My Universe by Bodhi Smith

Oct 01, 2021

"my universe" a brand new impression and blog from me...
 
"deep back and high up in the eastern sierra mountains, on a path seldom taken, there's this beautiful 13,000 foot peak that rises above gorgeous alpine lakes and winding streams...and under the stars and the milky way with my doggie by my side, this is my universe. it's here where i'm in love. it's here where i'm home. it's here where i'm at peace, happy and content, it's here where i truly belong" ― bodhinku, my universe
  
"colors blind the eye.
sounds deafen the ear.
flavors numb the taste.
thoughts weaken the mind.

the lover observes the universe
but trusts his inner vision.
he allows things to come and go.
his heart is open as the sky" ― lao tzu, tao te ching 
 
"you are my universe and i just want to put you first...in the night i lay and look up at you. when the morning comes, i watch you rise. there’s a paradise they couldn’t capture that bright infinity inside your eyes" ― coldplay and bts, my universe
 
"if you are quiet enough, you will hear the flow of the universe. you will feel its rhythm. go with this flow. happiness lies ahead" ― gautama siddhartha buddha, sayings of buddha  
 
"do not feel lonely, the entire universe is inside you. shine like the whole universe is yours" ― jalaluddin rumi, bridge to the soul  
 
"the universe was not created in time and finished, it's created each moment; it's being created each moment because it​'​s its own being" ― osho, zen
 
"there was a boy, that boy with the real love letters written in his name...he was meant to be loved. so, there was this girl...she was meant to be loved. that girl who travelled the world to find that boy with the love letters written in his name. she knew she would give him the love that no one else knew how to give. she would love him for all the people who've withdrawn that love from him. inside he was that little boy just wanting to be loved for who he truly was. she saw him. the real him...the real little boy with sparkling blue eyes filled with excitement and love, she recognized him immediately. he was the one who wrote the love letters in his name. he was the one who wrote those letters upon the stars of her soul before she was born. they were reunited across his universe. across her universe, their souls are filled with love, together they are love. that boy and this girl, their names now together. they are nirvana in their universe" ― bodhinku, my universe: the gift of eternal love 
 
"i seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times...
in life after life, in age after age, forever.
my spellbound heart has made and remade the necklace of songs,
that you take as a gift, wear round your neck in your many forms,
in life after life, in age after age, forever.

whenever i hear old chronicles of love, it's age old pain,
it's ancient tale of being apart or together.
as i stare on and on into the past, in the end you emerge,
clad in the light of a pole-star, piercing the darkness of time.
you become an image of what is remembered forever.

you and i have floated here on the stream that brings from the fountain
at the heart of time, love of one for another.
we have played along side millions of lovers,
shared in the same shy sweetness of meeting,
the distressful tears of farewell,
old love but in shapes that renew and renew forever.

today it is heaped at your feet, its beginning and ending in you
the love of all this man's days both past and forever:
universal joy, universal sorrow, universal life.
the memories of all loves merging with this one love of ours -
and the songs of every poet past and forever" ― rabindranath tagore 
   
"pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my open mind, possessing and caressing me, images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes, they call me on and on across the universe...jai guru deva, om. nothing's gonna change my world" ― john lennon
 
"find me under the milky way, soul bare and heart open. let me swim in your spirit past the sentry of time and space that stands in the way and let me love you...pull away the unworthiness etched upon your shores by those too blind to see your value and let me breathe you into the depths of myself in appreciation of all that you are. show me your solitude as i show you mine; all the parts that ache and yearn for more. let me see the facets of you longing to be traced by understanding hands full of reverence. you have the taste of my destiny on your lips and an essence that has swam in my blood since time began...planting 1000 kisses upon your naked heart in worship and in awe of your existence in this universe, i am replete with joy. if a million stars fell from the skies whispering their wishful promises into my open ear, not a single one would i entreat to change a single layer of you. let us stretch our fingers towards eternity together wrapped around dreams and laughter, souls bare and hearts open" ― c. ara campbell, soul bare and heart open
 
"when i first saw 
your eyes,
i knew you already
from gazing upward
at all the stars
 
i'd been looking into
your eyes
for so long already,
through my universe
my whole entire life
 
if stars would become
your eyes,
they'd truly know already
their exact name
was always yours"
 
this first tune today is a song about love being difficult, or maybe forbidden, or about when lovers cannot can't quite get it together because of bad timing or circumstances beyond their control...its the newest release by coldplay who collaborate with the uber popular korean band bts (stands for bangtan sonyeondan)...and by being named the same as my photo here, and with its lyrics, it is the perfect accompaniment to connect music with the meaning of my impression and blog today: "my universe" by coldplay and bts ... (just click on any of the words in the powder blue links to listen to the tune and watch the video) ...

"you, you are my universe and i just want to put you first. and you, you are my universe, and i…in the night i lay and look up at you. when the morning comes, i watch you rise. there’s a paradise they couldn’t capture that bright infinity inside your eyes...maeil bam nege nalaga (ga) kkumilan geosdo ijeun chae. na useumyeo neoleul manna (na)...never ending forever baby. you, you are my universe and i just want to put you first. and you, you are my universe, and you make my world light up inside. eodumi naegen deo pyeonhaesseossji. gileojin geulimja sogeseo (eyes)...and they said that we can’t be together because, because we come from different sides. you, you are my universe and i just want to put you first. and you, you are my universe, and you make my world light up inside. my universe (do do, do do), my universe (do do, do do), my universe (do do, do do). you make my world light up inside, make my world light up inside...naleul balghyeojuneun geon. neolan salangeulo su nohajin byeol. nae ujuui neon. tto daleun sesangeul mandeuleo juneun geol neoneun nae byeolija naui ujunikka. jigeum i silyeondo gyeolgugen jamsinikka. neoneun eonjekkajina jigeumcheoleom balggeman bichnajwo. ulineun neoleul ttala i gin bameul sunoheul geoya. neowa hamkke nalaga (ga)...when i’m without you i’m crazy...ja eoseo nae soneul jaba (a)...we are made of each other baby. you, you are my universe and i just want to put you first. and you, you are my universe, and you make my world light up inside. my universe (you, you are), my universe (i just want), my universe (you, you are), my universe, and i. my universe" ― coldplay and bts, my universe
 
"there is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable...and, there is another theory which states that this has already happened" ― douglas adams, the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy  
 
"as i took another breath, i saw the three stars again. they were not calling to me; they were letting me go, leaving me to my black universe i had wandered for so many lifetimes. i drifted into the black, and it got brighter and brighter. it wasn't black at all, it was blue. warm, vibrant, brilliant blue...i floated into it with no fear at all" ― stephenie meyer, the host
 
"i love the mountains. i love the stars. taken together, they're my universe. both of them have always called to me, and calmed me when i'm in their presence" ― bodhinku, my universe 
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MEANING
"i'm always at peace when i find myself under the stars, outside under the glowing milky way in the dark silence of pure nature...totally exposed to the infinity of the universe i feel so wonderfully insignificant, and all my issues trivial, it's one of the few times my restless heart relaxes and my mind unfocuses and just lets things be, lets the beautiful calm of peace envelope me" ― bodhinku, peace
 
this is yet another impression whose more profound meaning is really all about the hope of "her." the beautiful lady of my dreams. the one that i want to live a fairytale with for the rest of our lives together...written for her to read is every single quote of love in this and so many of the past months of blogs, i hope she sees and reads my words, i hope she is ready for me, i hope she finally comes out of my visions and dreams and she finds me as i find her one day, and we get lost and found in each others eyes for always and become each other's universe...
 
"universe" is defined by merriam-webster as:
1. all existing matter and space considered as a whole; the cosmos.
2. a particular sphere of activity, interest, or experience
3. everything
 
the eastern sierra was my adventureland when i was a backcountry splitboarder, and continues to be now for me as a landscape photographer. her peaks and valleys call deeply to me every day...and pictured here is a gorgeous glowing mountain reflecting in an alpine lake that's filled by a spring-fed stream in the high sierra of california on july 4th 2021...
 
i love the mountains. i love the stars. taken together, they're my universe. both of them have always called to me, and calmed me when i'm in their presence...
 
i love this place. i love its remoteness, i love its purity and how unspoiled the area remains. its beauty is unmatched anywhere in the world (john muir and ansel adams would totally agree with me). i love its dangers and respect its unforgiving nature, it's a wilderness that's both exciting and daunting. when you come here, you are on your own, and need to rely on yourself and your abilities for survival. i love that access is not easy, and getting in and out safely is always a challenge, but also so amazingly rewarding... 
 
i have always loved the stars too. standing under the milky way up in the mountains where there is no light pollution, just beautiful dark skies filled with billions of stars is literally heaven to me. i'm always at peace when i find myself under the stars, outside under the glowing milky way in the dark silence of pure nature...totally exposed to the infinity of the universe i feel so wonderfully insignificant, and all my issues trivial, it's one of the few times my restless heart relaxes and my mind unfocuses and just lets things be, lets the beautiful calm of peace envelope me...
 
