Path to Isolation by Bodhi Smith

Aug 27, 2021

"path to isolation" a brand new impression and blog from me...
 
"lonely, but necessary. only you can walk your own path. with or without others. sometimes you must leave all you know behind, leave what is safe and head into the uncertainty. like a pioneer risking it all in full hopes of finding something better, something brighter, to a somewhere you must go" ― bodhinku, path to isolation
 
"my alone feels so good, i'll only have you if you're sweeter than my solitude" ― warsan shire
 
"the one who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. the one who walks alone is likely to find themself in places no one has ever been before" ― albert einstein 
 
"in isolation, loneliness is the agony of being alone...but solitude is the joy of being alone in isolation" ― amit kalantri, wealth of words
 
"i tried, please believe me. i'm doing the best that i can. i'm ashamed of the things i've been put through. i'm ashamed of the person i am...but if you could just see the beauty. these things i could never describe. these pleasures a wayward distraction. this is my one lucky prize, isolation" ― joy division, isolation
 
"sadness is silent, it is yours. it is coming because you are alone. it is giving you a chance to go deeper into your aloneness. rather than jumping from one shallow happiness to another shallow happiness and wasting your life, it is better to use sadness as a means for meditation. witness it. it is a friend! it opens the door of your eternal aloneness" ― osho, love, freedom, aloneness
 
"each of us is all alone, to be sure. what can you do but hold your hand out in the dark?" ― ursula k. le guin, the wind's twelve quarters
 
"i don't expect you to understand, after you've caused so much pain. but then again, you're not to blame. you're just a human, a victim of the insane...i-isolation" ―  john lennon, isolation  
 
"if you're lonely when you're alone, you're in bad company" ― jean paul sartre, nausea
 
"if you meet a loner, no matter what they tell you, it’s not because they enjoy solitude. it’s because they have tried to blend into the world before, and people continue to disappoint them" ― jodi picoult, my sister's keeper
 
"justified, you waste away. you'd dare to dream, but still you're too afraid. now you're broken and deceived, lost to live this cruel reality. you're disconnected, so alone. severed ties from all you know. isolation brings you to the end until you love again" ― alter bridge, isolation  
 
"the best remedy for those who are lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and god. because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that god wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. as longs as this exists, and it certainly always will, i know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. and i firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles" ― anne frank, the diary of a young girl
 
"solitude is a chosen separation for refining your soul. isolation is what you crave when you neglect the first" ― wayne cordeiro, leading on empty
 
"a season of loneliness and isolation is when the caterpillar gets its wings. remember that next time you feel alone" ― mandy hale, the single woman
 
this song is a beautifully dark tune, and with its profound lyrics and being entitled by the same name as my image here, it is the perfect accompaniment to connect music with the meaning of my impression and blog today: "the path to isolation" by jeff williams (featuring casey lee williams) ... (just click on any of the words in the blue links to listen to the musical selection)....
 
"it starts with the unexpected loss of something dear. the warmth that comforted and cradled just disappears. and in its place, there's nothing, just an endless empty hole. the light that showed the way is gone and darkness takes control. bitterness and anger are quick to fill the void...the path to isolation is littered with the dreams that lay destroyed...the cold seems to grow in my soul, it's consuming me. confused and i'm losing myself in the storm, growing jaded. being pushed, being pulled, i'm unraveling. can't find myself when i'm constantly forced to conform. enemies surround me but the worst appear as friends. liars and pretenders only seek to reach their ends. everything is breaking right before my eyes. looking in the mirror, i see someone that i don't recognize. the joy that my heart used to know is eluding me, removed. and the one thing i feel is alone. smile's faded, and i'm spinning and sinking. i'm weakening, frozen in solitude, loneliness chills to the bone. memories escaping as my heart begins to drain. scars that cover wounds can't hide the self-inflicted pain. everything my mind wants in conflict with my heart. fighting back surrender, but every day i'm falling more apart...mirror what's this thing i see? who is staring back at me? a stranger to my heart has filled my mind. mirror help me, who am i?" ― jeff williams (with casey lee williams), the path to isolation
    
