Mystify by Bodhi Smith

Nov 22, 2019

"mystify" a new impression from bodhi smith..

"imagine if you could dance with a tree, floating over the water on a mystic dance floor shared only by you and your tree in alchemy, all amidst a warm morning mist wrapping itself around your legs, up to your belly, as your own impression surrounds you in a dance within your own mirrored reflection, you and your dancing tree...how cool would that be? totally mystifying" ― bodhinku, mystifying

 
“people become mystified with pictures and words, and wind up forgetting the language of the world, love" ― paulo coelho, the alchemist
 
“no, explanation is not needed...only exclamation, a wondering heart, awakened, mystified, feeling the mystery of life each moment. then, and only then, you know what truth is. and truth liberates” ― osho, the secret of secrets 
 
“let your life lightly dance on the edges of
time like dew on the tip of a leaf" ― rabindranath tagore, stray birds 
 
btw, here is a great tune to listen to, with beautiful lyrics, "mystify" by the australian band, inxs (lyrics written by the late michael hutchence) as you read my blog here before you today, just click on the song title, it is a link to the lyric video...
 
"all veils and misty streets of blue, almond looks that chill divine...some silken moment goes on forever, and we're leaving broken hearts behind...mystify, mystify me; mystify, mystify me....i need perfection, some twisted selection that tangles me, to keep me alive...in all that exists, none have your beauty, i see your face...i will survive...mystify, mystify me; mystify, mystify me....you're eternally wild with the power to make every moment come alive...all those stars that shine upon you, well they'll kiss you every night...mystify, mystify me; mystify, mystify me..." ― michael hutchence, inxs lead singer
 
"it is inevitable, that eventually at some point we are left standing alone in some misty fog, or rain, either metaphorically or literally (or both)...perplexed by our situation, how in the world did we get here? waiting for what to do next, as the mist surrounds us with uncertainty, shrouds our vision, enveloping us in its silence...however, we need see only the beauty of that moment, and see the wisdom of the fog. take a deep breath, breath in the heavy dampness, and listen ...for in that moment, we can see the air around us, and watch our breath as we exhale, be reminded even the air is not invisible, it is real, it is life. and it is okay to not know what to do. just empower our self with the hope of taking a new step forward, take another deep breath and and take that step not knowing, be astonished with our life and where it will lead us again...and never forget we are still blessed to be alive and breathing in this beautiful world" ― bodhinku, when in the fog
 
"remember, some souls are purely magical, others are just the mystifying reflections of the real thing" ― bodhinku, mystifying reflection  
----------------------
    
MEANING
in the english language, the word mystify is defined as: "to utterly amaze and simultaneously confuse (someone)"...and for the image title, a name came so easily and quickly to my mind, kinda brainlessly fitting here,"mystify"...as this title is a play on words with dual meaning as the tree is wrapped in a pirouetting morning mist, in a fashion that leaves you in awe and mystified...  
 
and just imagine if you could dance with a tree, floating over the water on a mystic dance floor shared only by your shadow and your tree, all amidst a warm morning mist wrapping itself around your legs, as your own impression surrounds you in a dance within your own mirrored reflection, you and your dancing tree...how cool would that be? totally mystifying...that mental vision is the inspiration for this beautiful and unique impression which i captured, and the same vision which i hope you now see before your own eyes...
 
this is another one of those spots i could visit over and over and over, full of reflection, magic, and calming peace...and i will be going back again next summer to spend more time visiting my family there, and spending time at locations in the state of ok like this...
 
like the other three images i have captured and released previously in the past couple months from this location, this impression too is dedicated to the memory of my loving grandma who was born very close to where these young bald cypress trees find their home in the backwaters of southeast oklahoma...i took this impression in a single frame, during an early misty morning sunrise in oklahoma while on a month-long 11,000 mile road trip with my doggie, besos this past july 2019...this was the first beautiful and unique location of the trip, and a remote and unknown location not captured by many other cameras before, and of many surprisingly more similar in-like uniqueness which were to come, as i would find on the trip...one of my most successful and mystifying trips ever...
 
