Immersion by Bodhi Smith

Mar 19, 2021

"immersion" a brand new impression and blog from me...
 
this image beautifully bridges the spaces between the celestial and the terrestrial...
 
"seems the most complicated thing in my life these days is trying to just keep things simple, let things flow freely. so, when i'm all constipated in complications, i go out to a place where nobody is around for miles and miles, out in the middle of real nature, the real wilderness. i let go, and let mother earth simplify my life. in the process, i find the simplicity and meaning of life in one beautiful night under the stars. bridging all the spaces between the celestial and the terrestrial, things just do not seem so bad anymore" ― bodhinku, immersion
     
"he was there alone with himself, collected, tranquil, adoring, comparing the serenity of his heart with the serenity of the skies, moved in the darkness by the visible splendors of the constellations, opening his soul to the thoughts which fall from the unknown...he felt something depart from him, and something descend upon him, mysterious interchanges of the depths of his soul with the depths of the universe" ― victor hugo, les miserables
 
"chase your stars fool, life is short" ― atticus, love her wild   
 
"each day is a miracle, a blessing unexplored and the more you immerse yourself in light, the less you will feel the darkness. transcend your fears and follow yourself into the void instead of letting yourself get eaten up by entropy and decay. freedom is being yourself without permission. be soft and leave a lasting impression on everybody you meet" ― mohadesa najumi  
 
"there's a secret current behind the stars that carries you to the end of you" ― bodhinku, secret of the stars 
 
"the starry sky is the truest friend in life...when you first become acquainted, it is ever there. it gives ever peace, ever reminds you that your restlessness, your doubt, your pains are passing trivialities. the universe is, and will remain unshaken" ― fridtjof nansen 
 
"i'd been convinced i was on the outside, but really, i'd always been within arm's reach. all i had to do was ask, and i, too, would be easily brought back, surrounded and immersed, finding myself safe, somewhere in between" ― sarah dessen, just listen
 
"i could be having the worst day, week, month...when i just can't get out of my mind so many damned useless thoughts taking me over with so much damn useless noise that i feel truly beaten down...my solution for dealing with tough times is to immerse myself in nature; going out into the middle of nowhere, in the mountains or in the desert under a starry canopy. i found a beautiful night sky split down the middle by the milky way can cure almost any wound, cleansing me of almost every single meaningless thought occupying my time" ― bodhinku, immersion 
 
this first song is deeply metaphorical, it about immersion in a place we need to oneday find ourselves, but it's a place that we cannot fathom or understand. a state oblivious to pain and fear, with no cares, and no external realities. it's deeply experiencing a meaning which is impossible to described or explain with words, it can only be felt to be known... "internal landscapes" by anathema ... (just click on any of the words in the blue links to listen to the musical selection)....

"and i felt myself going. i was in a great deal of pain, it was a very frightening experience, but i began to slip. i just sort of, feel myself going, and i remember trying to hold on. saying to myself,  "i’ll be ok, i’ll be ok", and it got to the point where i just couldn't and everything began to just become very quiet. and i can remember with every ounce of strength i had, i wanted to say 'goodbye' to my wife, it was important to me. and i did, i remember just turning my head, looking at her and saying, "i'm gonna die, goodbye Joan", and i did...it was then that i experienced, experienced what we call a near death experience. for me there was nothing near about it, it was there. it was a total immersion in light, brightness, warmth, peace, security. i did not have an out-of-body experience, i did not see my body or anyone about me. i just immediately went into this beautiful bright light. it's difficult to describe, matter of fact it’s impossible to describe. verbally it cannot be expressed, it’s something which becomes you and you become it. i could say that i was peace, i was love, i was the brightness and it was part of me.....goodbye my friend, love will never end. and i feel like you. and i breathe all truth. love is the lifebreath of all i see. love is the truelight inside of me. and i know you somehow, as i hold you in my heart, in my heart. there's a fire in the sky, and i know it's you (senses following me). there's a light that's so bright, and i know it's you  and i dream like you. and i believe in truth, for i was always there, and i will always be there.....and it’s just so beautiful. it was eternity. it’s like i was always there and i will always be there, that my existence on earth was just a very brief instant. i could say that i was peace, i was love, i was the brightness and it was part of me." ― anathema, internal landscapes
    
“i don't know much of anything with certainty, but seeing the stars makes me dream” ― vincent van gogh 
 
“when i have a terrible need of shall i say the word, religion, then i go out and paint the stars.” ― vincent van gogh
 
"the starlight, i will be chasing a starlight until the end of my life...now i'll never let you go, if you promised not to fade away, never fade away..." ― matthew bellamy (muse lead singer-songwriter), starlight  
 
"look up; notice how the stars shine. look in; notice how the stars shine" ― laura jaworski 
  
"we all travel the milky way together" ― john muir, the mountains of california    
 
"for me, zen is being in nature, surrounded by all i love...getting out of my mind, and into my own true nature instead" ― bodhinku, zen to me 
 
"we began as dust in a celestial wind, and will return to that one day. and while we exist on this plant, we are really insignificant specks, beings who are who we are for only a tiny moment in the infinity of time, one that is quickly running out, "like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives"...and we all really are only dust in the wind when compared to the vast eternity of the universe and should never feel any more special than that. all we truly need to recognize and realize in our hearts is the magic of life, and the magic of love, and how important it is to live to the fullest during the short time we have in this universe before returning to be just dust in the wind once again" ― bodhinku, dust in the wind 
----------------------
 
MEANING
"to find real peace is simple, all you need do is immerse yourself in the silence between breaths" ― bodhinku, immersion 

"immersion" is defined as: the state of being deeply engaged or involved; absorbed completely into a particular activity or interest
 
i personally define the word immersion to mean "engaging into and becoming part of something bigger than we are"...and i need to remember this always, especially in vulnerable times when i forget its importance, times when i feel isolated and withdrawn...
 
my life does not suck any worse than anyone else, nor is it any better than anyone else...my life is mine, and i own it. most of the time i am happy to be me, i feel blessed to get to see and do all which i have in this world...but sometimes...
 
sometimes there are those damned times that i cannot explain. i'm swirling in a storm before the calm, a profound immersion in the negative. times when i feel sorry for myself. times filled with utter and deep remorse. am i too cold and uncaring? do i only care about myself? am i too selfish? why didn't i ever have a child? what doesn't my family understand me? but how can they understand me when i can barely understand myself?
 
"man looks in the abyss, there's nothing staring back at him. at that moment, man finds his character. and that is what keeps him out of the abyss" ― oliver stone (lou mannheim), wallstreet
 
i fill full of regrets of things i don't have, and questions about the path i've chosen. should i have done this, or said that? should i have done something differently? did i make the right decision? did i chose the correct path? why the fuck am i always so alone??
 
"but, being solitary is being alone well...being alone luxuriously immersed in doings of your own choice, aware of the fullness of your own presence rather than of the absence of others. because solitude is an achievement" ― alice koller
 
then the obsessive thoughts fill up my mind. obsessions that i cannot act upon. compulsions i need to just let be, let go...noise fills up my head that begins like bad audio feedback and ends with interference leading to an annoying buzzing sound, and i can't ignore the disturbances...

"whenever you are immersed in compulsive thinking, you are avoiding what is. you don't want to be where you are. here, now...let go of those thoughts and live. here, now." ― eckhart tolle, practicing the power of now  
 
"my biggest problem is that i'm still me, but my biggest gift is that i'm still me" ― bodhinku, i'm always me
 
seems the most complicated thing in my life these days is trying to just keep things simple, let things flow freely. simply dealing with other people gets too complicated at times. so when i'm all constipated in complications, i go out to a place where nobody is around for miles and miles, out in the middle of real nature, the real wilderness. i let go, and let mother earth simplify my life. in the process, i find the simplicity and meaning of life in one beautiful night under the stars. bridging all the spaces between the celestial and the terrestrial, things just do not seem so bad anymore...  
 
i needed this picture. badly. not for social media likes, or money from someone buying a print, but i needed the experience you see pictured here. i needed a deep immersion in positive minimalism. i needed to be lost in the silence of the dunes as the stars echoed their silence down upon me. i needed to be immersed in nature, alone in a wilderness with only my thoughts (and my doggie) to keep me company. i needed to clean and clear all the noise. being in a place like this is like breathing in a perfect meditation, and breathing out a focused solution...i needed this picture, badly. it saved me from myself... 
 
to find real peace is simple, all you need do is immerse yourself in the silence between breaths...
 
i could be having the worst day, week, month...when i just can't get out of my mind so many damned useless thoughts taking me over with so much damn useless noise that i feel truly beaten down...my solution for dealing with tough times is to immerse myself in nature; going out into the middle of nowhere, in the mountains or in the desert under a starry canopy. i found a beautiful night sky split down the middle by the milky way can cure almost any wound, cleansing me of almost every single meaningless thought occupying my time...
 
my doggie and i, all alone together, under the stars and the flowing milky way, bridging the space between the celestial and the terrestrial on pristine sand dunes with no civilization around for miles and miles...immersion in the eloquence and silence of a remote location in southern california, which is still unexploited, unspoiled, and wild...life is good again...
 
"you see, this picture saved me from myself" ― bodhinku, saved
 
this next song i would like you to give a good ear and listen to is an exquisitely beautiful cover version of the the chart-topping hit "dust in the wind" by kansas (original version) from the early 1980s. this version (link is below) is sung by caroline jones, who i first heard singing a duet "breathe in, breathe out, move on" with jimmy buffett (easily one of my all-time favorite artists) her eloquent voice adds so much depth to the meaning of the song, to me this version is even more beautiful than the original by kansas....and although many people think this song is depressing, i see it as hopeful and magical, and a perfect fit for my impression and blog today... 
 
we began as dust in a celestial wind, and will return to that one day. and while we exist on this planet, we are really insignificant specks, beings who are who we are for only a tiny moment in the infinity of time, one that is quickly running out, "like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives"...and we all really are only dust in the wind when compared to the vast eternity of the universe and should never feel any more special than that. all we truly need to recognize and realize in our hearts is the magic of life, and the magic of love, and how important it is to live to the fullest during the short time we have in this universe before returning to be just dust in the wind once again..."dust in the wind" by caroline jones (kansas cover version) ... i sound old, but they just do not make songs like this anymore...(just click on any of words in the blue links to listen to the song)...  
 
"i close my eyes...only for a moment, and the moment's gone...all my dreams pass before my eyes, a curiosity. dust in the wind, all they are is dust in the wind...same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea. all we do crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see. dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind...now, don't hang on. nothin' lasts forever but the earth and sky. it slips away, and all your money won't another minute buy. dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind. dust in the wind. everything is dust in the wind, the wind" ― caroline jones, dust in the wind (kansas cover) 
 
"in sweet silence of the star light, i see her radiance glowing bright above, i feel her angelic innocence, i play in her magical wilderness...i know my focus is always up to her" ― bodhinku, bright above 
----------------------
 
MORE BODHIKU QUOTES
and now here are a couple more quotes from bodhinku from past blogs to help add to the deeper meaning of this blog today...
 
"the more of us that feel a starry sky, the better off we will be in this world" ― bodhinku, feel a starry sky 
  
"sitting here on this night, under this glowing milky way, i feel so utterly lost in silence...and at the same time, i'm found, knowing my meaning is written somewhere into all those billions of stars above me" ― bodhinku, written somewhere    
 
"i love the milky way...she is my beautiful temptress that visits me constantly in my visions, both awake and asleep. she is made up of the light glowing from billions of suns, shining eternally, leading me into and though the darkness, guiding my path...and my meaning is destined to be forever written in those stars of hers" ― bodhinku, written in her stars
 
"i know of a place, that is the place for me. out in the wilderness under the beautiful canopy of the milky way stretching across the entire sky. its silence speaks to me, telling me with all certainty this is my place where i need to be, my favorite place, when the darkness is so dark, that the stars light up everything dark inside me and out, illuminating everything all around with their collective energies, painting a starry night into my soul" ― bodhinku, starry night
 
"eternally each night, she glows down freely from the heavens, but without somebody to see her, she has no meaning... his eye is what interprets her impression. his eye sees and understands her for who she is...so, his eye creates the art of her light for all to see, and captures her beauty forever...he becomes the eye of her light, he becomes her meaning...and she becomes his purpose"  ― bodhinku, his eye-her light 
 
"sigh...throughout my life, the one thing most inspiring is a starry night. i have always looked up there for inspiration, and i have never been let down...witnessing celestial bodies glowing in silent beauty as they dance with the zodiac all night long, filling the voids inside me with rapture wrapped in a sigh" ― bodhinku, a starry night  
 
"realistically, i'm an endlessly flawed person...i'm the stubborn creek with many rocks that doesn't flow easily, a clear blue sky filled chatty blackbirds. i have way too many shortcomings to count. i'm the rainbow that’s not long enough, a starry night cluttered with clouds, a sunrise in the dense fog...but alas, i'm grateful for the lady in my life who accepts me just this way. and i can only deeply appreciate all the people in my life who look past my stubborn rocks, love the blue sky with too many chatty blackbirds, remain patient with a rainbow that isn’t long enough, knowing with certainty the stars will come out from behind the clouds and the dense fog will burn off...and because of this, i am taught love. because of this, i love my doggie, my family, my friends. i love them each with all my heart" ― bodhinku, a starry night with clouds 
 
"i really need to be illuminated daily by the starry night that so inspires me, helping me glow from my deepest depths...illuminating my inner shadows, those hidden dark parts of me, personal secrets that make me who i am, even if i am not proud of them" ― bodhinku, illuminated   
----------------------
 
MORE COOL MUSIC TO GIVE A LISTEN
here is a melodic instrumental piece to give a serious listen to...(just click on any of the words in the blue links to listen to the musical selection)... "a little rusty in space" by timothy and the apocalypse ... or you can use this "spotify" link if that works better for you to listen to this wonderful tune: spotify link to "a little rusty in space" by timothy and the apocalypse ...
 
i feel this amazing tune goes beautifully with my visions of the these sand dunes in the mojave desert, along with the harmonic silence of the stars overhead, a musical tune that bridges the spaces between the celestial and the terrestrial...
 
"the stars will never be won by little minds; we must be big as space itself" ― timothy and the apocalypse, a little rusty in space
---------------------
 
STORY BEHIND THIS IMPRESSION
"my doggie and i are all alone together, under the stars and the flowing milky way, bridging the space between the celestial and the terrestrial on pristine sand dunes with no civilization around for miles and miles...immersion in the eloquence and silence of a remote location in southern california, which is still unexploited, unspoiled, and wild...life is good again" ― bodhinku, immersion 
 
i had a pretty awful week this past week, things piling on top of one and another, unceasing unpeace, creating endless noise in my mind...so when friday came and school was out, i got in my grand cherokee and drove out to the desert. away from people. away from noise. away from everything....i chose these dunes as my haven of exclusiveness...
 
this location is a remote spot where the marine corps does a bunch of its survival training. turns out after i did a bit of researching, my father was in this location, dropped off by helicopters and left alone for weeks on his own accord. he survived of course, and he will never forget his memories of this place, both good and bad... 
 
when you arrive here, there is nothing around, literally for over 35 miles in every direction. it's not an easy place to find, and even harder to get to. thankfully, the multitude of instagram photographers have not "discovered" this locations yet. and those of us who have experienced these dunes with their solitude and felt their silent love, will not release the location for the ig locusts to exploit, step all over, ruin forever, and move on to their next great unknown spot.
 
through the years, all the paved roads have been closed permanently. and all the access roads are old rough gravel/dirt tracks that are horribly washed out in numerous spots, and in others, they are treacherously deep sand. the surrounding terrain is unforgiving desert, so if anything goes wrong, survivalism is in order.
 
my doggie, besos, and i arrived late friday night, and stayed through the afternoon on sunday...we saw no other human beings during out stay. damn, is that cool. so cool, we are going back again this weekend, so as you are reading this, i will be at this spot again, submersed in its exquisite tranquility...
 