"sometimes you head down your path knowing without knowing it's where you need to go. not foreseeing it's going to isolate you from others, not knowing that your destination might be the most rewarding experience you've ever felt, but at the same time such a lonely place as you go it alone" ― bodhinku, path to isolation
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MEANING
"sometimes i feel so alone, i could cry...other times i cry because i'm so happy being alone" ― bodhinku, isolation
 
"isolation" is defined by merriam webster as:
the state of being in a place or situation that is separate from others; the act of separating something from other things; aloneness
 
being isolated and all alone is not a bad thing. sometimes you need to be separated from others to focus on what is important. to look inward and concentrate on yourself. alone time to reflect and find personal illumination. all alone to think clearly and understand who you truly are. all alone to sort through all the pain and hurt. all alone to heal...
 
being lonely is often necessary. only you can walk your own path. with or without others. sometimes you must leave all you know behind, leave what is safe and head into the uncertainty. like a pioneer risking it all in full hopes of finding something better, something brighter, to a somewhere you must go...
 
realize what is dear, only what's vital, and pack those necessities into your own covered wagon and head westward, or southward, or up into the mountains, or off to an island, or homeward bound...discover your path and take it, living every moment to the fullest along your journey...
 
sometimes you head down your path knowing without knowing it's where you need to go. not foreseeing it's going to isolate you from others, not knowing that your destination might be the most rewarding experience you've ever felt, but at the same time such a lonely place as you go it alone on the path to isolation...
 
sometimes when i'm alone, i feel i just don't have the time to waste time...and sometimes i feel so alone, i could cry...other times i cry because i'm so happy being alone...
 
i'm on my current path of isolation because i'm compelled to find my dream, her, the love of my life. to uncover my fairytale and live happily ever after with her. my dream is to be isolated from the world, alone with only her, so in love together that nothing else matters. but i long to finally find her, so i can finally get lost with only her and discover my dream...
 
"it's far better to be unhappy alone than unhappy with someone" ― marilyn monroe
 
"everyone else seems to have someone, a lover. but i am all alone with the dream of my beloved hidden in the corner of my heart" ― jalaluddin rumi, whispers of the beloved 
 
this song is radically different than each of the other music selections here , it's a hard driving metal rock song from 2011 by a band you may never have heard of before, but one i have been following for over a decade now...this song's lyrics are exceptional and maybe are my favorite ones in this entire blog... "isolation" by alter bridge  ... (just click on any of words in the blue links to listen to the song)...  

"when all is lost to you inside, when all the darkness takes the light. the ritual, it has begun. now you tear away from everyone. disconnected, so alone. severed ties from all you know. isolation brings you to the end, until you love again. isolation, if you could only see what will come to be...justified, you waste away. you'd dare to dream, but still you're too afraid. now you're broken and deceived, lost to live this cruel reality. you're disconnected, so alone. severed ties from all you know. isolation brings you to the end until you love again. isolation, if you could only see what will come to be. maybe you'll stand. maybe you'll give and break to find another way, and make things better. maybe you'll find a life you can live and learn to love along the way, and make things better, and make things better...isolation brings you to the end until you love again. isolation, if you could only see what will come to be. isolation brings you to the end until you love again. isolation, if you could only see what will come to be, you're disconnected, so alone. what will come to be, you're disconnected, so alone" ― alter bridge, isolation  
 
"my dream is to be isolated from the world, alone with only her, so in love together that nothing else matters. but i long to finally find her, so i can finally get lost with only her and discover my dream" ― bodhinku, isolated  
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STORY BEHIND THIS IMPRESSION
"i'm on my current path of isolation because i'm compelled to find my dream, her, the love of my life. to uncover my fairytale and live happily ever after with her" ― bodhinku, path of isolation
  
pictured here is an old covered wagon, a prairie schooner, heading westward on the oregon trail under the stars on the high plains in western nebraska...

the oregon trail was a 2,170-mile (3,490 km) east-west, large-wheeled wagon route in the united states that connected the missouri river at independence, missouri (close to kansas city) to the columbia river in oregon (close to portland). 

the oregon trail was originally laid by fur traders and trappers from about 1811 to 1840, and was only passable on foot or by horseback. by 1836, when the first migrant wagon train was organized in independence, missouri, a wagon trail had been cleared to fort hall, idaho, and eventually reached all the way to the willamette valley close to portland, oregon. at which point it came to be called the oregon trail as we know it today. annual improvements were made in the form of bridges, cutoffs, ferries, and roads, which made the trip faster and safer.

from the early to mid-1830s through the year 1869, the oregon trail was used by about 280,000 pioneers, farmers, miners, missionaries, and business owners and their families. the eastern half of the trail was also used by travelers on the california trail (from 1843), mormon trail (from 1847), and bozeman trail (from 1863), before turning off to their separate destinations. 
 
use of the trail declined as the first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, making the trip west substantially faster, cheaper, and safer...today, modern highways, such as interstate 80 and interstate 84, follow parts of the same course westward and pass through towns originally established to serve those using the oregon trail...
 
"sometimes when i'm alone, i feel i just don't have the time to waste time" ― bodhinku, path of isolation 
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MORE QUOTES FOR EXTRA MEANING
and here is another extremely meaningful and beyond beautiful song by arguably the best songwriter of all time, john lennon ... "isolation" by john lennon  ... and below is a most excellent cover of this song by jeff beck and johnny depp... (just click on any of words in the blue links to listen to the song) ...  

"people say we got it made, don't they know we're so afraid? isolation. we're afraid to be alone, everybody got to have a home. isolation. just a boy and a little girl trying to change the whole wide world. isolation. the world is just a little town, everybody trying to put us down. i-isolation. i don't expect you to understand, after you've caused so much pain. but then again, you're not to blame. you're just a human, a victim of the insane...we're afraid of everyone, afraid of the sun. isolation. the sun will never disappear, but the world may not have many years. i-isolation" ― jeff beck (featuring johnny depp), isolation (john lennon cover)  
 
"no one saves us but ourselves. no one can and no one may. we ourselves must walk the path alone" ― gautama siddhartha buddha, sayings of buddha   
 
"ordinary men hate solitude. but the master makes use of it, embracing his aloneness, realizing he is one with the whole universe" ― lao tzu, tao te ching  
 
"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; a compass that navigated me wordlessly like a north star back to a safe harbor. you, the home of the soul i longed a lifetime for, the lyrics to a melody i hummed before learning all of your words...wishing only that i could give you my eyes so that you could see your own brilliant unfolding and witness your landscape that has to me become so precious. you, who comprehend the foreign language i speak that fell on deaf ears for an eternity, it’s tongues finally heard fully quenching my parched and misunderstood soil that once stood solitary and barren against the tides...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 
 
"i think the beating in our hearts was put there to remind us that even when we are alone in the world, we march on. that even in the enormous dark and quiet, we always have someone to lean on, to embrace and turn to. that even when we have no one else, we always have ourselves" ― beau taplin, remedy
 
"i learned much too late
that what you called love
was nothing but a
desperate and irrational
fear of a life lived alone" ― beau taplin
 
"we must pass through solitude and difficulty, isolation and silence, to find that enchanted place where we can dance our clumsy dance and sing our sorrowful song. but in that dance, and in that song, the most ancient rites of our conscience fulfill themselves in the awareness of being human" ― pablo neruda, towards the splendid city 
 
"it is the secret fear that we are unlovable that isolates us, but it is only because we are isolated that we think we are unlovable. someday, you do not know when, you will be driving down a road. and someday, you do not know when, she will be there. you will be loved because for the first time in your life, you will truly not be alone. you will have chosen to not be alone" ― paulo coelho, the alchemist
 