deep back and high up in the eastern sierra mountains, on a path seldom taken, under the stars and the milky way with my doggie by my side, this is my universe. it's here where i'm in love. it's here where i'm home. it's here where i'm at peace, happy and content, it's here where i truly belong...
 
this mountain is by far my favorite mountain in the entire eastern sierra range, something about it has always singularly drawn me to it. it's rarely photographed, so its off everybody's radar. it's nestled far back into the sierra chain and is seldom seen or visited. it's almost like my own personal private mountain. i love its shape and how it towers over pristine tarns and creeks. i love its inviting couloir that spans the entire height of the peak. it's truly a beautiful and perfect mountain to me...
 
and i'm totally honored to be one of the few people to have ever skied that main couloir of this mountain (which you can still see filled with snow in this photo, even though it was taken in the middle of the summer). climbing this peak in the spring of 2005, and then riding down its long, narrow, dangerous, and steep couloir is something i consider to be one of my greatest accomplishments as a splitboarder...
 
so since becoming a photographer, i've always wanted to get an impression of this peak that would honor it and do justice for all of my wonderful memories of it...i was able to do just that when i took a backpacking trip with my doggie to photograph this spot over the july 4th weekend...
 
this image is truly a revisit to my old playgrounds in the eastern sierra mountains as a backcountry split-boarder from the late 1990s through around 2011, most often with my faithful doggie, the dude grhs (dec 2003- may 2018)...
 
and up until recently as a photographer, i had not been creating images from anywhere which had snow and/or mountain peaks in them...almost had the feeling i was being unfaithful to my old pup anytime i went up into the sierra or visited snow with out him, our old stomping grounds...i so awfully miss the dude, who passed away in may of 2018, but i have now been rekindled with verve wanting to revisit the mountains again with my new pup, besos...
 
"i will be your dream, i will be your reality...just close your eyes, and then re-open them and you will see my universe everywhere all at once" ― bodhinku, my universe 
 
and this classic song has some of the best and most meaningful lyrics every written by the greatest songwriter of all time...read the lyrics and you will be able to connect this tune to my current feelings from recent signs sent to me from the universe which are impossible to ignore... "across the universe" by the beatles ... (just click on any of words in the powder blue links to listen to the song)...  
 
"words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup. they slither while they pass, they slip away across the universe. pools of sorrow waves of joy are drifting through my opened mind, possessing and caressing me...jai guru deva om. nothing's gonna change my world. nothing's gonna change my world. nothing's gonna change my world. nothing's gonna change my world...images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes. they call me on and on across the universe. thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box, they tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe...jai guru deva om. nothing's gonna change my world. nothing's gonna change my world. nothing's gonna change my world. nothing's gonna change my world...sounds of laughter shades of life are ringing through my open ears inciting and inviting me. limitless undying love which shines around me like a million suns and calls me on and on across the universe...jai guru deva om. nothing's gonna change my world. nothing's gonna change my world. nothing's gonna change my world. nothing's gonna change my world. jai guru deva, jai guru deva, jai guru deva, jai guru deva, jai guru deva jai guru deva" ― the beatles, across the universe
 
"she is the brightest star that lights my universe, illuminating our path of love, walking together, hand-in-hand across the universe for all eternity...our sighs mutually entwined in a heart shaped mist floating through the heavens, as we exhale simultaneously...and then i breathe back in our love, and fall even more deeply in love with her" ― bodhinku, my universe 
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MORE BODHIKU QUOTES
and now here are a few more quotes from bodhinku from past blogs to help add to the deeper meaning of this blog today...
 
"about you i will not lie
to say your name, i'm your guy 
so much higher than high
 
with a salty tear i cry
please look me in the eye
then breathe out a big sigh
 
no need to ever try
to say the words goodbye
and baby you know why
 
because as long as we can fly
you'll be the other half of my sky
until the day that i die" 
 
"universe's love star,
you light my world near and far
showing all we are" 
"like stars of night skies
my universe in her eyes
sparkles, smiles, and sighs" 
 
"across the universe
i love you
i cherish you
i honor you
i appreciate you
i hunger for you
i miss you
i smile at you
i adore you
in my the universe
you are loved"
 
"as you read this now, close your eyes, take in a deep breath, i will be doing the same...so at this very moment, transcending time in this universe, i'm kissing you, my loving hug is floating around you as a soft sigh when you exhale my breath" ― bodhinku, my universe
----------------------
 