“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” 

by the way, here is another really thematic tune to listen to as well..."mystic rhythms" by the canadian band, rush (lyrics are just below)
   
"so many things i think about
when i look far away
things i know, things i wonder
things i'd like to say
the more we think we know about
the greater the unknown
we suspend our disbelief
and we are not alone

mystic rhythms capture my thoughts
carry them away
mysteries of night escape the light of day
mystic rhythms under northern lights
oh, the african sun
primitive things stir the hearts of everyone

we sometimes catch a window
a glimpse of what's beyond
was it just imagination
stringing us along?
more things than are dreamed about
unseen and unexplained
we suspend our disbelief
we are entertained

mystic rhythms capture my thoughts
carry them away
nature seems to spin
a supernatural way
mystic rhythms under city lights
or a canopy of stars
we feel the powers
and we wonder what they are
we feel the push and pull
of restless rhythms from afar  ― geddy lee (rush lead singer), mystic rhythms 
 
“on this morning, you feel her touch deeply into your soul as the misty fog lightly brushes in whispering silence across the surface of your being, amidst the soothing fragrance of wet pine needles floating all around...she creeps playfully though in wavy reflections, warming your waters with her magic, her dance, the hope for a new awakening”― bodhinku, the dancer
 
"seduce me at sunrise, dance with me barefoot in the dew on the grass, make me wet and warm, and loved"  ― bodhinku, sunrise dance
 
“both light and shadow are the dance of love"― jalaluddin rumi, the soul of rumi   
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HISTORY
"be the lone tree standing in the misty rain, branches outstretched upward tasting the fog, waiting for the air to clear, waiting for clouds to break and give way to blue skies...waiting for the sunbeams to sing down and warm your soul all the way down to your wet roots" ― bodhinku, sound of sunshine
 
the bald cypress is a very majestic tree, and can live to be thousands of years old (a grove in the black river swamp of north carolina are as old as 2700 yrs)...this tree i have pictured is quite young for a bald cypress tree, under those terms...
 
these are deciduous conifers (shed their needles yearly and grow new ones) and are native to the southeastern united states...from southeast oklahoma and east texas, across louisiana (state tree), mississippi and alabama, down to florida and then all the way up to lower delaware...hardy and tough, these cypress trees adapt to a wide range of soil types, whether wet, dry, or swamp...they are noted for the russet-red fall color of their lacy needles.
the bald cypress is often cultivated to be harvested, as the lumber is valuable for building construction, fence posts, planking in boats, river pilings, doors, blinds, flooring, shingles, garden boxes, caskets, interior trim and cabinetry. the odorless wood has long been valued for its resistance to water...
 
but i desperately hope they never cultivate the beautiful little grove of bald cypress trees where i found this beautiful tree in hills and misty backwaters of extreme southeast oklahoma...
 
“let your eyes get used to light. don't miss your own splendor! don't stay in the batlike mind that loves complexity and doubt, the unlit niches. bats seek those to live in, because there a bat's accomplishments seem greater than they are. he can mystify as he confuses you with cave ramifications. little by little, accustom yourself to your own light” ― jalaluddin rumi, the soul of rumi
 
"after a hot shower, wipe the mirror and clear the mist covering it...look closely at yourself, see the reflection you want to see...breathe in, breathe out...now, let go of who you are, and become who you can be..." ― bodhinku, clear the mist
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MORE MEANINGFUL QUOTES
“every moment is a surprise. everything that happens is a surprise. every experience is fresh. events are not your ideas about them. meet the world without expectations. enjoy being mystified!!" ― gautama buddha, sayings of buddha  
 
“praise and blame, gain and loss, pleasure and sorrow come and go like the wind. to be happy, rest like a giant tree in the midst of them all” ― gautama buddha, sayings of buddha  
 
