Imagine by Bodhi Smith

Sep 18, 2020

"imagine" a brand new impression and blog from me...
 
"imagine someone so beautiful. imagine their glowing soul next to you. imagine holding them all night. imagine adventure all day with them. imagine the smiles and excitement. imagine truth, love, openness...no lies, no jealousy, no secrets. imagine humility, no egos. imagine unselfishness. imagine generosity from the heart. imagine sharing creativity with one another. imagine having the same dream. imagine reaching for the stars side by side. imagine walking that path holding hands. imagine changing the world together. imagine living your fairytale as one. imagine, and it will happen"― bodhinku, imagine 
 
"you can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus" ― mark twain  
 
"‎imagine that every person in the world is enlightened but you. they are all your teachers, each doing just the right things to help you learn perfect patience, perfect wisdom, perfect compassion" ― gautama siddhartha buddha, sayings of buddha 
  
"the power of imagination makes us infinite" ― john muir
 
"imagination is everything. it's the preview of life's coming attractions"― albert einstein  
 
"imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were, but without it, we go nowhere" ― carl sagan, cosmos   
 
"every act of perception, is to some degree an act of creation, and every act of memory is to some degree an act of imagination" ― oliver sacks, musicophilia 
 
"there is no life i know to compare with pure imagination. living there, you'll be free if you truly wish to be. if you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it. anything you want to, do it! want to change the world? there's nothing to it!" ― willie wonka, pure imagination 
     
"my simple acceptance of all the good mixed with the bad as necessary experiences has guided me down my path to where i need to be. this is the real faith in my life, as it opened the doorway in the universe for me to experience a higher life, to imagine my best and live better than i ever imagined" ― bodhinku, better than i ever imagined  
 
today's song selection, a classic from close to 50 years ago, first released in late 1971, has the same name as my impresion today, and quite frankly, goes swimmingly with the meaning of my blog today, just imagine a world where natural inner beauty is celebrated, and egos are tamed, and life is based on peace, not greed: "imagine" by john lennon ...(just click on any of the words in the blue links to listen to the musical selection).... and also, here is a great cover of john lennon's "imagine" done beautifully by jack johnson and his guitar, creating new modern beach vibes to the tune... "imagine" by jack johnson (john lennon cover) 

"imagine there's no heaven. it's easy if you try. no hell below us, above us is only sky. imagine all the people, living for today...imagine there's no countries. it isn't hard to do. nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too. imagine all the people, living life in peace...you, you may say i'm a dreamer, but i'm not the only one. i hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one...imagine no possessions. i wonder if you can. no need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man. imagine all the people, sharing all the world...you, you may say i'm a dreamer. but i'm not the only one. i hope someday you'll join us, and the world will be as one" ― john lennon, imagine
 
"i imagine that yes is the only living thing" ― e. e. cummings  
 
"if you don't imagine, nothing ever happens at all" ― john green, paper towns 
 
"laughter is timeless. imagination has no age. and dreams are forever" ― walt disney
 
"everything you can imagine is real" ― pablo picasso
 
"i'm enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. imagination is more important than knowledge. knowledge is limited. imagination encircles the world" ― albert einstein
 
"like a blazing comet, i've traversed infinite nights, interstellar spaces of the imagination, voluptuousness and fear. i've been a man, a woman, an old person, a little girl...i've been the crowds on the grand boulevards of the capital cities of the west...i've been the serene buddha of the east, whose calm and wisdom we envy. i've known honor and dishonor, enthusiasm and exhaustion...i've been the sun and the moon, and everything, because life is not enough" ― antonio tabucchi, dreams of dreams   
 
"if i could remove one thing from the world and replace it with something else, i would erase politics and put art in its place. that way, art teachers would rule the world. and since art is the most supreme form of love, beautiful colors and imagery would weave bridges for peace wherever there are walls. artists, who are naturally heart-driven, would decorate the world with their love...and in that love, poverty, hunger, lines of division, and wars would vanish from the earth forever. children of the earth would then be free to play, imagine, create, build and grow without bloodshed, fear or terror" ― suzy kassem, rise up and salute the sun 
 
"a poet can imagine an iceberg singing a melancholic song, while the world leaders find it difficult to imagine a proper solution to global warming" ― munia khan, attainable   
 
"free your mind with imagination" ― antoine de saint-exupery, the little prince  
 
"i imagine my life now and how i hope it will be today, tomorrow, and later on...and upon reflecting, seems what i imagine does happen. so i will never stop imagining as i let life flow its course...just like with my photography and with my life, it's amazing that my imagination comes true most often if i have patience, breathe, and let things just be and become what they may..." ― bodhinku, breathe and imagine
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MEANING
"a good life is when you assume nothing, do more, need less, smile often, expect little, dream big, giggle tons, imagine joy, and realize how blessed you are just to be breathing" ― bodhinku, imagine life  

"imagine" is defined as: "to form a mental image of something; visualize"
 
in my photography, i always create a mental image of something before i photograph it...i visualize everything in my mind's eye before i ever frame a scene with my camera...most of the time, what i envision cannot be captured in just a single moment in time, so i have to capture a couple frames taken at different moments in time...some closer up, some far off; some long exposures, some shorter exposures; some daytime, some nighttime...and then merge them together into one frame to create what i first imagined...
 
its funny, but this also applies to my life...i have always imagined myself in places, and situations, with people, and sometimes alone...i imagine how beautiful and spiritual a place will be before i ever visit, i imagine the magic of a romantic moment and dream it will happen one day, i imagine the feel of all my senses as i climb a mountain or stand on the abyss, i imagine my life now and how i hope it will be today, tomorrow, and later on...and upon reflecting, seems what i imagine does happen. so i will never stop imagining as i let life flow its course...just like with my photography and with my life, it's amazing that my imagination comes true most often if i have patience, breathe, and let things just be and become what they may...
 
i have always been a romantic, and i have always imagined my life to be spent with another person who shares in my love of nature, my energy for adventure and exploring beautiful places, sharing in spiritual experiences that are powerful and romantic. breathtaking and soul gripping, magical times that help me make every moment in my life truly count...
 
i've been truly listening to the signs of the universe. i have found that there are no coincidences, only events and chances to truly understand how everything happens for a reason...i have been following down my path, only certain in my uncertainty, but glad to be able to breathe, learn from my mistakes, and feel so alive from my experiences, both good and bad. 
 