"the capacity to be alone is the capacity to love. it may look paradoxical to you, but it's not. it is an existential truth: only those people who are capable of being alone are capable of love, of sharing, of going into the deepest core of another person--without possessing the other, without becoming dependent on the other, without reducing the other to a thing, and without becoming addicted to the other. they allow the other absolute freedom, because they know that if the other leaves, they will be as happy as they are now. their happiness cannot be taken by the other, because it is not given by the other" ― osho, book of wisdom
 
"poets knew that isolation in nature, far from people and things man-made, was good for the soul, and he'd always identified with poets" ― nicholas sparks, the notebook
 
"life, misfortune, isolation, abandonment, poverty, are the fields of battle which have their heroes; obscure heroes, who are, sometimes, grander than the heroes who win renown" ― victor hugo, les miserables  
 
"you alone will have the stars as no one else has them...in one of the stars i shall be living. in one of them i shall be laughing. and so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night...you, only you, will have stars that can laugh" ― antoine de saint-exupery, the little prince
 
"i am a stranger in this world of people, and there is a severe solitude and painful lonesomeness in my exile" ― khalil gibran, the prophet  
 
"life is given to us,
we earn it by giving it.
let the dead have the immortality of fame,
but the living the immortality of love.
life's errors cry for the merciful beauty
that can modulate their isolation into a
 
"it's easy, during those moments, to throw in the towel. to shrug off humanity. to tell yourself that you tried to be happy, and look what happened: more pain. worse pain. betrayed by the world. you realize then that anger is safer than kindness, that isolation is safer than community. you shut everything out. everyone. but some days, no matter what you do, the pain gets so bad you'd bury yourself alive just to make it stop" ― tahereh mafi, shatter me  
 
"i have such a fear of finding another like myself, and such a desire to find one! i am so utterly lonely, but i also have such a fear that my isolation be broken through, and i no longer be the head and ruler of my universe" ― anais nin, henry and june    
 
"real loneliness is not necessarily limited to when you are alone" ― charles bukowski
 
"isolation is the gift. all the others are a test of your endurance, of how much you really want to do it. and, you'll do it, despite rejection and the worst odds. and it will be better than anything else you can imagine. if you're going to try, go all the way. there is no other feeling like that. you will be alone with the gods, and the nights will flame with fire. you will ride life straight to perfect laughter. it's the only good fight there is” ― charles bukowski, factotum
 
"being alone never felt right. sometimes it felt good, but it never felt right" ― charles bukowski
 
here is another great song by a ground breaking english alternative band from 1980 (from who so many alternative artists have found an influence into their own music), "isolation" by joy division ... (just click on any of the blue words in the links to hear the musical tunes) ...
 
"in fear every day, every evening. he calls her aloud from above, carefully watched for a reason. painstaking devotion and love, surrendered to self preservation from others who care for themselves. a blindness that touches perfection, but hurts just like anything else. isolation, isolation, isolation...mother, i tried, please believe me. i'm doing the best that i can. i'm ashamed of the things i've been put through. i'm ashamed of the person i am. isolation, isolation, isolation...but if you could just see the beauty. these things i could never describe. these pleasures a wayward distraction. this is my one lucky prize, isolation, isolation, isolation...isolation, isolation" ― joy division, isolation  
  
"no one can construct for you the bridge upon which precisely you must cross the stream of life, no one but you yourself alone" ― friedrich nietzsche, twilight of the idols 
 
"i can live alone, if self-respect, and circumstances require me so to do. i need not sell my soul to buy bliss. i have an inward treasure born with me, which can keep me alive if all extraneous delights should be withheld, or offered only at a price i cannot afford to give" ― charlotte bronte, jane eyre
 
"i need to be alone. i need to ponder my shame and my despair in seclusion; i need the sunshine and the paving stones of the streets without companions, without conversation, face to face with myself, with only the music of my heart for company" ― henry miller, tropic of capricorn 
 
"all alone! whether you like it or not, alone is something you'll be quite a lot!" ― dr. seuss, the lorax 
 
"the isolation must be their desire; i couldn’t imagine any door that wouldn’t be opened by that degree of beauty" ― stephenie meyer, twilight
 
"some walks you have to take alone" ― suzanne collins, the hunger games  
 
"a dream you dream alone is only a dream. a dream you dream together is reality" ― john lennon
 
"i restore myself when i'm alone" ― marilyn monroe
 
"you were merely wishing for the end of pain, your own pain. an end to how it isolated you. it is the most human wish of all" ― patrick ness, a monster calls
 
"there is a wilderness we walk alone, however well-companioned" ― stephen vincent benet, western star
 
"she knew the years of isolation had altered her behavior until she was different from others, but it wasn't her fault she'd been alone. most of what she knew, she'd learned from the wild. nature had nurtured, tutored, and protected her when no one else would" ― delia owens, where the crawdads sing
 
"i don’t know what’s worse: to not know what you are and be happy, or to become what you’ve always wanted to be, and feel alone" ― daniel keyes, flowers for algernon 
 
"i think it's good for a person to spend time alone. it gives them an opportunity to discover who they are and to figure out why they are always alone" ― amy sedaris, hospitality under the influence
 
"there are other words for privacy and independence. they are isolation and loneliness" ― megan whalen turner, the king of attolia
 
"a man can be himself only so long as he is in isolation; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free" ― arthur schopenhauer, essays and aphorisms
 
"freedom is the possibility of isolation. you are free if you can withdraw from people, not having to seek them out for the sake of money, company, love, glory or curiosity, none of which can thrive in silence and solitude. if you can't live alone, you were born a slave. you may have all the splendours of the mind and the soul, in which case you're a noble slave, or an intelligent servant, but you're not free" ― fernando pessoa, the book of disquiet
 
"people die...so love them every day. love changes...but not the love you give. and if you love, you'll never be alone" ― l.j. smith, witchlight
 
"there is a loneliness more precious than life. there is a freedom more precious than the world. infinitely more precious than life and the world is that moment when one is alone with the universe" ― jalaluddin rumi, a year with rumi 
 
"a little while spent alone in your world will prove more valuable than anything else
that could ever be given you" ― jalaluddin rumi, the soul of rumi
 
"it's your path, and yours alone. others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you" ― jalaluddin rumi, the essential rumi
 
"master your vicious ego and judgmental mind. then with clear purpose, silent and alone, you can start on your journey toward spirit" ― jalaluddin rumi, the music and silence of the heart
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ABOUT THE IMPRESSION
"being isolated is not a bad thing. sometimes you need to be separated from others to focus on what is important. to look inward and concentrate on yourself. alone time to reflect and find personal illumination. all alone to think clearly and understand who you truly are. all alone to sort through all the pain and hurt. all alone to heal" ― bodhinku, isolation 
     
this impression was captured on the high plains of nebraska, it's made up of two separate exposures taken about 7 hours apart, both on july 14th, 2021...one long exposure of the covered wagon and butte (f/2.8@66mm for 111 secs, iso-64) merged with a star-tracked long exposure (f/4@24mm for 420 secs, iso-500)... 
 
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 covered wagon exposure of this composition (f/2.8@66mm 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 in turn naturally saturating all the blues, greens, and reds in the image...
 
combined with the second filter, a 0.9gnd 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 pre-dawn light, at the horizon level of the image an extra three stops and help permit details in the shadows in the covered wagon and amongst all the rocks in the cliffs and grassy foreground 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 24-70mm f/2.8 lens ... 
 
for the separate exposure of the stars i used a vixen optics polarie star tracker with vixen optics tripod...this permitted me to be able to capture a much longer exposure of the stars and not have any star trails, which also gives such beautiful enrichment to all the colors in the night sky while at the same time permitting a much lower iso setting and thus so much less noise (f/4@24mm for 420secs, iso-500), and no filters were necessary in the star exposure, so none were used...
 
i wish to openly thank my sponsors who have always supported me through both the good and bad times...for truly this long exposure impression would not be possible without the use of my induro phq3 series 5-way panhead with stealth 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
 
"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. 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
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