Tuesday

Elemental Expression with Colin Tracy

An excerpt from the Touching the Earth Collective September Newsletter

Every month, we offer a space for one of the Collective’s members or friends to share their work, art, or passion…

Working with a camera or paintbrush are ways I see beyond ‘me’…

My parents were both keen photographers, gardeners and creatives, always interested and absorbed by the flowers and plants, insects, birds and other beings around them. Growing up, cameras were ever-present and the showing of photographs and cine film was a frequent occurrence in the family. Creativity was never far away.

Largely inspired by a spell in the tropics when I was boy –  where the warmth, colour and sheer vibrancy and abundance of life left a lasting impression, I too became amazed at the beauty of the natural world. The seemingly infinite number of different life forms!

One experience as a seven year old has stayed with me and, as l began to explore the Buddhist teachings on the nature of mind and awareness, is one l have returned to time and again.

I was alone on the edge of the jungle exploring, just being there, when a large translucent butterfly, silvery white with black spots flew by. In my amazement, at the size and beauty and gracefulness, my sense of me as separate from all else, suddenly dissolved as my mind expanded and boundaries disappeared. It was the first time that l remember the experience of oneness and deep connectedness, of the ultimate realm.

I am constantly amazed by life!  Honoured to experience life in such a profound way; so direct, so heartfelt; in these moments I experience reality as exquisite — exquisite in the sense of acutely felt, deeply felt and fully experienced; when my senses are open and alive to the wonder of existence and so grateful to be touched by life in this way.

It is this unveiled sensing body/mind/heart that I intend to inhabit when I aimlessly wander the garden or the locality with my camera or with the brush when painting. With no goal other than to simply be present, I wait to see what arises and whatcatches my attention, and make an image that conveys the essence of what l have seen. And I can tell by looking at the image, photograph or painting, (often hard to distinguish between photo and painting), just how present I have been – so there is no hiding place!  

But what a wonderfully relaxed approach this is! Open mind, open senses, fully alive!

And of course, as we all know – a work in progress! An ongoing task of working to clear busy or habitual, conditioned mind. This is life on the path of awakening, though!

https://fullyfocusedphotos.photodeck.com/

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To read the full September TTEC Newsletter click here.