i shot images of sunrise, sunset, and nightscapes under the stars with the milkyway...so surreal, so wonderful...
 
only issue was that of the coyotes roaming this area. quite a large pack. a big group of at least a dozen, all pretty brave, coming as close to 25ft from me and besos...and two of them were quite brazen, getting with in only a couple feet...besos now hates coyotes, as they kept circling us the one morning, yipping and yapping, seemed like they were trying on purpose to mock and taunt my pup...but as the sun came up, they left us alone, maybe bored with us, or maybe they figured out there was just no food to be had with us...
 
for three days i hiked, scouted, and roamed all over this place. only going back to my vehicle to eat, and sleep in my nice cozy little car camp...i will say, that these dunes are not the easiest to navigate about on foot at night, with no moon in the extreme darkness, truly a challenge for me, even with my experience in sand dunes at night...but all the same, being in these dunes at night under the solitude of the stars and the milky way was the highlight of my times spent here, such a wonderful experience. invigorating, exciting and rejuvenating...
 
and when it was time for us to leave, i felt sad, i wish i could have stayed a week, or weeks here...but again, i will be going back...returning this weekend, and many more in the future...places like this now-a-days are are just so rare, so i want to have fun here until the secret gets out and the masses ruin everything like they always do, in search of their money-shots, desiring pictures, instead of the experience, and the spirituality of the place...
 
this place is so beautiful. and so perfect for me and so representative of what i would love to give the world with my photography: unique locations that are unspoiled, and undocumented....thank you chip morton for cluing me into this place!
 
"i personally define the word immersion as: engaging into and becoming part of something bigger than we are...and i need to remember this always, especially in vulnerable times when i forget its importance, times when i feel isolated and withdrawn" ― bodhinku, immersion    
---------------------
 
MORE QUOTES FOR EXTRA MEANING
and here is a wonderfully profound song about starlight, and hope and love, all amidst thoughts of doubt and unclarity: "starlight" by muse ... (just click on any of words in the blue links to listen to the musical selection) ...

"far away, this ship is taking me far away. far away from the memories of the people who care if i live or die. starlight, i will be chasing a starlight until the end of my life. i don't know if it's worth it anymore. hold you in my arms, i just wanted to hold you in my arms...my life, you electrify my life. let's conspire to ignite all the souls that would die just to feel alive. i'll never let you go, if you promise not to fade away, never fade away...our hopes and expectations, black holes and revelations. our hopes and expectations, black holes and revelations...hold you in my arms, i just wanted to hold you in my arms. far away, this ship is taking me far away. far away from the memories of the people who care if i live or die...i'll never let you go if you promise not to fade away, never fade away...our hopes and expectations, black holes and revelations. our hopes and expectations, black holes and revelations...hold you in my arms, i just wanted to hold you in my arms..." ― matthew bellamy (muse lead singer-songwriter), starlight  
 
"do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate on the present moment...like the stars, come out from behind the clouds, shine!" ― gautama siddhartha buddha, sayings of buddha   
 
"aspire to the principal, behave with virtue, abide by benevolence, and immerse yourself in nature" ― confucius
    
"if you don't realize the source, you stumble in confusion and sorrow. when you realize where you come from, you naturally become tolerant, disinterested, amused, immersed in the wonder of the tao, you can deal with whatever life brings you, and when death comes, you are ready" ― lao tzu, tao te ching  
 
"seek only light and freedom and do not immerse yourself too deeply in the worldly mire" ― vincent van gogh, the letters of vincent van gogh
 
"one of the most beautiful things to do is to paint darkness, paint the void which nevertheless has light in it, just like the starry night" ― vincent van gogh, dear theo   
 
"at present, i absolutely want to paint a starry sky. it often seems to me that night is still more richly colored than the day; having hues of the most intense violets, blues and greens. if only you pay attention to it you will see that certain stars are lemon-yellow, others pink or a green, blue and forget-me-not brilliance. and without my expatiating on this theme, it's obvious that putting little white dots on the blue-black is not enough to paint a starry sky" ― vincent van gogh, dear theo      
 
