Eye of the Beholder

Breathe

Like all things art is heavily influenced by the observer. I look at one of the photos I took this afternoon and see shades of dawn and beginnings. Someone else looked at it and saw violence.  And responses on my Facebook page the query of "what do you see..." included peace and dynamic movement.

We each view the world through the filter of our experiences and our souls.  Accordingly we each see and experience something slightly different.

Not necessarily a question of a glass being half full or half empty but of how we see the glass itself. Smooth or textured, clear or bubbled, blue or green. A water cup or a flower vase or a paint brush holder.  A space waiting to be filled. The act of observing in and of itself defines the observer more that the item being observed.

Several major Eastern religions, along with quantum physicists, believe everything we perceive as being an interpretation of the true reality and that by the sheer act of observing we change our reality.  Joseph Campbell, renowned mythologist, after a lifetime of study on the subject, believed that the three-faced depictions of deity to be the most accurate, with one face representing truth, the second face, at 90 degrees from truth, representing the interpretations of truth by truly enlightened scholars, and the third face, at 180 degrees from truth, representing the understanding of common man.

The idea that each of us walks with a circle of our own creation appeals to me. That each moment is empty, waiting for us to interact with it...

Of course the corresponding idea that typing a blog entry with my tablet is such a pain in the ass can be directly tied to my interpretation of, and influencing of, events is more annoying.

visit Samantha Byrnes' gallery online...