"No Roots" by Bodhi Smith

Jan 13, 2023

"no roots" is my new impression and blog...a metaphor of me, a solitary black walnut tree on the western plains of oklahoma stands alone under the glowing night sky, enjoying the stars and milky way as a crescent moon is rising on the night of july 29th this past summer of 2022...
 
"a rolling stone
gathers no moss...
but not all those who
wander are lost...
my home away from
home is everywhere...
a tree with no roots
is free to grow anywhere...
you can't be homesick 
when you have no home...
because home is where
you hang your hat...
home is where 
the heart is...
and there's
no place like home" 
 
"i've got no roots, but my home was never on the ground" ― alice merton, no roots.
 
"i like to borrow a metaphor from the great poet and mystic rumi who talks about living like a drawing compass. one leg of the compass is static. it is fixed and rooted in a certain spot. meanwhile, the other leg draws a huge wide circle around the first one, constantly moving. just like that, one part of my photography is based in san diego. it has strong local roots. yet at the same time the other part travels the whole wide world, feeling connected to several cities, cultures, and peoples" ― elif shafak (with modifications by bodhi)
 
“i'm planting a root in the very center of my rootlessness" ― cheryl strayed, wild: from lost to found on the pacific crest trail
 
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)" 
 
"when we plant a rose seed in the earth, we notice it is small, but we do not criticize it as "having no roots and stemless." we treat it as a seed, giving it the water and nourishment required of a seed" ― paulo coelho, warrior of the light
 
"lose yourself completely, return to the root of the root of your own soul" ― jalaluddin rumi, the essential rumi
 
"having no roots means being unattached to old thinking, bad memories, and resentments...it's freedom, letting go of the past, and walking the path to forgiving and forgetting, and feeling at home anywhere i might find myself" ― bodhi, no roots
 
released 5 years ago in 2017 as her first single, here's the most perfect tune to go along with my photo and blog today, not only does it have the same title as my impression, but it also has deeply meaningful lyrics that connect to those of my own..."no roots" by alice merton. ... (just click on any of the words in the powder blue links to listen to the tune and watch the video) ...

"i like digging holes and hiding things inside them. when i grow old, i hope i won't forget to find them. because i've got memories and travel like gypsies in the night. i build a home and wait for someone to tear it down. then pack it up in boxes, head for the next town running. because i've got memories and travel like gypsies in the night. and a thousand times i've seen this road, a thousand times...i've got no roots, but my home was never on the ground. i've got no roots, but my home was never on the ground. i've got no roo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oots. i've got no roo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oots. i've got no roots, but my home was never on the ground. i've got no roots, but my home was never on the ground. i've got no roo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oots. i've got no roo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oots...i like standing still, boy, that's just a wishful plan. ask me where i come from, i'll say a different land. but i've got memories and travel like gypsies in the night. i count gates and numbers, then play the guessing game. it's just the place that changes, the rest is still the same. but i've got memories and travel like gypsies in the night. and a thousand times i've seen this road, a thousand times...i've got no roots, but my home was never on the ground. i've got no roots, but my home was never on the ground. i've got no roo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oots. i've got no roo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oots. i've got no roots, but my home was never on the ground. i've got no roots, but my home was never on the ground. i've got no roo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oots. i've got no roo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oots...i like digging holes, hiding things inside them. when i grow old, i won't forget to find them. i like digging holes, hiding things inside them. when i grow old, i won't forget to find them. i've got no roots. no roots. i've got no roots, but my home was never on the ground. i've got no roots, but my home was never on the ground. i've got no roo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oots. i've got no roo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oots. i've got no roots, but my home was never on the ground. i've got no roots, but my home was never on the ground. i've got no roots, i've got no roots. no!" ― alice merton, no roots.
 
"i'm grounded, but i've no roots. i've the freedom to go wherever whenever i please. i'm as free as a bird to fly through the sky while at the same time, keep both my feet on the ground and my head in the stars" ― bodhi, no roots
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MEANING
"i've no roots, my home is not in any one place, it's everywhere" ― bodhi, no roots
 
"no roots" is an idiom defined by merriam-webster as "having no attachments, or no family origins or connections, or having no feeling of belonging to a particular place"...similar to the proverb "a rolling stone gathers no moss" with the meaning of "people who are always moving, with no roots in one place or another, avoid attachments and worries"...
 
the meaning of my impression is clear to me from these two definitions...this lone black walnut tree from the grazing grasslands of western oklahoma is a metaphor of me. it's grounded, but its leaves are in the stars flying free through the sky...if it had no roots, it could go anyplace it wanted without being held back, it could make anywhere its home at anytime it felt...it's me, i'm a tree with no roots...
 
"a tree with no roots is free to grow anywhere" ― bodhi, no roots
 
i was born in southern california way back in 1967, and i reside and have been teaching high school for over the past quarter century in the small community of fallbrook in northern san diego county, only a few miles from my birthplace on camp pendleton...i consider this my home, always have and always will. but i still have never grown roots even though i was born here and have lived here the majority of my lifetime...
 
i've been a long-standing member of the fallbrook educational and professional community for over 25years, teaching at the same school all these years and instructing thousands of students in my tenure who have become permanent members of the community, still living here with their families. some of my old students have become parents and now i even have their next generation in my classrooms...yet, still i have never grown roots here. i travel the world so much that i'm usually never at my house, gone away over half the year when on breaks from school...
 
i've no blood brothers or sisters, only really close friends who are like family. i shared my life with the dude for close to 15 years, and now share my happiness with besos these past 4 and a half years, with both doggies being the closest thing to me having children of my own. i never had the desire to start a family with kids of my own, and maybe that is the reason i'm single and have remained single all these years. constantly hoping to find that kindred spirit, the lady for me that i'm certain is out there looking for me too. maybe we will meet, maybe i've already met her and we blew it, or maybe i'm just not fated to find my true love in this life...
 
lots of people base their meaning and happiness on having a family, sacred to them are their children and the roots they have grown into their communities. i'm not one of those people...i'm happiest when i'm travelling and photographing the beauty of this world...my happiness stems from the fact i really have no roots...
 
it's nice to always return home, but i could easily change my home to anywhere in the world. i could see myself at home on either rapa nui (easter island) or new zealand's south island just as easily as here in southern california...
 
maybe it's summers in oklahoma, and winters in hawaii, with spring in japan and autumn in eastern canada...or maybe i've yet to find my true home, some people find home in a heartbeat...
 
but having no roots means being unattached to old thinking, bad memories, and resentments...it's freedom, letting go of the past, and walking the path to forgiving and forgetting, and feeling at home anywhere i might find myself....
 
"having no roots links me to my future, to the place where i know i will need to be one day" ― bodhi, no roots
 
this song from 15 years ago in 2008 is by a relatively little known indie folk artist out of the pacific northwest...it's another great tune to go along with the deeper meaning of my impression and blog today... "moss on a rolling stone" by noah gundersen. ... (just click on any of the words in the powder blue links to listen to the tune and watch the video) ...

"i believe nowhere is a better place to be than not knowing where you're going now. i said education is a better state of mind, but i'd trade all my books to find a home. if i made bets on a better time, i'd lose my money every single dime. i believe moss on a rolling stone is better than the rust that's growing on my home, because it eats at me sometimes. the more you struggle, more you fight it, more it clings to you at night. the more you wonder, more you dream, the more you pray it starts to die. and it does, though it kicks you in the side. yes it does, though it takes a little time...i believe heaven is a pretty place to stay, but not knowing scares me half to death. i believe god is a bigger man than me, but sometimes i  think that i can fight him. we kicked the devil on a friday night, just about lost when he came in close and tight. took him with a punch to his gritty chin, sked him to please not come back here again. but he eats at me sometimes...the more you struggle, more you fight it, more he clings to you at night. the more you wonder. more you dream. the more you pray he starts to die. and it does, though he kicks you in the side. yes it does, though it takes a little time...i believe home is a place that i will get someday if someone just will hold me. i believe hope is a thing that i will find some time if someone just will show me. i believe love is given, going, gone, come back to kiss me on the forehead. and i believe moss on a rolling stone is better than the rust that's growing on my home, because it eats at me sometimes. the more i struggle, more i fight it, more it clings to me at night. the more i wonder, more i dream, the more i pray it starts to die. and it does, though it kicks me in the side. yes it does, though it takes a little time" ― noah gundersen, moss on a rolling stone.
 
"having no roots, sometimes i do get lonely. but does having no roots mean i'm unhappy? no, not at all" ― bodhi, no roots
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MORE QUOTES FOR EXTRA MEANING
"the four noble truths: 
1. suffering does exist.
2. suffering arises from "attachment" to desires.
3. suffering ceases when "attachment" to desire ceases.
4. freedom from suffering is possible by practicing the "middle path" ― gautama siddhartha buddha, sayings of buddha
   
"be connected to everything but attached to nothing. attachment is rooted in fear. you lose your fear of loss when you realize you're already whole" ― lao tzu, tao te ching
 
"remain in the world, act in the world, do whatsoever is needful, and yet remain transcendental, aloof, detached, a lotus flower in the pond" ― osho, the responsibility of being oneself
 
"i revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. and even more i revere trees when they stand alone. they are like lonely persons. not like hermits who have stolen away out of some weakness, but like great, solitary men, like beethoven and nietzsche. they struggle with all the force of their lives for one thing only: to fulfil themselves according to their own laws, to build up their own form, to represent themselves. nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree" ― herman hesse, baume
 
"the passionate, tragic, rootless tree man? he is a creature whose highest privileges are a curse. in his mouth is ever the bitter-sweet taste of life and death, unknown to the trees. without respite he is dragged by the two wild horses, memory and hope; and he is tormented by a secret that he can never tell. for every man worthy of the name is an initiate; but each one into different mysteries" ― hope mirrlees, lud-in-the-mist
 
"the modern hero is the outsider. his experience is rootless. having no roots, he can go anywhere. he belongs nowhere. being alien to nothing, he ends up being alienated from any type of community based on common tastes and interests. the borders of his country are the sides of his skull" ― flannery o'connor, collected works
 
"to immigrants and exiles everywhere, the uprooted, the re-rooted, the no-rooted, and to the trees we left behind, rooted in our memories" ― elif shafak, the island of the missing trees
 
"dreamwalkers have no roots, and i have no anchor...if you make me your home, you’ll wander forever" ― samantha shannon the mask falling
 
"the wonderful thing about extended travel--the whole lifestyle, with the come-and-go friendships and the rootless freedom--is that it breaks you out of ruts you’ve carved into your everyday life. but when you never stop traveling, travel itself becomes a rut. at some point, you’re no longer gaining a richer perspective on your life. it’s more like you’re running away" ― seth stevenson, grounded
 
"he was ever alone now, set apart from those around him, separated by a divide he could see across but never cover. to be without family was a strange, unseeable prison, the bars of loneliness and rootlessness enclosing ever more tightly as years and experience accumulated, isolating him such that he touched naught and naught touched him" ― j.r. ward, lover mine
 
“i was once told that my sense of having "no roots" would increase in direct proportion to the number of places in which i felt at home, and that the day i reverted back to my core culture, my core identity, would be both my happiest and my most lonely day" ― daniel levin, nothing but a circus
 
"i cross my fingers and hope that people will understand that i'm a messy agglutinate of all the places i've ever lived in. like a hologram created by splitting up light beams, a permanent record of all the places i've lived, reflected off me" ― shruti buddhavarapu
 
"no one you have been and no place you have gone ever leaves you. the new parts of you simply jump in the car and go along for the rest of the ride. the success of your journey and your destination all depend on who’s driving" ― bruce springsteen, born to run
 
"maybe you are searching among the branches, for what only appears in the roots" ― jalaluddin rumi, hush don't say anything to god 
 
"love is a tree with branches reaching into infinity and roots set deep into eternity, and no trunk" ― jalaluddin rumi
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ABOUT THIS IMPRESSION
"it's nice to always return home, but i could easily change my home to anywhere in the world. i could see myself at home on either rapa nui (easter island) or new zealand's south island just as easily as here in southern california..." ― bodhi, no roots
 
this impression was captured during the evening and night of july 29th, 2022 as a crescent moon was rising in the east with the milky way in the south-southeastern sky behind a lone black walnut tree in the middle of the high grasslands being grazed by both buffalo and texas longhorns in the wichita mountains wildlife refuge of western oklahoma...
 
this composition is comprised of two separate exposures taken ...one long exposure of the tree and the surrounding high plains of western oklahoma at 9:09pm cdt (f/22@39mm for 4 secs, iso-64)... merged with a long exposure of the stars, a rising crescent moon, and the milky way taken afterwards in the wee-hours (f/2.8@24mm for 13 secs, iso-3200)... 
 
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...
 
to get the effects and balance i was looking for in the tree part of this composition ( f/22@39mm for 4 secs, iso-64), i used one progreyusa filter. along with the progrey g-120z antarctic magnetic holder. to secure this filter to my nikon d850 with a nikon nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 lens....the one filter was a 0.9 gnd progrey titan 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-sunset light, an extra three stops and help permit details in the shadows as well as the details in the tree to come out better in the exposure... 
 
for the separate exposure of the stars, no filters were necessary, so none were used...
 
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 an induro (now benro) stealth carbon fiber tripod. in combination with the progreyusa filters. which i use with every photo i take...
 
"you were blessed with 84,600 seconds today, have you used one of them to say thank you?" ― bodhi, blessed 
 
"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" ― bodhi, if 
 
"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" ― bodhi, into my photo
 
"my photography is my way of keeping a diary " ― bodhi, my diary
 
"contemplate without thinking. be certain only in your uncertainty, content to be completely incomplete. stop the rush. slow down time. breathe and notice. slow down everything. let it all be. shut off the noise. hush. relax. seize this higher moment. reconnect. feel and sense what surrounds you. listen to all the colours 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!" ― bodhi, my world
 
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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please visit me at:

http://www.bodhismith.com
http://www.instagram.com/bodhi.impressions
http://www.facebook.com/Bodhi.Impressions

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