"the celestial wind whispers a lonely lullaby over the ocean and through the breeze, seeming to call your name somehow into my sleeping soul. i wonder if you know that you live there, nestled in between the breaths of air and beating of my heart, where time stands still and eternity waits on the edge of the horizon. i wonder if you know that it’s you that holds me even while you are so far out of reach; you who are the lyrics of a love song etched deep within the walls of this aching heart, singing a timeless song written in the stars" ― c. ara campbell, written in the stars  
 
"night air, good conversation, and a sky full of stars can heal almost any wound" ― beau taplin, remedy 
 
"some nights i wonder if the stars watch us the same way we watch them, other nights i think of you and i'm sure of it" ― beau taplin, playing with fire 
 
"look around you. it is a mad, mad world and you do not require ten digit bank accounts to immerse yourself in it. travel down dusty roads without a destination in mind. climb a mountain and scream out into the void. kiss the hell out of a stranger. skinny dip in a lake. get lost and lose yourself (they are two separate things). explore the wilderness (especially the one within). think less of destiny and more of the moment right here." ― beau taplin
 
"the night is starry and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance. the night wind revolves in the sky and sings..." ― pablo neruda
 
"a sky
full
of stars
and he
was staring
at her" ― atticus, love her wild    
 
"intuition is really a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life" ― paulo coelho, the alchemist
   
"yes, cowardice gives you pain, fear gives you pain, anger gives you pain; these are negative emotions. but peace can be attained only by accepting and immersing in the painful, not by rejecting it" ― osho, the secret of secrets  
 
"even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise" ― victor hugo, les miserables  
 
"the dancing sun. the dancing moon. the dancing stars. and the dancing galaxies are the direct expression of our divine self" ― amit ray, world peace  
  
"here is a universal law: that when it comes to negative and positive, you will always thrive more powerfully in the positive if you have first been immersed in, and have heroically overcome, the polar opposite negative of that thing. to abide in the positive existence of something, without having known and overcome it’s polar opposite—that is to be only a frame of the real structure, easily toppled down and taken apart. true freedom is in the hands of the one who thrives in the positive, after having known and conquered the negative. because when the inner demons come along, you will say to those demons: "i know you, i have owned you, but now you bow down to me" ― c. joybell c.  
 
"today may be your last chance to be you, someone you forgot to completely immerse yourself in because you were too worried about the details. the details that, no matter how many times you thought them through, brought you no closer to understanding. they just tied up your mind and prevented you from really letting in the things you love. this is your demon that is standing before the beautiful floodgate and is keeping you in a dehydrated nothingness. give the demon permission to walk away. he is not your keeper. you are his" ― brianna wiest
 
"letting go of everything is like undressing before a bath. you don't undress out of fear that your clothes will become wet. you undress because you want the water to touch you. you want to completely immerse yourself in the feeling of the water and to emerge anew" ― kamand kojouri  
 
"life is a useless passion, an exciting journey of a mammal in survival mode. each day is a miracle, a blessing unexplored and the more you immerse yourself in light, the less you will feel the darkness. there is more to life than nothingness. and cynicism. and nihilism. and selfishlessness. and glorious isolation. be selfish with yourself, but live your life through your immortal acts, acts that engrain your legacy onto humanity. transcend your fears and follow yourself into the void instead of letting yourself get eaten up by entropy and decay. freedom is being yourself without permission. be soft and leave a lasting impression on everybody you meet" ― mohadesa najumi
 
"compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human" ― henri j.m. nouwen
 
"i'd been convinced i was on the outside, but really, i'd always been within arm's reach. all i had to do was ask, and i, too, would be easily brought back, surrounded and immersed, finding myself safe, somewhere in between" ― sarah dessen, just listen
 
"life isn't a lazy cruise on some endless, calm, and temperate sea. life is a raging ocean with swells and tidal waves that wreck and sink your boat. Life is a series of storms ― overcast skies, fierce winds, and pelting rain. you were meant to be immersed in it all ― first to float, then swim, and eventually to walk on water" ― richelle e. goodrich, smile anyway
 