especially learning from the bad things that happened to me in the past couple years, knowing exactly now without a doubt those things i do not want in my life, but still at the same time, kindly letting them go, letting them be what they will be (just let it be)...to live fully embracing only things and souls who embrace me openly and fully, with no conditions, no deceptions, those totally accepting all of me unconditionally for who i am right now in the present.
 
my simple acceptance of all the good mixed with the bad as necessary experiences has guided me down my path to where i need to be here and now. this is the real faith in my life, as it opened the doorway in the universe for me to experience a higher life...to imagine my best, and live better than i ever imagined...
 
i once imagined experiencing this magical place to its fullest...but in my previous trips to tuweep, i never reached that high...
 
in fact, on my last trip to this spot in 2017, i got to see another couple experience what i wanted so badly. what i desperately wanted to feel in my life, all the open love and romance in nature, especially at this spot, but could not due to the choices i had made up to that point...and on that night with them (scott and aubrey), i never felt so awfully alone, even after taking amazing photographs of the sunset, as the sky put on a glowing showcase of its love for the canyon...but i never felt so alone that night, and even named my gallery impression from that sunset as "weeping" to denote tuweep, but also the fact i was so sad and crying inside from all the empty loneliness i was then feeling at the moment i shot the photograph...
 
zoom ahead in time three years to today, and how i got to have the experience of a lifetime...i was alone, but her presence filled my heart. i have faith she exists and is with me. and as it turned out, this night was way better than all my longed for dreams, better than anything i could have imagined as she filled my heart with hope of her one day...this image is my memory of the magical night i spent with this vision of her, the one whom i was meant to be there with, in moments that were supposed to happen, and meant to be...one day  i truly hope she joins me in reality, hears my pleas calling out to her, and she walks out of my dreams and shares the best moments of my life, things i imagined could happen, things that finally will happen for me, moments in time i will never forget, moments beyond my wildest imagination...and that is really the meaning behind this image...
 
"sometimes you just need to trust it, breathe, let go, and imagine...then, see what happens..." ― bodhinku, breathe and imagine  
 
and here is another great tune to go along with my blog today, imagine how smoothly life flows when you have found your peace of mind...this song is from the late 1970's...a tune sung boldly with a mellow meaning very dear to my heart, just a great song with great guitar and vocals, a unique sound by a band that was never duplicated or imitated..: "peace of mind" by boston ...(just click on any of words in the blue links to listen to the song)...  

"now if you're feelin' kinda low 'bout the dues you've been paying, future's coming much too slow. and you want to run but somehow you just keep on stayin', can't decide on which way to go...yeah, yeah, yeah, i understand about indecision, but i don't care if i get behind. people livin' in competition, all i want is to have my peace of mind, yeah, whoa...now you're climbin' to the top of the company ladder, hope it doesn't take too long. can'tcha you see there'll come a day when it won't matter? come a day when you'll be gone, whoa...i understand about indecision. but i don't care if i get behind. people livin' in competition, all I want is to have my peace of mind...take a look ahead, take a look ahead, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah...now everybody's got advice they just keep on givin', doesn't mean too much to me. lots of people out to make-believe they're livin', can't decide who they should be, whoa...i understand about indecision, but i don't care if i get behind. people livin' in competition, all i want is to have my peace of mind...take a look ahead, take a look ahead, look ahead..." ― boston, peace of mind  
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and now here are a few more quotes from bodhinku from past blogs to help add to the deeper meaning of this blog today...
 
"when you believe in something and know beyond any doubt that it's real, it goes beyond faith and becomes the most beautiful truth, it's a higher love you can embrace and never let go, for always and forever" ― bodhinku, higher love 
 
"this impression yields yet another universal sign, one for me to follow in life while i discover new and lovely sights, combined with beautiful souls, all sprinkled with stardust and magically unexplainable things along my path these days" ― bodhinku, sprinkled with stardust 
 
"honestly, anything that is connecting the celestial to the terrestrial is going to capture my attention...i love the fact this giant cross is rooted in the earth, yet reaches for, and touches the heavens with a meaning that gives me goosebumps" ― bodhinku, celestial to terrestrial 
 
"sometimes you just have to have faith in something bigger than yourself, and believe unconditionally in a higher love, and a beautiful magic will find you no matter what..." ― bodhinku, believe in a higher love  
 
"i ask her, can you take me higher? she answers with a slow blink of her eyes, yes" ― bodhinku, higher 
 
"life should be all about positive living and love, rising up higher above everything for something bigger than yourself" ― bodhinku, positive living
 
"stardust makes the night come alive, so have a night filled with starlight" ― bodhinku, stardust
 
"as we rise higher and higher together, the level of noise keeps falling lower and lower" ― bodhinku, higher and higher
 
"just because you are not of the same religious faith, does not mean that you cannot believe in the same universal values, morals, ethics, ideals, and expressions of love" ― bodhinku, just because 
  
"life is so much more peaceful these days surrounded by the truth...no lies, no deception, no jealousy, no drama...just the purity of a higher love, dreaming of one day enjoying adventures with a beautiful and understanding lady who is actually available in my life to share in moments taking our breath away, present both day and night" ― bodhinku, dawn after the darkness
       
"be the love you want to see in other people's eyes" ― bodhinku, love you want
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STORY BEHIND THIS IMPRESSION
"so many people want material things. not me, i just want peace, truth, imagination, freedom, happy times, and people who love me... " ― bodhinku, imagination 
 
pictured here is the remote tuweep overlook of the north rim of the grand canyon, with its breathtaking views of the colorado river straight down, and far below, all set under the night sky above the canyon...if you look in this impression, you can see thousands of stars, night clouds, the colorful core of the milky way, jupiter, mars, and the rising moon...
 
you seldom see this view of the grand canyon because it's such a tough place to get to...it is right on the edge of the north rim, positioned 3000ft (913m) above the colorado river below. there are no walls or safety features here. the edge is the edge. the drop is straight down. standing on the edge is like taunting death, a total adrenaline rush of fear and excitement. there is nothing like it anywhere else in the world. just natural views and an experience that has not changed an iota for millions of years...
 
this is a mystical place. once visiting tuweep for the first time, it is an experience you will never forget, and one you will want to return to frequently in the future...this is not a place that one checks off their "bucket list" as having "been there and done that"...the experience here is spiritual and soul touching, both day and night, your heart will feel contented...once you feel the pure romance of tuweap and the grand canyon, you will need to return here again one day to feel it again...
 
once off the arizona 389 highway, the drive down 60 mile long dirt road was its normal craziness, taking extra reserve from me on the long open stretches of road not to open it up and go 65mph, and instead to keep my speed around 30mph (50km/hr)...then the slow navigating of the rugged, uneven, and technical rock sections in the last half mile of the road to the overlook...
 