"accepting things that will never be and moving away from what is known is hard. trying to reconcile all that will never be, creating the changes that are necessary. when you reach a point where you realize that nothing you can do or say will ever alter things, you must accept the inevitable. sometimes it doesn’t make sense, but we don’t have to understand here to be here....you come to a place where you surrender, you throw your hands in the air and say i’m done. being done is powerful. in that moment, a shift occurs. we may at first see it as failure, but in the moment of realization of what is not working, we give birth to new desires of what we authentically want. the slate clears, and the space opens for what is meant to come in to find us. as aristotle once said, “nature abhors a vacuum,” meaning that nature requires all spaces to be filled with something. it won’t remain empty. so, when we accept that something isn’t working and let go, we create space. this space is then able to be filled with something that is more in alignment with what we really need....transformation is an inevitable part of our paths on this planet. as we move through our lives, the road in front of us shifts. the familiar washes away and uncertainty can be left in its place. take heart. the times we walk through the shadows offer us deeper clarity and remind us of what we truly desire. our lifetime is filled with experiences that are meant to change us and inspire us....but how do we move towards the unknown in uncertainty and in some cases disbelief? the only thing i can offer is to root yourself in your own truth, deeper than you ever have before. put your energy and effort into your dreams and desires. focus your energy on what you want to grow...because at the end of the day, our medicine is what we are here to bring into being. relationships fall apart. life changes. but what you are here to bring to the world is something only you can. and that is something to instill us with hope, even in the face of the unknown...there are bright times ahead. know that." ― c. ara campbell, when a door closes
 
"timing is a hell of a thing, in the end, that's all it comes down to...the potency of an attraction or the purity of a connection mean very little if you are simply on separate journeys...you and i were a perfect fit, we were, there were just too many gaps in between to keep us together"― beau taplin, separate journeys
 
"thank you for teaching me where to draw the line between what i can forgive and what i know i deserve" ― beau taplin, the boundary line
 
"some goodbyes are not ends, but releases"― beau taplin, the release
 
“there are no half measures in love, only all or nothing, and if it doesn’t make you tremble or go mad at the very thought of its absence, it is not love.” ― beau taplin
 
"with a single protruding eye,
one mystifying eye
which peers into the mystery,
the secret hearts of clocks,
and looks deeply in
until the elusive butterfly
of time in its measure
is trapped in his forehead
and the wings of the watch beat" ― pablo neruda, fully empowered
 
"here i came to the very edge
where nothing at all needs saying,
everything is absorbed through weather and the sea,
and the moon swam back,
its rays all silvered,
and time and again the darkness would be broken
by the crash of a wave,
and every day on the balcony of the sea,
wings open, fire is born,
and everything is blue again like morning" ― pablo neruda  

“each would always be mystified by the other...so long as each remained exactly what the other imagined”― paulo coelho, the valkyries  

“the human brain is mystifying; we will forget a scent until we smell it again, we will erase a voice from our memory until we hear it again, and even emotions that seemed buried forever will be awakened when we return to the same place" ― paulo coelho, adultery  
 
“i'm simply saying that there is a way to be sane. i'm saying that you can get rid of all this insanity created by the past in you. just by being a simple witness of your thought processes....it is simply sitting silently, witnessing the thoughts, passing before you. just witnessing, not interfering not even judging, because the moment you judge you have lost the pure witness. the moment you say “this is good, this is bad,” you have already jumped onto the thought process....it takes a little time to create a gap between the witness and the mind. once the gap is there, you are in for a great surprise, that you are not the mind, that you are the witness, a watcher....and this process of watching is the very alchemy of real religion. because as you become more and more deeply rooted in witnessing, thoughts start disappearing. you are, but the mind is utterly empty....that’s the moment of enlightenment. that is the moment that you become for the first time an unconditioned, sane, really free human being.” ― osho, a bird on the wing
 
“you go on falling in the same ditch every day, deciding every day never to fall again in the same ditch. but when you come near the ditch, the attraction, the fascination with falling in the ditch is so great that you forget all your decisions...mystified, you console yourself “just once more. from tomorrow, i’m going to keep the promise i’ve given to myself.” but this has happened so many times. and you will do it your whole life, unless you become a pure witness to see the ridiculous acts that you are doing" ― osho, emotional wellness
 
“love and respect yourself and never compromise for anything. and then you will be mystified by how much growth starts happening of its own accord.. as if rocks have been removed and the river has started flowing" ― osho, book of wisdom  
 
“when anger comes to you, it is not going to kill you. it has been with you many times before, and you have survived perfectly well. it is the same anger that you have been through before. just do one thing new, which you have never done. instead, every time you get involved with it, fight with it. this time just watch as if it does not belong to you, as if it is somebody else’s anger. and you are in for a great surprise: it will disappear within seconds" ― osho, transforming fear, anger, and jealousy into creative energy  
 
“make it a point: stop affirming negativity and start affirming positivity. within a few weeks, you will be surprised that you have a magical key in your hands. for example, if you get sad easily, then every night before you go to sleep affirm twenty times silently, deeply, to yourself but loud enough so that you can hear it, that you are going to be joyous, that this is going to happen, this is already on the way. you have lived your last sadness... good-bye! repeat it twenty times and then fall asleep.” ― osho, let go!  
 
“it is mystifying, what you can make yourself believe, when you have to. if you keep telling yourself you are a certain kind of person, eventually you will become that person. that’s what the final solution was all about, really" ― nicholas sparks, the lucky one  
 
“she was more than just the woman i loved. in the years, she helped me become the man i am today. with her steady hand she showed how important it was to help others; with her patience and kindness she showed me what life really is all about. her cheerfulness and optimism, even in times of sickness, was the most mystifying thing i have ever witnessed...she also taught me the value of forgiveness and the transforming power it offers...she was not only the angel who saved me, she was the angel who saved us all” ― nicholas sparks, the notebook
 
"it’s so simple. i believe we make our paths far more difficult than they need to be. our struggle with and resistance to what is entangles us in constant chaos and frustration—when it’s all so simple. do unto others as you would have them do unto you. and remember newton’s third law of motion: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. the energy you create and release into the world will be reciprocated on all levels. our main job in life is to align with the energy that is the source of all energies, and to keep our frequency tuned to the energy of love. this i know for sure. when that is your life’s work, mystery solved—or at least, the mystery no longer mystifies you. it only heightens the rapture, reverence, and grace” ― oprah winfrey, what i know for sure  

“when had men not been mystified by women? they were the magic that men dreamed of, and sometimes their dreams were nightmares”― stephen king, sleeping beauties  
 
"tis of the essence of life here,
though we choose greatly, still to lack
the lasting memory at all clear,
that life has for us on the wrack
nothing but what we somehow chose;
thus are we wholly stripped of pride
in the pain that has but one close,
bearing it crushed and mystified.” ― robert frost, poems  
 
“understanding knowledge as an essential element of love is vital because we are bombarded daily with messages that tell us love is about mystery, about that which cannot be known. we see movies in which people are represented as being in love who never talk with one another, who fall into bed without ever discussing their bodies, their sexual needs, their likes and dislikes. indeed, the message is received from the mass media is that knowledge makes love less compelling; that it is ignorance that gives love its erotic and transgressive edge. these messages are brought to us by profiteering producers who have no clue about the art of loving, who substitute their mystified visions because they do not really know how to genuinely portray loving interaction.” ― bell hooks, all about love  
 
“learning to wear a mask (that word already embedded in the term "masculinity") is the first lesson a boy learns. he learns that his core feelings cannot be expressed if they do not conform to the acceptable behaviors sexism defines as male. asked to give up the true self in order to realize this ideal, boys learn self-betrayal early and are rewarded for these acts of soul murder...a splitting takes place when a child learns that the way he organically feels is not acceptable. in response to this lesson that his true self is inappropriate and wrong, the boy learns to don a false self...the feeling that he has done something wrong, that he really doesn't know what it is, that there's something terribly wrong with his very being, leads to a sense of utter hopelessness. this hopelessness is the deepest cut of the mystified state. it means there is no possibility for the boy as he is; there is no way he can matter or be worthy of anyone's love as long as he remains himself. he must find a way to be someone else - someone who is lovable. someone who is not him" ― bell hooks, the will to change 
 