"to lose yourself: a voluptuous surrender, lost to the world, utterly immersed in what is present so that its surroundings fade away...to be lost is to be fully present, and to be fully present is to be capable of being in uncertainty and mystery" ― rebecca solnit, a field guide to getting lost
 
"the coolness of buddhism isn't indifference, but instead the distance one gains away from emotions, the quiet place from which to regard the turbulence. from far away you see the pattern, the connections, and the thing as whole, see all the islands and the routes between them. up close it all dissolves into texture and incoherence and immersion, like a face going out of focus just before a kiss" ― rebecca solnit, the faraway nearby
 
"caretake this moment. immerse yourself in its particulars. respond to this moment, this challenge, this deed. quit evasions. stop giving yourself needless trouble. it is time to really live; to fully inhabit the situation you happen to be in now. you are not some disinterested bystander. participate. exert yourself" ― epictetus, the art of living
 
"we are made of the same stardust of which all things are made, and when we are immersed in suffering or when we are experiencing intense joy, we are being nothing other than what we can’t help but be: a part of our world" ― carlo rovelli, seven brief lessons
 
"we are all thinking, willing, knowing, conscious centers of life. we are surrounded by, immersed in, and there is flowing through us, a creative something...call it what you will" ― ernest holmes
 
"it is one of the unexpected disasters of the modern age that our new unparalleled access to information has come at the price of our capacity to concentrate on anything much. the deep, immersive thinking which produced many of civilization's most important achievements has come under unprecedented assault. we are almost never far from a machine that guarantees us a mesmerizing and libidinous escape from reality. the feelings and thoughts which we have omitted to experience while looking at our screens are left to find their revenge in involuntary twitches and our ever-decreasing ability to fall asleep when we should" ― alain de botton, religion for atheists
 
"in moments of uncertainty, when you must chose between two paths, allowing yourself to be overcome by either the fear of failure or the dimly lit light of possibility, immerse yourself in the life you would be most proud to live" ― adam braun, the promise
 
"she wanted happily ever after more than anyone could possibly know. she wanted forever. problem was, she just wasn’t sure she believed in it anymore. it was why she clung to her fiction so much. she immersed herself in books because there she could be anyone and it was easy to believe in love and happily ever after" ― maya banks, shades of gray
 
"the hollowness in his chest, the tense yearning, the loneliness he braces against, every morning until he can immerse himself in his art and forget. not love. something else, something with a power that endures. not love, but a memory of love" ― aminatta forna, the memory of love
 
"you must immerse yourself in an unfamiliar world in order to truly understand your own" ― nany diaries
 
"you are not a human being in search of a spiritual experience. you are a spiritual being immersed in a human experience" ― pierre teilhard de chardin
 
“we all tend to fill up our days with things that just have to be done and then run around desperately trying to do them all, while in the process not really enjoying much of the doing because we are too pressed for time, too rushed, too busy, too anxious...we can feel overwhelmed by our schedules, our responsibilities, and our roles at times, even when everything we are doing is important, even when we have chosen to do them all. we live immersed in a world of constant doing. rarely are we in touch with the world of being. to get back in touch with being is not that difficult. we only need to remind ourselves to be mindful. moments of mindfulness are moments of peace and stillness, even in the midst of activity. when your whole life is driven by doing, formal meditation practice can provide a refuge of sanity and stability that can be used to restore some balance and perspective. it can be a way of stopping the headlong momentum of all the doing, giving yourself some time to dwell in deep relaxation and well-being and to remember who you are" ― jon kabat-zinn, full catastrophe living

"short exposures to nature can make us less aggressive, more creative, more civic minded and healthier overall. good to warding off depression, the finnish recommend five hours a month in nature, minimum. but as the poets, neuroscientists, and river runners have shown us, we also at times need longer, deeper immersions into wild spaces to recover from severe distress, to imagine our futures and to be our best civilized selves" ― florence williams, the nature fix
 
"you can’t immerse yourself in something, without coming to respect it" ― brandon sanderson, firefight
 