i had good weather for my entire visit, and was lucky enough to be out in front of the approaching smoke clouds from the southern california wildfires...they started to fill up the canyon with haze the morning i left, and were coating the skies the whole long drive back to san diego, creating for an eerie apocalyptic feeling with the orange-green sun shining down through deeper fire clouds and the smoky haze...
 
i searched for info on the park administering access to tuweep overlook being open all over the national park service online, but got no pure feeling on whether or not the locked gate would even be open...but i did the drive anyway...and when i got there, the gate was open!
 
once through the gate, you do a steady approach up to the ranger station (they can see vehicles coming literally from mile away). a nps ranger always comes out and greets you, and checks for your national park pass (or payment for day use fees), and a super sweet, kind, and awesome ranger, todd seliga met me and besos...
 
he talked with me for quite a while, and informed me (to my surprise) that new procedures now require an advance camping reservation for overnight stays needs to be secured beforehand via an online national park backcountry reservation system, and that we would have to exit the overlook shortly before sunset...at first, i thought that i'd be denied the chance to spend the evening and shoot sunset and then the the stars...as the two tuweap rangers (todd and elizabeth) are required to make each of the day-use people exit so they can lock the gate for the night (all new procedures to me since my last visit three years ago)...
 
btw, if you ever get the chance to visit, you will most likely meet todd, he is the backcountry ranger for the tuweep area. he patrols and manages 500,000 acres, over 140 square miles of land. while you might picture him driving around in a 4-wheel drive vehicle equipped for the rugged terrain, todd has recently been doing his work largely under his own power, pedaling a mountain bike to reduce carbon emissions that he might otherwise incur with a motorized vehicle...plus it turns out that this sweet kind man is an animal inside, as i found out that he holds all of the land speed records for timed travels on a mountain bike across the entire north rim of the grand canyon! 
 
so, after talking with todd for some time, he obviously liked me, and stepped back from saying "no" originally to me camping for the night. he secured the $18/night camping fees from me, wrote down all my information, and decided to give me a provisional camping permit on the spot, presuming that the two extra spots he had would not be refilled before 7pm by people who already left early (guests that had reservations for multiple nights, but already left). presuming these folks would not be driving back and returning to camp back at tuweep for this night for some odd reason...
 
by 7pm, i knew it was all good, and i could stay the night, so i set up camp and scouted out the canyon's edge and where i was going to make my compositions with my camera...and btw, do not know where else to say this odd piece of info, but here at the overlook is literally the best and cleanest remote restroom in the entire united states, built on stilts with crazy breathtaking views...
 
and what a beautiful night it turned out to be...single-handedly my best visit ever to the grand canyon... 
 
just imagine this experience...a gorgeous red glowing sunset, the milky way, constellations, the planets, an orange moon rise, billions of twinkling stars, the sunrise. all spent together with my doggie besos...laying under the stars on my back with the 3000ft drop-off  edge a couple inches away, looking up to the universe above, seeing a super long shooting star that reached literally across the sky ending in a beautiful green flash...a time spent so magical, so beautiful, moments shared i with my pup that i will never forget as long as i live, and i always appreciate and feel lucky to have experienced with another spiritual soul as him...
 
besos and i will be going back, how can we not??
 
"i've been truly listening to the signs of the universe. i have found that there are no coincidences, only events and chances to truly understand how everything happens for a reason...i have been following down my path, only certain in my uncertainty, but glad to be able to breathe, learn from my mistakes, and feel so alive from my experiences, both good and bad"― bodhinku, just imagine
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HISTORY
"just imagine a world where natural beauty is celebrated, and egos are tamed, and life is based on peace, not greed" ― bodhinku, just imagine    

at 3,000 vertical feet (915 m) above the colorado river below, the sheer drop from tuweap overlook (a.k.a totoweap) offers a breathtaking and dramatic view by any standard. the volcanic cinder cones and lava flows in this ancestral home of the southern paiute people make this area unique.

situated on the iconic rim of grand canyon, a visit to tuweep provides an opportunity for an uncrowded, rustic, and remote experience. access is challenging and demands skill at negotiating difficult roadways. summer brings monsoonal rain and lightning. winter includes rain, snow and freezing temperatures.
 
any visitor to tuweap needs to be prepared and ready for quickly changing conditions, and they must bring their own supplies, because there is no water, gas, food, lodging, or phone service here...it is isolated and off the grid, something totally welcome and embraced by this adventurer these days...

to even get to tuweep overlook, a high clearance 4x4 vehicle is absolutely required, and with the weather, road conditions change suddenly...the 2 mile drive from the ranger station to the campground/rim overlook can take an hour to navigate the slickrook, sharp rocks, dips, drops, rises, gullies, wobbles, leans, and high standing rocks, and that is in good conditions, the road in unnavigable in wet conditions...it is like driving across a rockfield with hidden potholes that has a couple tire tracks on it, once on it, you are committed with no way of really turning back until the end ...btw, our progress was so slow that we were passed by a ranger (elizabeth) on a bicycle at one point!

the day use area is open from sunrise when the gate is unlocked and opened, to 30 minutes past sunset, when the gate is locked. you can stay overnight, but camping requires an advanced reservation permit, and permitted campers must arrive by sunset before the rangers lock the gate for the night 30 mins after sunset.

pets are permitted but must be leased...things prohibited: vehicles and vehicle combinations longer than 22 feet (6.7 m) are prohibited. this is the total length from end to end, including anything towed. highway licensed vehicles only, no atvs. driving muddy roads prohibited. fires and charcoal grills prohibited. no hunting or collecting. no drones, wingsuits, or base jumping. filming/photography permit required for specific activities and all commercial filming. commercial filming is only permitted when beneficial to park operations and will be determined on a case by case basis.

be prepared when you visit...on the 60 mile dirt road from pavement to tuweep, flat tires are most frequent on smooth, graded sections of the roadway hiding unseen fractured, sharp, limestone. so travel slowly, 30 mph (50 kph) or less, to avoid flat tires. bring tire plugs and a portable air compressor, or bicycle pump, to repair flat tires. ensure you have enough fuel, full size spare tire, jack/lift, and owner’s manual. remember (i learned the hard way, driving to fast and getting a double flat as a result) tow service costs $1,000–2,000, and assistance is not guaranteed. aaa does not cover "unimproved roads" such as this one. 
 
also, carry extra water, food, and warm clothing. due to rapidly changing conditions, be equipped to spend the night. during monsoon season, visit in the morning before the afternoon storms. flooding may occur when the chance of precipitation is as low as 10 percent. during muddy winter conditions, travel when routes are frozen and overnight temperatures below 20°f (-7°c). complete travel prior to thaw by around 8:30 am.

and of course, watch your step! for your safety with the drop off to death below, but also as well as the protection of a delicate ecosystem, be careful where you step and drive. a 3000-foot (915 m) drop is one concern. the less obvious micro-biotic crusts are another; they hold soil and plant nutrients in place and can be easily damaged. when exploring on foot, please stay on trails, roads, washes, or rock surfaces to protect the crusts and avoid damaging native plants. when driving, passing another vehicle, or parking, stay on the road or in delineated parking areas.

tuweap overlook is dramatically different than other grand canyon viewpoints, tuweap overlook peers out over an abrupt gorge set in a broad corridor 3,000 feet (915 m) below the rim. eight, million-year-old lava flows and conical black cinder cones stud the landscape. walk to the edge for a breath-taking experience, no walls, no fence, just an all-natural edge that should not be crossed (duh). to the west, view the largest rapid on nearly 300 miles (485 km) of the park’s colorado river. listen carefully for the roar of the river or the faint sounds from boaters below. to the east, enjoy dramatic views, such as the one captured in my impression here today....
 
"the edge is the edge. the drop is straight down. standing on the edge is like taunting death, a total adrenaline rush of fear and excitement. there is nothing like it anywhere else in the world. just natural views and an experience that has not changed an iota for millions of years" ― bodhinku, the tuweap edge
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MORE QUOTES FOR EXTRA MEANING
and here is truly a magical song, from a clip to the movie willie wonka and the chocolate factory...this is purely another perfect tune that helps tie in the meaning of this blog today to my impression...the video has visuals from the movie, scenes along with music that made the movie one of the most beloved of its time (1071) by kids and adults alike, much much better imho than the modern johnny depp remake (2005), and still a movie i always enjoy rewatching: "pure imagination" by willie wonka (sung by the late gene wilder) ...(just click on any of words in the blue links to listen to the musical selection)....

"ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the chocolate room. hold your breath, make a wish, count to three...come with me and you'll be in a world of pure imagination. take a look and you'll see into your imagination. we'll begin with a spin, travelling in the world of my creation. what we'll see will defy explanation. if you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it. anything you want to, do it! want to change the world? there's nothing to it! there is no life i know to compare with pure imagination. living there, you'll be free if you truly wish to be. if you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it. anything you want to, do it! want to change the world? there's nothing to it! there is no life i know to compare with pure imagination. living there, you'll be free if you truly wish to be" ― willie wonka, pure imagination
 
"what you think, you become...what you feel, you attract...what you imagine, you create" ― gautama siddhartha buddha, sayings of buddha
 
"i hear and i forget. i see and i remember. i imagine and i understand" ― confucius, the doctrine of the mean 
 
"do you imagine the universe is agitated? Go into the desert at night and look at the stars. this practice should answer the question" ― lao tzu, tao te ching
 
"it is important to diminish undisciplined states of mind, but it is even more important to meet adversity with a positive attitude. keep this in mind: by greeting trouble with optimism and hope, you are undermining worse troubles down the line. beyond that, imagine that you are easing the burden of everyone suffering problems of that kind. this practice--imagining that by accepting your pain you are using up the negative karma of everyone destined to feel such pain--is very helpful" ― dalai lama xiv, the art of happiness  
 
"i will not let anyone walk through my imagination with their dirty feet" ― mohandas mmahatma gandhi  
 
"a man is but the product of his thoughts. what he imagines, he becomes" ― mohandas mmahatma gandhi
 
"on the parable of the good Samaritan: one might ask, 'if i stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' but by the very nature of his concern, the good samaritan reversed the question: 'if i do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?" ― martin luther king, jr., strength to love 
 
"the man who has no imagination has no wings" ― aristotle  

"music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything." ― plato, phaedrus   
 
"logic will get you from a to z; imagination will get you everywhere" ― albert einstein
 
"the true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination" ― albert einstein
 
"imagination is the highest form of research" ― albert einstein
 
"the power of imagination makes us infinite" ― john muir   
 
"wilderness, or wildness is a mystique...a religion, an intense philosophy, a dream of ideal society, these are also mystique. we are not engaged in preserving (as we should be) so many acre-feet of water, so many board-feet of timber, so many billion tons of granite, and limiting so many profit possibilities in so many ways for those concerned with the material aspects of the world. yet, we must accept the fact that human life (at least in the metabolic sense) depends upon the resources of the earth. as the fisherman depends upon the rivers, lakes and seas, and the farmer upon the land for his existence, so does mankind in general depend upon the beauty of the world about him for his imagination, and even more so, for his spiritual and emotional existence" ― ansel adams
 
"suspense is like a woman. the more left to the imagination, the more the excitement" ― alfred hitchcock
 
"art is the lie that enables us to imagine the truth" ― pablo picasso
 
"present-day reality has so strong a hold over us that even when we try to imagine the past, the minor events in our lives immediately wrench us out of our musings, and our own adventures throw us back irrevocably upon our personal feelings—joy, boredom, suffering, anger, or a smile" ― vincent van gogh
 
"i look forward to the day when we can meet one another in our true nakedness, stripped free of unresolved emotions, pain-induced projections, the distortions of duality. for too long we have been on opposite sides of the river, the bridge between our hearts washed away by a flood of pain. but the time has come to construct a new bridge, one that comes into being with each step we take, one that is fortified with benevolent intentions and authentic self-revealing. as we walk toward one another, our emotional armor falls to the ground, transforming into the light at its source. and when we are ready, we walk right into the godself at the center of the bridge, puzzled that we ever imagined ourselves separate." ― jeff brown
  
"the body can only do what the mind can imagine" ― jeff brown  
 
"i believe there is a home out there for us all, a place we can imagine of unmistakable belonging that can also be our sanctuary. maybe it’s a cabin in the woods, maybe it’s another human being, maybe it’s even a project, a book or even a song. maybe it’s found in the nature surrounding us or maybe it’s feeling not so alone or misunderstood in a big city or with some of your tribe. home, like sanctuary, i think means something different to each of us. sometimes we happen upon it by seeming accident, sometimes it is shown to us and sometimes i think we have to imagine it and  create it....but i believe, as i trust the unfolding path, that it is out there waiting in the unseen, as i imagine the safe haven that calls to my heart and soul. i just have to keep the faith, keep imagining, and keep on moving forward" ― c. ara campbell, seeking sanctuary (with additions by bodhinku) 
 