"insight roams the sea of the unconscious like the loch ness monster, a rumor whose wake occasionally becomes visible, but even then it's mystifying and scarcely believed" ― diane ackerman, an alchemy of mind
 
“when the sun goes down, melting away his caresses into the sky which consonants with the water, lively colors are scattered through the deep pale depth during some short sensuous instants. later, as by art of magic, light is consumed into the infinite horizon giving space to the poked voidness and its full-cristal-covered vastness. then, to mystify the night, a marvelous and alluring sentinel rests next to us through the vivid night, just until the next prismatic fest arrives with its celebrating aperture" ― jose a. arvide 
 
“the skies bend, the time stops, 
the lanes move and the fires dance,
it can mean only one thing 
that i am with you.
you are enigmatic 
yet so beautiful 
that i have lost my sense,
you are as immaculate 
as the unadulterated morning dew
and your beauty 
leaves me in a mystified trance.
i do not foresee 
what you and i will be
but i promise to be with you 
till the rocks keep meeting the sea” ― faraaz kazi  
 
“dream of me...see me as i want to be; not the nightmare who torments you, but the devoted and mystified man who worships at your feet" ― m.s. willis, madeleine abducted  
 
“...but i preferred reading the american landscape as we went along. every bump, rise, and stretch in it mystified my longing.” ― jack kerouac, on the road  
 
“when you feel in your gut what you are and then dynamically pursue it - don't back down and don't give up - then you're going to mystify a lot of folks.” ― bob dylan
 
“there's a certain class of people who will do you in and then remain completely mystified by the depth of your pain” ― sue grafton, e is for evidence  
 
“we create our own omens, i think, and then mystify ourselves trying to understand their significance" ― steven brust, agyar  
 
“the reigning belief today is that closeness between persons is a moral good. the reigning aspiration today is to develop individual personality through experiences of closeness and warmth with others. the reigning myth today is that the evils of society can all be understood as evils of impersonality, alienation, and coldness. the sum of these three is an ideology of intimacy: social relationships of all kinds are real, believable, and authentic the closer they approach the inner psychological concerns of each person. this ideology transmutes political categories into psychological categories. this ideology of intimacy defines the humanitarian spirit of a society without gods: warmth is our god. the history of the rise and fall of public culture at the very least calls this humanitarian spirit into question. the belief in closeness between persons as a moral good is in fact the product of a profound dislocation which capitalism and secular belief produced in the last century. because of this dislocation, people sought to find personal meanings in impersonal situations, in objects, and in the objective conditions of society itself. they could not find these meanings; as the world became psychomorphic, it became mystifying. they therefore sought to flee, and find in the private realms of life, especially in the family, some principle of order in the perception of personality. thus the past built a hidden desire for stability in the overt desire for closeness between human beings. even as we have revolted against the stern sexual rigidities of the victorian family, we continue to burden close relations with others with these hidden desires for security, rest, and permanence. when the relations cannot bear these burdens, we conclude there is something wrong with the relationship, rather than with the unspoken expectations. arriving at a feeling of closeness to others is thus often after a process of testing them; the relationship is both close and closed. if it changes, if it must change, there is a feeling of trust betrayed. closeness burdened with the expectation of stability makes emotional communication—hard enough as it is—one step more difficult. can intimacy on these terms really be a virtue?”― richard sennett, the fall of public man 
 
“honestly, the idea of wanting to spend time with people one did not love absolutely mystified her" ― maria de los santos, i'll be your blue sky  
 
“my work is to love my body, all of it. whole and entire. the whole aging mortal troublesome failing miraculous intricate breathing doomed cancerous warm mortifying unreliable hard-working imperfect beautiful appalling living struggling tender frightened frightening living dying living breathing temporary wondrous mystifying afflicted mortally-ill assemblage of the atoms of the universe that is my self, is me, for this space of time.”― irvin d. yalom, creatures of a day and other tales of psychotherapy  
 
“a mystifying sensation of loneliness shook him...he had been alone before, to be sure...but to be alone while surrounded by people, the one sane man in a mad place...that was loneliness" ― graham moore, the sherlockian  
 
"there is a shimmering excitement in being sentient and shaped. the caravan master sees his camels lost in it, nose to tail, as he himself is, his friend, and the stranger coming toward them. a gardener watches the sky break into song, cloud wobbly with what it is. bud, thorn, the same. wind, water, wandering this essential state. fire, ground, gone. that's how it is with the outside. form is ecstatic. now imagine the inner: soul, intelligence, the secret worlds! and don't think the garden loses its ecstasy in winter. it's quiet, but the roots are down there riotous. if someone bumps you in the street, don't be angry. everyone careens about in this surprise. respond in kind. let the knots untie, someone drunk on this could drink a donkeyload a night. believer, unbeliever, cynic, lover, all combine in the spirit-form we are, but no one yet is awake like the light" ― jalaluddin rumi, the soul of rumi
 
“it astonishes me how some people say, 'how do certain people find love in the eternal world beyond form, space and time? how can they gain strength and help? how are they affected by things without body or shape?'...is not all life, night and day, engaged with these very things? one person loves another person and derives help through that love. they find care and grace, kindness and knowledge, happiness and sorrow. all these belong to that formless world. moment by moment they receive benefits from these abstractions and are affected by them. however, this doesn’t surprise the doubters. yet they are mystified that people can find love in the invisible worlds, and derive help without form.” ― jalaluddin rumi, it is what it is
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ABOUT THE IMPRESSION  
"there is nothing mystifying in the meaningful reason behind the observation: you always see so much more clearly after the mist clears" ― bodhinku, mist clears    
 
"after a hot shower
wipe the mirror, and
clear the mist
covering it...
look closely, at
yourself...
see the reflection
you want to see...
breathe in, breath out...
now,
let go, of
who you are,
and become,
who you can be." ― bodhinku, clear the mist  
 
this image is a single exposure taken in the morning mist just after the sun was rising and shining into the river valley...and with this being a semi-long exposure, a stable and sturdy tripod was an absolute necessity in order to keep the image sharp in the places i wanted sharpness (i use selective focus on most of my images, similar to the way our eyes see things)...for this i used a dolica 70" carbon fiber tripod balanced half in and half out of the river ....for me, this shot would never have been possible without my friends daniel and april at dolica tripods.

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...in the case with this image, i used both gnd and nd filters for this composition...the nd filter was needed to soften the water and slow down time, and to also help oversaturate the colors and enhance the green and blues in the image, plus i used two gnd filters to help balance the lighting of the composition in-camera...
 
for this image i chose to use the newest progrey three slot g-120z magnetic filter holder, made for the 10-stop progrey antarctic 3.0nd filter (magnetic), as well as two other gnd filters to balance the much brighter incoming morning sunrise light on the right to make it much darker by 4 stops, and another to simply darken the light on the left of the tree and balance it with the darker waters in the foreground 2 stops...i used the .6gnd (left side) and 1.2gnd (right side) progrey genesis filters to help balance in-camera overall the image the way i envisioned it, as well as create a natural vignette...
 
"in misty beauty never before seen,
sweet sounds of a forest so serene,
embracing and peaceful, so fresh and clean
as birds songs are whispering their routine.
 
those reflections gleam in the aquamarine...  
morning light glowing on your leaves so pristine,
so angelic, so ageless and always evergreen, 
dance with me, my lady, my love, my queen" ― bodhinku, dance with me 
 
"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 within your peaceful serenity. then, reach out and touch your faith. this is my world. awaken." ― bodhinku, my world
 
above all else as always, i hope this message and image find you well.

namaste,
bodhi
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