"someone, somewhere, had tied up the darkness, he thought as he went: the bag of darkness had been tied at the mouth, enclosing within it a host of smaller bags. the stars were tiny, almost imperceptible perforations; otherwise, there wasn't a single hole through which light could pass. the darkness in which he walked immersed was gradually pervading him. his own footfall was utterly remote, his presence barely rippled the air. his being had been compressed to the utmost, to the point where it had no need to forge a path for itself through the night, but could weave its way through the gaps between the particles of which the darkness was composed" ― yukio mishima, acts of worship
 
"i trembled to think of a world without stars. no guide for the sailor to trust at see, no jewels to dazzle our sense of beauty...but all around the globe, the air is so dirty and the lights from the cities are so bright that for some people few stars can be seen anymore. a generation of children may grow up seeing a blank sky and asking, "did there used to be stars there?"― michael jackson, dancing the dream
 
"don’t sit and wait. get out there, feel life. touch the sun, touch the stars, and immerse in the lights of the heavens" ― jalaluddin rumi
 
"when totally immersed in pursuits that you love, illness and pain won't distract you" ― jalaluddin rumi, the soul of rumi
 
"oh please just let me sit here under the stars, on the threshold of two worlds. lost in the eloquence of silence" ― jalaluddin rumi, hush don't say anything to god     
----------------------
 
ABOUT THE IMPRESSION
"i needed this picture. badly. not for social media likes, or money from someone buying a print...i needed to be immersed in nature, alone in a wilderness with only my thoughts...being in a place like this is like breathing in a perfect meditation, and breathing out a focused solution...i needed this picture, badly. it saved me from myself " ― bodhinku, immersion 
  
this impression was captured at a low angle above the sand both 1 hour, and then again 11 mins before the sun made its appearance for the day on march 13, 2021...this composition is comprised of one long exposure of the sand dunes (f/11@24mm for 111 secs, iso-64) merged with a shorter star exposure (f'/1.4 @24mm for 13 secs, iso-1600)...  
 
in my photography, i always use filters to create longer exposure effects, saturate colors naturally, and 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 in my completed impressions...
 
and to get the effects and balance i was looking for in this desert exposure composition (f/11@24mm for 111 secs, iso-64), i used two progreyusa filters: first, a 3.0 nd progrey antarctica filter to bring the light in the image down 10 stops and permit for the long 1 min and 51 second exposure which naturally saturates all the blues, yellows, and reds in the image; second, combined with a 0.9 reverse gnd progrey aurora filter to help balance in-camera overall the image the way i envisioned it...in this case, to stop down the much brighter light in the sky, the light of predawn, at the horizon level of the image an extra three stops and help permit details in the grains of sand come out better in the exposure (and allow for an easier merging of the star image later in post processing)... 
 
i also used the progrey g-120z magnetic holder to hold the filters and secure the filters to my nikon d810 with a nikon nikkor 24mm prime f/1.4... 
 
however, for the separate exposure of the stars (f/1.4@24mm for 13secs, iso-1600), no filters were necessary, so none were used...
 
and with this being a long exposure of 111 seconds merged with a second exposure of 13 seconds, a stable and sturdy tripod is an absolute necessity in order to keep the image sharp...for this i used my faithful induro phq3 series 5-way panhead mounted on my dolica tripod 70" carbon fiber tripod, because it is sturdy, tall, and perfectly compact for travelling  
 
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 faithful induro phq3 series 5-way panhead mounted on my dolica tripod 70" carbon fiber tripod, 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. be certain only in your uncertainty. stop the world. slow down everything. let it all be. shut off the noise. relax. seize this moment. reconnect. feel and sense what surrounds you. listen to all the colors of light whisper as they envelope you. see the melody and harmony that float 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  
 
i leave you today wishing that bright joy and spiritual peace fill your life...
imploring you to make every moment count, no matter what,
always and forever, for that is the only thing that truly matters... 
  
and above all else,
i hope this message and impression find you well.
 
namaste,
bodhi
-------------------------------------------------
 
please visit me at:
 
#california #immersion #progreyusa #induro #dolica #nikon #lowepro #columbia #ralphlauren #desert #sand #dunes #mojave #stars #milkyway #peace #love #hope #believe #dream #faith #namaste #impressionist #expressionist #surreal #minimalism #bodhinku #vangogh #rumi #buddha