"a storm howls in my soul
a wild torrent of madness 
feral, dark and raw echoing my longing
through the ancient pines 
witnessed by a blanket of starlight

there i stand in the darkness
digging my roots deep into the moss below
anchored in the solace of the earth
awaiting the rebirth that comes
with in the illumination of the moon 

i am the altar
upon which the winds of change do blow
here i wait in silent worship
surrendering at the edge of the unknown
opening to all that lies beyond

at long last she rises
a jewel shining on the horizon
calling to the depths of my spirit
a feast of nightsong to sooth these weary bones
her great strength granted to my outstretched branches

here my spirit is born
here my eyes finally see
here where all things
are eternally free" ― c. ara campbell, the storm in my soul 
 
"you are all the places you have been, the sights you have seen, the marvels you have achieved, and every soul you have touched. each passing moment is another brushstroke on the canvas. so rise, live always with passion and heart, and someday you will look back on your life and see a work of art" ― beau taplin, remedy
 
"there’s something in your sweet definite gaze that settles my heart and vibrates life through my veins. those bright, round eyes are the envy of even the stars. and when they have grown wise and worn, and wrinkle at their corners, they will enchant me perfectly just the same.” ― beau taplin, bright eyes 
 
"the most important thing you will ever do in your life is learn to embrace your unique, honest self. a boundless, infinitely populated universe, and there is nothing else here quite like you. this is your power. all those things that make you strange and different are what make you irreplaceable" ― beau taplin, the wild heart 
 
"we must imagine our way" ― pablo neruda, toward the splendid city

"only do not forget, if i wake up crying
it's only because in my imagination i'm a lost child
hunting through the leaves of the night for your hands" ― pablo neruda, 100 love sonnets
 
"i began to imagine how i would like to be living right at that moment. i wanted to be happy, curious, joyful...living every moment intensely, drinking the water of life thirstily. believing again in my dreams. able to fight for what i wanted" ― paulo coelho, by the river piedra i sat down and wept  
 
"instead of accepting love's strength, we are trying to diminish it so that it fits the world in which we imagine we live" ― paulo coelho, the zahir
 
"desire is not what you see, but what you imagine" ― paulo coelho, eleven minutes 
 
"our imagination is larger than the world around us, so we go beyond our limits"― paulo coelho, the witch of portobello  
 
"fairytales had been her first experience of the magical universe, and more than once she had wondered why people ended up distancing themselves from that world, knowing the immense joy that childhood had brought to their lives" ― paulo coelho, brida
 
"we deny our own beauty because others can't or won't recognize it. we try to imitate what we see around us. we try to be what other people think of as 'pretty' & little by little, our soul fades...we forget the world is what we imagine it to be. we stop being the sun and become, instead, the pool of water reflecting it"― paulo coelho, manuscript found in accra
 
“some things are just hard to understand, and other things are so very rare, take for example true love..."but why is that so?"... just imagine if everyone went around transforming lead into gold. gold would lose its value" ― paulo coelho, the alchemist 
  
"if you have a past with which you feel dissatisfied, then forget it, now. imagine a new story for your life and believe in it. focus only on the moments when you achieved what you desired, and that strength will help you to get what you want" ― paulo coelho, the fifth mountain 
 
"the past is memory, the future is imagination. only the present is time. the past is not, it has already gone. the future is not; it has not come yet. only the present is" ― osho, book of wisdom
 
"if you know your being, there is no question of becoming. all that you could have ever imagined to become you already are. you are gods who have forgotten who they are. you are emperors who have fallen asleep and are dreaming that they have become beggars. Now beggars are trying to become emperors, in dreams they are making great efforts to become emperors, and all that is needed is to wake up!" ― osho, the responsibility of being oneself
 
"time consists only of past and future. it is life that consists of the present. so those who want to live, for them there is no other way than to live this moment. only the present is existential. the past is simply a collection of memories, and the future is nothing but your imaginations, your dreams" ― osho, zen: the path of paradox
 
"nothing false and possible is love
(who's imagined, therefore limitless)
love's to giving as to keeping's give;
as yes is to if, love is to yes" ― e. e. cummings, 100 selected poems
 
"in the blink of an eye, something happens by chance--when you least expect it--sets you on a course that you never planned, into a future you never imagined" ― nicholas sparks, the lucky one  
 
"i wish i had the talent to paint the way i feel about you, for my words always feel inadequate. i imagine using red for your passion and pale blue for your kindness; forest green to reflect the depth of your empathy and bright yellow for your unflagging optimism. and still i wonder: can even an artist’s palette capture the full range of what you mean to me?" ― nicholas sparks, the longest ride  
 
"i don’t know what else i can tell you, other than that i can imagine spending the rest of my life with you. i know that sounds crazy. i know we’re just getting to know each other, and even admitting what i just did might make you think i’m nuts, scare you, and push you away...but i’ve never been more sure about anything. and if you give me a chance–if you give us a chance–i’m going to live the rest of my life proving to you that you made the right decision. i love you. and not just for the person you are, but for the way you make me think that we can be" ― nicholas sparks, the choice 
 
"i held her close to me with my eyes closed, wondering if anything in my life had ever been this perfect, yet knowing at the same time that it hadn't. i was in love, and the feeling was even more wonderful than i ever imagined it could be" ― nicholas sparks, a walk to remember 
 
"there is no need to search; achievement leads to nowhere. it makes no difference at all, so just be happy now! love is the only reality of the world, because it is all one, you see. and the only laws are paradox, humor and change. there is no problem, never was, and never will be. release your struggle, let go of your mind, throw away your concerns, and relax into the world. no need to resist life, just do your best. open your eyes and see that you are far more than you imagine. you are the world, you are the universe; you are yourself and everyone else, too! wake up, regain your humor. don't worry, just be happy. you are already free!" ― dan millman, way of the peaceful warrior  
 
"it is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. however, not every one of them is inhabited. therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as possible, so the average population of all the planets in the universe can be said to be zero. from this, it follows that the population of the whole universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination" ― douglas adams, the restaurant at the end of the universe  
 
"reason is intelligence taking exercise. imagination is intelligence with an erection" ― victor hugo, les miserables
 
"no matter how qualified or deserving we are, we will never reach a better life until we can imagine it for ourselves and allow ourselves to have it" ― richard bach, jonathan livingston seagull 
 
"imagination is an old soul" ― richard bach, jonathan livingston seagull  
 
"to bring anything into your life, imagine that it's already there" ― richard bach, illusions 
 
"free your mind with imagination" ― antoine de saint-exupery, the little prince
  
"imagine living without the fear of loving and not being loved. you are no longer afraid to be rejected, and you don't have the need to be accepted. you can say "i love you" with no shame or justification. you can walk in the world with your heart completely open, and not be afraid to be hurt" ― don miguel ruiz, the four agreements 
 
"imagination sees the complete reality...it is where past, present and future meet...imagination is limited neither to the reality which is apparent, nor to one place. it lives everywhere. it is at a centre and feels the vibrations of all the circles within which east and west are virtually included. imagination is the life of mental freedom. it realizes what everything is in its many aspects...imagination does not uplift: we don't want to be uplifted, we want to be more completely aware" ― khalil gibran, the prophet
 
"the stronger is the imagination, the less imaginary it is" ― rabindranath tagore, collected poems and plays
 
"they come from my imagination; for, as you know, truth is silent, and it is imagination only which waxes eloquent. reality represses the flow of feeling like a rock; imagination cuts out a path for itself" ― rabindranath tagore, fireflies
 
"imagine, i might really become somebody, someday" ― maya angelou
 
"you ask
if i will write a poem
i could,
i suppose
write the most
splendiferous
one of all

but not
right
now
not when

your hands
are brewing
warm
cinnamon tea
across my skin

not when i'm
trying to imagine
what might happen
if you began
flowering
kisses
upon
me

my dear,
how can
i write
a poem
when i'm already
inside one?" ― sanober khan, a thousand flamingos
 
"most of them are already so puffed up with their imagined importance that they have no idea how silly they sound" ― og mandino, the greatest salesman in the world
 
"the future is an imagined now, a projection of the mind. when the future comes, it comes as the now. when you think about the future, you do it now. past and future obviously have no reality of their own. just as the moon has no light of its own, but can only reflect the light of the sun, so are past and future only pale reflections of the light, power, and reality of the eternal present. their reality is 'borrowed' from the now" ― eckhart tolle, practicing the power of now
  
"look again at that dot. that's here. that's home. that's us. on it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. the aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam....the earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot....our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. in our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves....the earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. there is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. visit, yes. settle, not yet. like it or not, for the moment the earth is where we make our stand....it has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. to me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known" ― carl sagan, pale blue dot
 
another song to give listen, this is another cover of john lennon's song, with a modern theme embedded into it by lady gaga (a bit nasally, but still quite good)..."imagine" by lady gaga (john lennon cover) ...(just click on any of words in the blue links to listen to the musical selection)....
 
"imagine there's no heaven, it's easy if you try. no hell below us, and only matthew in the sky. imagine all the people, living for today...imagine there's no countries. it isn't hard to do. nothing to kill or die for. and no religion too. imagine all the people, living life in peace. you may say i'm a dreamer, but i'm not the only one. i hope someday that you'll join us, and the world will live as one....people of the nation, are you listening? it isn't equal if it's sometimes. i want a real democracy. imagine all the people, could love equally. imagine no possessions, i wonder if you can. no need for greed or hunger, just the brotherhood of man. imagine all the people, sharing in the world. with nothing to hate, and nothing to think. just people to love. and friends to have drinks...you may say i'm a dreamer, but i'm not the only one. i hope someday that you'll join us, and the world will live as one" ― lady gaga, imagine (john lennon cover)  
 
"there are two ways to reach me: by way of kisses or by way of the imagination. but there is a hierarchy: the kisses alone don't work" ― anais nin, henry and june 
 
"facts? what the hell are facts? i only know imagination!" ― c. joybell c.
 
"being imaginative and playful doesn’t make you any less of an adult, it only makes you a more interesting one" ― lisa kleypas, seduce me at sunrise
 
"i’m here. i’m yours. i want to do everything you’ve ever imagined doing with me" ― lisa kleypas, love in the afternoon  
 
"maybe we slip in and out of alternate worlds through our minds and our imaginations, picking up scar tissue from other dimensions" ― lang leav, love & misadventure  
  
"i knew that there was a place within my imagination so fathomlessly deep that the light of the real world could never touch it" ― elizabeth gilbert, eat, pray, love
 
"what is sacred is what time does to expand your imagination, and what that expanded imagination does to transform your life. the more lightly you can pass that time, the brighter your existence becomes" ― elizabeth gilbert, big magic
 
"you do not have to be good. you do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. you only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. tell me about despair, yours, and i will tell you mine. meanwhile the world goes on. meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting, over and over announcing your place in the family of things" ― mary oliver
 
"snow was falling,
so much like stars
filling the dark trees
that one could easily imagine
its reason for being was nothing more
than prettiness" ― mary oliver
 
"when you spend time worrying, you’re simply using your imagination to create things you don’t want" ― shannon l. alder
 
"sometimes taking a leap faith requires an imaginative mind that can create the ending you are unable to see" ― shannon l. alder
 
"peace can only be found in what your extraordinary imagination has defined as an ordinary life" ― shannon l. alder
 
"when magic through nerves and reason passes, imagination, force, and passion will thunder. the portrait of the world is changed" ― dejan stojanovic, the sign and Its children
    
"a poet can imagine an iceberg singing a melancholic song while the world leaders find it difficult to imagine a proper solution to global warming" ― munia khan, attainable 
 
"there is nothing more beautiful than seeing a person being themselves. Imagine going through your day being unapologetically you" ― steve maraboli, unapologetically you
 
"just because i don't believe in your god doesn't mean i don't believe in god. i just choose not to be bound by the limits of your imagination or those of your ancestors" ― steve maraboli, unapologetically you   
 
"believe in yourself. you are braver than you think, more talented than you know, and capable of more than you imagine" ― roy t. bennett, the light in the heart      
  
“one does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious" ― carl gustay jung, psychology and alchemy  
 
"the lunatic, the lover, and the poet, are of imagination all compact" ― william shakespeare, a midsummer night's dream  
 
"yes, i am a dreamer. for a dreamer is one who can only imagine his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he imagines the dawn before the rest of the world" ― oscar wilde 
 
"anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination" ― oscar wilde  
 
"i am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart's affections and the truth of the imagination" ― john keats
 
"a man, to be greatly good, must imagine intensely and comprehensively; he must put himself in the place of another and many others; the pains and pleasures of his species must become his own. the great instrument of moral good is the imagination" ― percy bysshe shelley
 
"the world to me was a secret, which i desired to discover; to her it was a vacancy, which she sought to fill with people with imaginations of her own." ― mary wollstonecraft shelley, frankenstein 
 
"it’s all a question of imagination. our responsibility begins with the power to imagine. in dreams begin responsibility. turn this on its head and you could say that where there’s no power to imagine, no responsibility can arise" ― william butler yeats, the unicorn from the stars
 
"imagination is the beginning of creation. you imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and at last you create what you will" ― george bernard shaw 
 
"that was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. but it is the same with any life. imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been. pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day" ― charles dickens, great expectations 
  
"love, however, is very materially assisted by a warm and active imagination: which has a long memory, and will thrive, for a considerable time, on very slight and sparing food. thus it is, that it often attains its most luxuriant growth in separation and under circumstances of the utmost difficulty" ― charles dickens, nicholas nickleby 
 
"the fish is my friend, but i must kill him to live...i am glad we do not have to try to kill the stars. imagine if each day a man must try to kill the moon, the moon runs away. but imagine if a man each day should have to try to kill the sun? we were born lucky; he thought"― ernest hemingway, the old man and the sea
  
"i am really only myself when i'm somebody else whom i have endowed with these wonderful qualities from my imagination" ― f. scott fitzgerald, the great gatsby  
 
"you're a slave, a bound helpless slave to one thing in this world, your imagination" ― f. scott fitzgerald, tender is the night   
 
"my imagination will get me a passport to hell one day" ― john steinbeck, east of eden  

"i learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected" ― henry david thoreau, walden
  
"to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself" ― william blake, the marriage of heaven and hell    
 
"what is now proved was once only imagined" ― william blake
  
"imagination is a very high sort of seeing, which does not come by study, but by the intellect being where and what it sees, by sharing the path, and so making them translucid to others" ― ralph waldo emerson
     
"science still cannot comprehend its debt to imagination" ― ralph waldo emerson
     
"the most important thing we've learned, so far as children are concerned, is never, never, never let them near your television set...or better still, just don't install, the idiotic thing at all. in almost every house we've seen, we've watched them gaping at the screen. they loll and slop and lounge about, and stare until their eyes pop out. they sit and stare and stare and sit until they're hypnotised by it, until they're absolutely drunk with all that shocking ghastly junk. oh yes, we know it keeps them still, they don't climb out the window sill, they never fight or kick or punch, they leave you free to cook the lunch and wash the dishes in the sink...but did you ever stop to think, to wonder just exactly what this does to your beloved tot? it rots and rots and rots the sense in the head, it kills the imagination dead! it clogs and clutters up the mind, it makes a child so dull and blind. he no longer can understand a fantasy or fairyland! his brain becomes as dense as cheese. his powers of thinking rot and freeze, he cannot think, he only sees! 'all right!' you'll cry. 'all right!' you'll say, 'but if we take the set away, what shall we do to entertain our darling children? please explain!'...we'll answer this by asking you, 'what used the darling ones to do? 'how used they keep themselves contented, before this monster was invented?' have you forgotten? don't you know? we'll say it very loud and slow: they....used...to...read, they'd read and read and read and read, and then proceed to read so more! great scott! gadzooks! one half their lives was reading books! the nursery shelves held books galore! books cluttered up the nursery floor! and in the bedroom, by the bed, more books were waiting to be read! such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales. and treasure isles, and distant shores where smugglers rowed with muffled oars, and pirates wearing purple pants, and sailing ships and elephants, and cannibals crouching 'round the pot, stirring away at something hot. it smells so good, what can it be? good gracious, it's penelope...oh, books, what books they used to know, those children living long ago! so please, oh please, we beg, we pray, go throw your tv set away, and in its place you can install a lovely bookshelf on the wall. then fill the shelves with lots of books, ignoring all the dirty looks, the screams and yells, the bites and kicks, and children hitting you with sticks...fear not, because we promise you, that, in about a week or two of having nothing else to do, they'll now begin to feel the need of having something to read. and once they start--oh boy, oh boy! you watch the slowly growing joy that fills their hearts. they'll grow so keen, they'll wonder what they'd ever seen in that ridiculous machine, that nauseating, foul, unclean, repulsive television screen! and later, each and every kid, will love you more for what you did" ― roald dahl, charlie and the chocolate factory 
 
"you know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your imagination" ― dr. seuss
 
"for ages that stagger the imagination this earth spun hot and lifeless, and again for ages of equal vastness it held no life above the level of the animalculæ in a drop of ditch-water. not only is space from the point of view of life and humanity empty, but time is empty also" ― h.g. wells, the time machine
 
"anything one man can imagine, other men can make real" ― jules verne, around the world in eighty days 
 
"i hear my heartbeat. i have been looking at him too long, but then, he has been looking back, and i feel like we are both trying to say something the other can't hear, though i could be imagining it. too long...and now even longer, my heart even louder, his tranquil eyes swallowing me whole" ― veronica roth, divergent    
 
"books have been thought of as windows to another world of imagination" ― stephenie meyer, twilight  
 
"i could imagine how lovely the place would be on a day like this. i could smell the wildflowers, sweeter in the warmth, and hear the low burble of the stream on the far side. the insects hummed, and far away, birds trilled and crooned" ― stephenie meyer, midnight sun  
 
"we do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better" ― j.k. rowling, harry potter and the half-blood prince
 
"imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and, therefore, the foundation of all invention and innovation. in its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared" ― joanne "j.k." rowling
 
"i can't imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once" ― c.s. lewis   
 
"the great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's real life. the truth is, of course, that what one calls interruptions are precisely one's real life; what one calls one's real life is a phantom of one's imagination" ― c.s. lewis, letters of c. s. lewis
 
"the world that contained even the imagination of a fire breathing dragon was richer and more beautiful, at whatever the cost of peril" ― j.r.r. tolkien, the fellowship of the ring  
 
"a single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities"  ― j.r.r. tolkien, the fellowship of the ring 
  
"description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s imagination” ― stephen king
 
"stopping a piece of creative work just because it's hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea. sometimes you have to go on when you don't feel like it, and sometimes you're doing good work when it feels like all you're managing to do is to shovel shit from a sitting position" ― stephen king
 
"the unreal is more powerful than the real. because nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it. because it's only intangible ideas, concepts, beliefs, fantasies that last. stone crumbles. wood rots. people, well, they die. but things as fragile as a thought, a dream, a legend, they can go on and on. if you can change the way people think. the way they see themselves. the way they see the world. you can change the way people live their lives. that's the only lasting thing you can create" ― chuck palahniuk, fight club  
 
"reality leaves a lot to the imagination" ― john lennon
 
"what the universe intended for you goes far beyond anything you can imagine" ― oprah winfrey    
 
“i believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. that myth is more potent than history. that dreams are more powerful than facts. that hope always triumphs over experience. that laughter is the only cure for grief. and i believe that love is stronger than death" ― robert fulghum, uncommon thoughts on common things 
 
"sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. you change direction but the sandstorm chases you. you turn again, but the storm adjusts. over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. why? because this storm isn't something that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. this storm is you. something inside of you. so all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn't get in, and walk through it, step by step. there's no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. just fine white sand swirling up into the sky like pulverized bones. that's the kind of sandstorm you need to imagine....and you really will have to make it through that violent, metaphysical, symbolic storm. no matter how metaphysical or symbolic it might be, make no mistake about it: it will cut through flesh like a thousand razor blades. people will bleed there, and you will bleed too. hot, red blood. you'll catch that blood in your hands, your own blood and the blood of others....and once the storm is over, you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. you won't even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. but one thing is certain. when you come out of the storm, you won't be the same person who walked in. that's what this storm's all about" ― haruki murakami, kafka on the shore
  
"he stared up at the stars: and it seemed to him then that they were dancers, stately and graceful, performing a dance almost infinite in its complexity. he imagined he could see the very faces of the stars; pale, they were, and smiling gently, as if they had spent so much time above the world, watching the scrambling and the joy and the pain of the people below them, that they could not help being amused every time another little human believed itself the center of its world, as each of us does" ― neil gaiman, stardust  
 
"how much does one imagine, how much does one observe? one can no more separate those functions than divide light from air, or wetness from water" ― elspeth huxley, the flame trees of thika
 
“fear kills everything...your mind, your heart, your imagination" ― cornelia, funke, inkheart  

"my imagination functions much better when i don't have to speak to people" ― patricia highsmith  
 
"imagination does not become great until human beings, given the courage and the strength, use it to create" ― maria montessori  
 
"our imagination flies, we are its shadow on the earth" ― vladimir nabokov 
 
"you must give everything, in order to make your life as beautiful as the dreams that dance in your imagination" ― roman payne  
 
"never be limited by other people's limited imaginations" ― mae jemison 
 
 "it's time to start living the life you've imagined" ― henry james   
 
"do not stop thinking of life as an adventure. you have no security unless you can live bravely, excitingly, imaginatively" ― eleanor roosevelt, autobiography  
 
"imagining plays with form, fleeing and hiding as the sky does in water, now one place, now nowhere...for imagination contains true reality. these poems are elusive because their presence is elusive. just as what you thought to paint lifts off the canvas, while what you love slips into your heart" ― jalaluddin rumi, hush don't say anything to god 
    
"you were born with potential. you were born with goodness and trust. you were born with ideals and imagination. you were born with wings. you are not meant for crawling, so don't. you have wings. learn to use them and fly" ― jalaluddin rumi, the essential rumi
 
"i have spent my life imagining of your face. now, i have found you" ― jalaluddin rumi, in the arms of the beloved
----------------------
 
ABOUT THE IMPRESSION
"imagine real, but image b-i-g" ― bodhinku, imagine real big 
  
in my photography, i always use filters to create longer exposure effects and to balance the light in my composition in-camera...i often use as many as four filters at time, and i always use at least one filter...for this exposure, to get the effects and balance i was looking for, i used two progrey filter in the capture of this composition...
 
this composition is comprised of a three separate exposures, all taken on the same evening at tuweep overlook on the north rim of the grand canyon...two exposures were captured in the same frame (the canyon down to the river bottom; and the clouds/rising moon), and the third one about 90 degrees opposite before the moonrise happened (the colorful southern core of the milky way was painted in over top of the position of the northern less colorful part of the milky way). exact positioning for the frames was achieved with my indiro pan head tripod mount that allows for me to return the camera frame to exact angular position points...this was all done based on my sheer imagination as well as to achieve the perfect lighting of the entire scene as i saw it in my mind's eye...
 
when we arrived at tuweep on september 6, 2020 about two hours before sunset...i used star apps with my smartphone to get the exact position i wanted for my composition ahead of time to set up my camera and then take exposures of the canyon and riverbottom with the soft violet colors facing away from the sunset to the due east, along with sky shots of the northern part of the milky way in position in the same frame (only used these shots as info, for placement of the milky way, but were not used visually in the eventual merged composition) and then merge later with the stars when the milky way was in place over the canyon to the south about 1 hr later at about a 90 degree flip position of the camera frame...then take the camera frame back 90 degrees exactly to the original sunset position and capture the moonrise happening in the eastern sky...
 
for the first exposure in the series, to capture the canyon walls and river water exposure of this composition, i used two progreyusa filters...i chose to use the 3.0nd progrey antarctica filter to slow down the pre-sunset light 10 stops and permit the ultra long exposure time of 111sec at f/4.0 at 7:21pm mst to create the smoothing effects of the colorado river plus naturally saturate the blue hour colors and the earthy red colors extra in-camera, combined with a 0.9gnd progrey aurora filter to balance down the sky an extra three stops and make merging the cloud exposure easier, along with the progrey g-120z magnetic holder to hold the two progrey filters and secure them to my nikon d810 mounted with a nikkor 24mm f/1.4 prime lens (shot in a landscape orientation)...
 
for the colorful milky way core exposure of this series, and for the moonrise/clouds exposure, no filters were used...
 
i wish to openly thank my sponsors who have always supported me through both the good and bad times...for truly this long exposure impression would not be possible without the use of my trusty dolica tripods in combination with the progreyusa filters which i use with every photo i take...
 
"if nothing else...if i open my eyes, if i cry, if i think, if i sigh, if i giggle, if i dance, if i love, if i breathe, then i have lived a full days worth of life...nothing is wasted, nothing" ― bodhinku, if nothing else
 
"contemplate without thinking. stop the world. slow down everything. shut off the noise. relax. seize this moment. reconnect. feel and sense what surrounds you. listen to all the colors of light that envelope you. see the melody and harmony that floats about unnoticed. taste the solitude of all this wonderment. smell the beautiful silence. now discover your peaceful serenity. then, reach out and touch your faith with all your senses. this is my world. awaken!" ― bodhinku, my world
 
"my photography is my way of keeping a diary" ― bodhinku, my diary   
 
above all else as always, i hope this message and impression find you well.
 
namaste,
bodhi
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