MORE QUOTES FOR EXTRA MEANING
"in silence you will hear the cadence of the entire universe" ― gautama siddhartha buddha, sayings of buddha
 
"empty yourself of everything. let the mind become still. all things in the universe rise and fall while the self watches their return. they grow and flourish and then return to the source. returning to the sourse is stillness, which is the way of nature" ― lao tzu, tao te ching
 
"the universe presents us with endless opportunities to synchronize our path with our truth. and we have to open the gate to our heart. opening the heart unlocks the heart of the universe, and we see what is always before us " ― jeff brown, soulshaping
 
"and god himself could bend the universe, the heavens and the earth, rain meteor showers, birth supernovas, spin whole galaxies into reality in the breadth of a moment, and still never come close to fathering a sight that could steal the breath from me like hers"  ― beau taplin
 
"and, at that moment, i swore that nothing in this universe could be so heavy as the absence of that person i love" ― beau taplin, the absence
 
"she calls to me. she calls to my aching, longing body and soul. she calls to me to let my heart go and shatter completely. let the crumbling husks of the old paradigms of love disperse into the four winds. to be raw and open and burn on the funeral pyre of rebirth. to be reborn into the deepest truth of authentic, present, passionate love. scattering myself like sunflower petals at her feet. to hear her song caling me across the universe" ― c. ara campbell 
 
"she was like a moonless sky; dark, deep and eternal. fascinating. upon her skin a blanket of stars was scattered to be traced by knowing fingers, but who would take the time to search those skies? she ached to be chosen, but not by all, only by one. she knew who he was, she knew his name, and he knew her name, as he was always the one who looked up to her" ― c. ara campbell
 
"every day 
you play 
with the light 
of the universe.
 
and suddenly i saw 
the heavens 
unfastened 
and open, 
planets, 
palpitating planations, 
shadow perforated, 
riddled 
with arrows, fire and flowers, 
the winding night, 
across the universe. 
 
and i, infinitesimal being, 
drunk with the great starry 
void, 
likeness, image of 
mystery, 
i felt myself a pure part 
of the abyss, 
i wheeled with the stars, 
my heart broke free on the open sky" ― pablo neruda, twenty love poems and a song of despair 
 
"growth is possible only if there is imperfection. i would like you to remember again and again, i am imperfect, the whole universe is imperfect, and to love this imperfection, to rejoice in this imperfection is my whole message" ― osho, the secret of secrets    
 
"that is the essence of wisdom—to be in harmony with nature, with the natural rhythm of the universe. and whenever you are in harmony with the natural rhythm of the universe, you are a poet, you are an artist, you are a musician, you are a dancer" ― osho, book of wisdom
 
"without you this universe will lose some poetry, some beauty: a song will be missed, a note will be missed, there will be a gap—nobody has told you that" ― osho, the responsibility of being oneself
 
"love is not to be found in someone else, but in ourselves; we simply awaken it. but in order to do that, we need the other person. the universe only makes sense when we have someone to share our feelings with" ― paulo coelho, eleven minutes
 
"whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. it's your mission on earth. when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. so, i love you, because the entire universe conspired to help me find you" ― paulo coelho, the alchemist
 
"a sky
full
of stars
and he
was staring
at her" ― atticus, love her wild
 
"what if a dawn of a doom of a dream
bites this universe in two,
peels forever out of his grave,
and sprinkles nowhere with me and you?" ― e. e. cummings, 100 selected poems
 
"pity this busy monster, manunkind, not. progress is a comfortable disease: your victim (death and life safely beyond) plays with the bigness of his littleness...electrons deify one razorblade into a mountain range; lenses extend unwish through curving where when till unwish returns on its unself. a world of made is not a world of born...pity poor flesh, and trees, poor stars and stones, but never this fine specimen of hypermagical ultraomnipotence. we doctors know a hopeless case if...listen: there's a hell of a good universe next door; let's go" ― e. e. cummings, 100 selected poems
 
"when your eyes are closed in deep silence and all words, music and thoughts have disappeared, you can hear the music of the universe. only then can your heart talk to the heart of the universe" ― debasish mridha
 
"my soul and your soul are forever tangled across the universe" ― n.r. hart, poetry and pearls
 
"i bet you could sometimes find all the mysteries of the universe in someone's hand" ― benjamin alire saenz 
 
"have you ever lost yourself in a kiss? i mean pure psychedelic inebriation. not just lustful petting, but transcendental metamorphosis when you became aware that the greatness of this being that was breathing into you, filled with the essence of your passionate being and then opened by the same mouth and delivered back to you, over and over again - the first kiss of the rest of your life. a kiss that confirms that the universe is aligned, that the world's greatest resource is love, and maybe all kisses are metaphors decipherable by allocations of time, circumstance, and understanding" ― saul williams
 
"i have known you
since the beginning
of the universe

the one 
i have loved always
in spirit.

only just discovered
in person" ― sanober khan 
 
"in the beginning, the universe was created. this has made a lot of people very angry and has been widely regarded as a bad move" ― douglas adams, the restaurant at the end of the universe 
 
"the sky above me was clear, brilliant with stars, glowing blue in some places, yellow in others. the stars created majestic, swirling shapes against the black backdrop of the empty universe" ― stephenie meyer, midnight sun 
 
"look up; notice how the stars shine. look in; notice how the stars shine" ― laura jaworski
 
"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
 
"we repeat the shout of the universe. you and i blend together. you are one word and i am another" ― robin rumi, naked morsels

"the universe and the light of the stars come through me" ― jalaluddin rumi, the soul of rumi
 
"stop acting so small. you are the universe in ecstatic motion" ― jalaluddin rumi, a year with rumi  
 
"when you seek love with all your heart, you shall find its echoes in my universe" ― jalaluddin rumi, the essential rumi
 
"when the night​ ​sky pours by, it's really a crowd of beggars, and they all want some of this! this, that we are now, created the body, cell by cell, like bees building a honeycomb. the human body and the universe​ ​grew from this, not this from the universe and the human body" ― jalaluddin rumi, whispers of the beloved
   
"inside you there’s an artist you know about… say yes quickly, if you know, if you’ve known it from before the beginning of the universe" ― jalaluddin rumi, poems of ecstasy and longing
 
"love is the religion, and my universe is the book" ― jalaluddin rumi, in the arms of the beloved
 
"do you know what you are? you are a manuscript oƒ a divine letter. you are a mirror reflecting a noble face. this universe is not outside of you. look inside yourself; everything that you want, you already are" ― jalaluddin rumi, hush don't say anything to god 
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ABOUT THE IMPRESSION
"looking up to the heavenly bodies scattered across the night sky creates visions of spiritual and magical things above us that amaze, fascinate, and wow us...the milky way, the stars, the moon, and the romantic idea of a connection to something much bigger than we are. we look up into the universe above us to dream, to marvel, to believe in things that are based only in faith, and to imagine the deeper meaning of our lives. in the heavens we find peace, silence, and solitude. the universe is full of signs for each of us if we only take the time to notice and understand our cosmic connection to life, to our path, and to our journey which only we can find....i found mine, i found your name, the name of love, my universe" ― bodhinku, your name, my universe   
 
this impression was captured in the eastern sierra of california on july 4th, 2021...under the stars at 11:11pm and also 11 mins after sunrise at 5:55am...this composition is comprised of one long exposure of the lake and the mountain (f/11@111mm for 111 secs, iso-64) merged with a separate exposure of the stars taken in the middle of the night (f'/1.4@24mm for 15secs, 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 the mountain/lake exposure of this composition (f/11@111mm 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 minute and 51 second exposure which creates the dreamy effect by smoothing out the lake and allowing for the reflection of the mountain to be clearer, and also in turn naturally saturating all the red, green, and blue colors in the image...
 
combined with the second filter, 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 post-dawn light, at the horizon level of the image an extra three stops and help permit details in the reflection and amongst all the rock, trees, grass, and the cliff to come out better in the exposure... 
 
i also used the progrey g-120z magnetic holder to hold the filters and secure the filters to my nikon d850 with a nikon nikkor 24mm f/1.4 prime lens ... 
 
for the separate exposure of the stars and the milky way, no filters were necessary in the night exposure, so none were used...
 
and with this being a long exposure of 111 seconds, a stable and sturdy tripod is an absolute necessity in order to keep the image sharp...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 induro phq3 series 5-way panhead with induro carbon fiber stealth 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 hope, 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
 
"i do not want you to just be into my photography, instead, i'd much rather you take a journey into my pictures, and feel the impression i have created, feel it with all your senses" ― bodhinku, into my photography
 
"contemplate without thinking. be certain only in your uncertainty. stop the world. slow down everything. let it all be. shut off the noise. hush. 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 universe. awaken!" ― bodhinku, my universe
 
"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
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