.

A single branch
is gangly, awkward, lost...
unrelated...
yet a tree brims

with the hope
of all levels of life
reaching
for more of itself.

A branch splintered
from The Whole,
loses stability, sustenance, meaning.

Embedded in its cells,
the code,
calling for contribution
but not conformity...

to evolve in concert with The Whole.

We have much to learn
from mingled branches
that together stand proud, as
the Tree of Life.

A World of Their Own - Image c Lynda Lehmann

MY BLOGGING FRIENDS: Just a note to tell you that this will most likely be my last post for a week or two, because of other projects I have to attend to. Everything is fine; I'm just busy.

I WILL however, visit your sites and comment, and respond to your comments here. Any constructive criticism on the poem is most welcome! And I'll be back to post as soon as I can. Love and peace to you....

Journey - Image c Lynda Lehmann

All images and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed.

Today's Photo: Red Glory

Red Glory - Image c Lynda Lehmann

The tulip shows her glory in the curve and sweep of her petals, and exuberant crimson. She reaches towards the light in awesome grace, releasing life force into the wind on her tiny pollen spores. She teaches us to regard grace and beauty with both passion and respect.

All images and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed.

Thank You to Chris Dunmire at Creativity Portal, and to Imagekind

Thank you, Imagekind, for featuring my digital print "Magic" on your home page today!

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And a great big THANK YOU to Chris Dunmire, editor of Creativity Portal, for featuring "Peripheral Vision" this month, in her Blogging the Creative Journey series!

It's the second blog in the list, if you want to read it. And the link to my interview by Molly Childers is listed there, if you would like to read that, as well. Molly writes interviews on creative people, and is "currently working on a series of articles on journaling, and another on muses from different cultures." Molly is an articulate and creative spirit, in her own right.

And Chris Dunmire, editor of both Creativity Portal and Creative Slush, is a creative powerhouse. Her sites have something for everyone interested in any aspect of creative process. She does a marvelous job of including and collaborating with artists and writers, and building her wonderful sites. Chris is one of the nicest, most creative and dynamic people I've met in cyberspace, and her positive spirit and energy have inspired me since I first discovered Creativity Portal a few years back. A great big thank you and kudos to you, Chris, for all you do to inspire and bring creative minds together. You are indeed a coach and facilitator!

All images and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed.

Ode to Earth: Peace on the Lake

Almost Twilight - Image c Lynda Lehmann

Crimson and Indigo - Image c Lynda Lehmann

Sky - Image c Lynda Lehmann

The Poetry of Twilight - Image c Lynda Lehmann

Beneath the Surface - Image c Lynda Lehmann

A Pristine Land - Image c Lynda Lehmann

River Winds Towards Twilight - Image c Lynda Lehmann

Autumn Bliss - Image c Lynda Lehmann

Path of a Cloud Shadow - Image c Lynda Lehmann

O crystal blue sky dome,
fill my lungs with fresh air.

O sparkling clear waters,
dazzle my eyes.

O lush, waving grasses,
cushion my feet.

O fragrant soft blossoms,
delight my nose.

O gurgling river,
sing joy to my heart.

O steadfast boulders,
inspire my strength.

O crimson sunset,
stir me to prayer.

O precious Earth Mother,
nurture my life!

Image and text c 2009 Lynda Lehmann


All images and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed.

Everything's amazing, nobody's happy

This video sure puts things in perspective. We take so much for granted!

The Gentle and Forgotten Art of Blessings

An artist friend send this video to me on Facebook. I'm sure a lot of you may have already seen it.

I think that anyone who believes in a higher power can relate to it on some level. I don't take it as an admonition to believe in any particular conception of God or dogma, but only to open to the richness of the universe.

If you watch it, let me know what YOU think of it!

Basking in the Light of Spring

First Crocuses on the Sunny Side of the Building
Image c Lynda Lehmann

Ever notice how sunlight seems to bring everything alive? In darkness, we see nothing. It's almost as if reality vanishes and our imaginations replace the world of every day. During night-time, we become more subjective. Our anxieties may come out to play havoc with our moods. Dreams flourish, along with the memories, wishes, perceptions, and fears that are embedded in them.

Thank goodness for the light, that makes all things real. The light of day is so reassuring. Perhaps it's because it's ingrained in us that we need the sun to live on this planet. Not only for warmth and energy, but for the viability of the food chain.

I believe we can also create our own light. It's not as potent as the light of the sun, nor as far-reaching. But our creativity can light the world, for ourselves and others.

When is the last time you made a point of encouraging someone's creativity? Do you have a partner, friend, student, or neighbor whom you have spurred on to the personal power that's part of inner-directedness and self-actualization? What is life, but the endless and ongoing challenge to master ourselves and shine our light into the darkness?

Many of us will be celebrating one holiday or another in the coming week. Some of us may just be celebrating the advent of spring. Whatever our culture, position, belief or creed, wherever we are:

May each of us live this week with
peace in our heart,
peace in our mind,
peace in our spirit.

The responsibiltiy to transform the world
begins with us.

Wishing you joy and light!

All images and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed.

Images Evoking Torment

Broken Promises - Image c Lynda Lehmann

In the decay of our cultural institutions we find images that evoke the core of human suffering. Privation, need, fear, despair, insanity, and hopelessness. For me, the lesson in viewing such places is that by seeing scenes that can be described as either spiritually or physically ugly, we see the brighter things. Paradox is so deeply built into the human experience that by its very nature, it teaches us to look at things from a wider perspective. "Holistically," as one of my revered Art Education professors at Penn State University used to say.

Here are a few photos from the grounds of Kings Park Psychiatric Center, that I shot last week. The old state hospital is on what are now the grounds of Nissequogue River State Park in Suffolk County. You can wander the grounds but the buildings, for understandable reasons, are off-limits. Indeed they are crumbling, and would be dangerous to approach. It seems to me that New York State would do well to either reclaim these building for future generations, or destroy them. They're an attractive haven for wayward teenagers, I'm sure. And that in itself is dangerous. Perhaps they could be used to make a summer day camp, or sold to artists to renovate? Or just razed to increase the usable space of the existing park?

Eternal Struggle - Image c Lynda Lehmann

I enjoy walking there because ghosts of the past seem to whisper on the stale wind coming out of the dark windows. I enjoy the place visually, as a photographer. And as a bit of local history. But in hard economic times in particular, I would think the space, if not the buildings themselves, could be reclaimed for public use of some sort.

Best Forgotten - Image c Lynda Lehmann

A Voice from the Shadows - Image c Lynda Lehmann


Forbidden - Image c Lynda Lehmann

For me these structures evoke all the pain and torment of mental illness, for those who can't function in society and have so much behavioral difficulty that they need to be institutionalized. Sadly, mental health services have been cut drastically in the last three decades, and many people cannot get the care or guidance that they need.

Where Shadows Fall - Image c Lynda Lehmann

I've sometimes heard people say that there is beauty in ugliness. My interpretation is that in the duel, yin-yang nature of things, it's the ugly stuff that informs our consciousness and makes us lean, or strive, towards the light. And towards beauty, of course.

Many ramifications of duality lend themselves to discussion: the nature of paradox itself, good versus evil, the meaning and purpose of human institutions, our perceptions of the world, etc. What do you think? Do you ponder the contradictions of life? Are you comfortable with perceiving paradox? Or do you lean more towards absolutes--the black and white polarities--instead of standing with uncertainty in the "gray zone"?

All images and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed.