Spirits Rising by Bodhi Smith

Nov 08, 2019

"spirits rising" a new impression from bodhi smith...
 
"the redwoods are like no other trees...find a secluded grove and tilt your head back 90 degrees, and look up into the green canopies far above you, your spirits are bound to rise for you are surrounded by such giants of beauty, beautiful spirits reaching for the sky" ― bodhinku, spirits rising
  
“respond to every call
that excites your spirit”  ― jalaluddin rumi, poems of ecstasy and longing
 
“and into the forest i go, to lose my mind and find my soul” ― john muir
 
“if we surrendered
to earth's intelligence
we could rise up rooted, like trees" ― rainer maria rilke, love poems to god

“take hold of your own life.
see that the whole existence is celebrating.
these trees are not serious, these birds are not serious.
the rivers and the oceans are wild,
and everywhere there is fun,
everywhere there is joy and delight.
watch existence,
listen to the existence and become part of it.”― osho, zen, the path of paradox
 
btw, here is a beautiful tune to listen to while you read my words and quotes here, and contemplate my impression...a perfect song, so fitting of this image...uplifting, both loving and spiritual, "rise up" by andra day

"when the silence isn't quiet, and it feels like it's getting hard to breathe, and i know you feel like dying...but i promise we'll take the world to its feet, and move mountains...and i'll rise up, i'll rise like the day, i'll rise unafraid, i'll rise up and i'll do it a thousand times again, for you...and i'll rise up, high like the waves...i'll rise up, in spite of the ache, and i'll do it a thousands times again, for you, for you" ― andra day, rise up
 
"you are everything everywhere...my spirit rises up in your light, my heart blossoms in your colors, and my soul is born into your shade" ― bodhinku, everything everywhere  
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MEANING
“in the days of old, when the creation was young, the earth was filled with giant trees, whose branches soared above the clouds. and in them dwelled our ancient fathers, they who walked with the angels, and who lived by the holy law. in the shadow of the branches, all men lived in peace...and wisdom, and knowledge was theirs...and the revelation of the endless light. through their forests flowed the eternal river, and in the center stood the tree of life, and it was not hidden from them...they ate from the table of the earthly mother, and slept in the arms of the heavenly father. and their covenant was for eternity with the holy law.  in that time, the trees were the brothers of men, and their span on the earth was very long, as long as the Eternal river, which flowed without ceasing from the unknown spring….but alas, the sacred covenant with the creator was broken by the sons of men, and they were banished from their home of trees. now the path leading to the tree of life is hidden from the eyes of men…” ― edmond bordeaux szekely, the gospel of the essenes pg 193-194

in the english language, the word "spirits" has really two meanings, and both have a dual meaning here for my impression...the trees pictured are beautiful ancient spirits, full of such silent wisdom that we all can learn something from each visit in front of them...and being in this place lift my spirits, always make me feel better, happier, more alive...being around these trees really puts life into a frame of perspective as you are standing among these giants, making you humble and feel so insignificant standing next to one, feeling we all need to experience when our egos get the better of us as they often do...  

i love trees, they are always one of my most favorite subjects in which to create an impression, and these california coastal redwoods tree are just so awesome to see, they live to be thousands of years old and grow to become the tallest living things on the planet...so inspiring, they are literally magical spirits rising up up into the sky 300 feet to meet the clouds and create their own weather systems...beautiful giants, and so hard to photograph their majesty and eminence...so tall and massive, really hard to capture just how huge these trees are....
 
this particular day was a fun long predawn hike way back into one of the taller groves of redwoods along the northern california coast...took my pup with me and he loved the wilderness and being off leash and getting to be free in nature, it is a wonderful feeling for all of us to do get that, get free and lost in nature...those times always make my spirits rise, as does mere thoughts of times like the memory of a day you see pictured here...
 
"the tree tops whisper your name when i'm missing you the most. your shadow is observing me... it all reminds me how much more my life glows in your presence" ― bodhinku, glows
 
“keep your spirits up in the branches of a tall tree and i do not peek out too far” ― jalaluddin rumi, the essential rumi  
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STORY BEHIND THE PICTURE
"when she enters the room, my entire world brightens up, and i can feel my spirits rising (along with other parts of me too!)"" ― bodhinku, rising
 
“trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. i revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. and even more i revere them 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 buddha. in their highest boughs the world rustles, their roots rest in infinity; but they do not lose themselves there, they struggle with all the force of their lives for one thing only: to fulfill 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. when a tree is cut down and reveals its naked death-wound to the sun, one can read its whole history in the luminous, inscribed disk of its trunk: in the rings of its years, its scars, all the struggle, all the suffering, all the sickness, all the happiness and prosperity stand truly written, the narrow years and the luxurious years, the attacks withstood, the storms endured. and every young farm-boy knows that the hardest and noblest wood has the narrowest rings, that high on the mountains and in continuing danger the most indestructible, the strongest, the ideal trees grow.

trees are sanctuaries. whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. they do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.

a tree says: a kernel is hidden in me, a spark, a thought, i am life from eternal life. the attempt and the risk that the eternal mother took with me is unique, unique the form and veins of my skin, unique the smallest play of leaves in my branches and the smallest scar on my bark. i was made to form and reveal the eternal in my smallest special detail.

a tree says: my strength is trust. i know nothing about my fathers, i know nothing about the thousand children that every year spring out of me. i live out the secret of my seed to the very end, and i care for nothing else. i trust that my beloved is in me. i trust that my labor is holy. out of this trust i live.

when we are stricken and cannot bear our lives any longer, then a tree has something to say to us: be still! be still! look at me! life is not easy, life is not difficult. those are childish thoughts. let majesty speak within you, and your thoughts will grow silent. you are anxious because your path leads away from mother and home. but every step and every day lead you back again to the mother. home is neither here nor there. home is within you, or home is nowhere at all.

a longing to wander tears my heart when i hear trees rustling in the wind at evening. if one listens to them silently for a long time, this longing reveals its kernel, its meaning. it is not so much a matter of escaping from one's suffering, though it may seem to be so. it is a longing for home, for a memory of the mother, for new metaphors for life. it leads home. every path leads homeward, every step is birth, every step is death, every grave is mother.

so the tree rustles in the evening, when we stand uneasy before our own childish thoughts: trees have long thoughts, long-breathing and restful, just as they have longer lives than ours. they are wiser than we are...but when we have learned how to listen to trees, then the brevity and the quickness and the childlike hastiness of our thoughts achieve an incomparable joy. whoever has learned how to listen to trees no longer wants to be a tree. he wants to be nothing except what he is. that is home. that is happiness.” ― herman hesse, baume
 
"everywhere i see
you're every leaf, bird, and tree
everything to me" ― bodhinku, haiku
 
“i came with many knots in my heart, you undid them all at once. you made me into a tightrope. i see now the splendor of the student and that of the teacher's art. love and this body sit inside your presence, one demolished, the other delirious. we smile. we weep, tree limbs turning sere, then light green.” ― jalaluddin rumi  
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MORE MEANINGFUL QUOTES
“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
 
"she was at once a mystical journey into the heart of the earth and the calm found in the fading light of sunset. She was like a moonless sky; dark, deep and eternal. upon her skin a blanket of stars was scattered to be traced by knowing fingers..." ― c. ara campbell, into the unknown
 
“your body is a forest—thick canopies of redwood trees and sweet scented wildflowers sprouting in the underwood. you will grow back, over and over, no matter how badly you are devastated" ― beau tapin
 
"what did the trees learn from the earth, to be able to talk with the sky? ...and why do the tress conceal the splendor of their roots?" ― pablo neruda, the book of questions
 
“look at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars… and if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful. everything is simply happy. trees are happy for no reason; they are not going to become prime ministers or presidents and they are not going to become rich and they will never have any bank balance. look at the flowers - for no reason. it is simply unbelievable how happy flowers are.”― osho
 
“even the tallest trees are able to grow from tiny seeds, like the redwoods. remember this, and try not to rush time" ― paulo coelho, the spy
 
“i thank you god for this most amazing day, being with you, and for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes” ― e.e. cummings 

“yours is the light by which my spirit is born: you are my sun, my moon, and all my stars" ― e.e. cummings, poems
 
"here is the deepest secret nobody knows (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 the 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)” ― e.e. cummings
 
"come to the woods, for here is rest...the clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness...nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of autumn" ― john muir, the mountains of california 
 
“the sun shines not on us but in us. the trees wave and the flowers bloom in our bodies as well as our souls, and every bird song, wind song, and tremendous storm song of the rocks in the heart of the mountains is our song, our very own, and sings our love"  ― john muir, the yosemite
 
“and into the forest i go, to lose my mind and find my soul” ― john muir

“no man has the right to dictate what other men should perceive, create or produce, but all should be encouraged to reveal themselves, their perceptions and emotions, and to build confidence in the creative spirit" ― ansel adams
 
“a great photograph is a full expression of what one feels about what is being photographed in the deepest sense and is thereby a true expression of what one feels about life in its entirety”  ― ansel adams
 
“my religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details and illuminations we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds" ― albert einstein  

“great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds” ― albert einstein

“beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart” ― kahlil gibran, le prophete  

“trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky, we fell them down and turn them into paper, that we may record our emptiness” ― kahlil gibran, le prophete  

“love is like a tree: it grows by itself, roots itself deeply in our being and continues to flourish over a heart in ruin. the inexplicable fact is that the blinder it is, the more tenacious it is. it is never stronger than when it is completely unreasonable" ― victor hugo, the hunchback of notre-dame  

"a tree that longs to reach the heights of heaven must sink its roots to the bottom of the earth" ― friedrich nietzsche, beyond good and evil

“there are four questions of value in life... what is sacred? of what is the spirit made? what is worth living for, and, what is worth dying for? the answer to each is same. only love"  ― johnny depp  

“i felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees...i thought, "this is what it is to be happy" ― sylvia plath, the bell jar

“kindred spirits are not so scarce as i used to think. it's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world”― l.m. montgomery, anne of green gables  

"the wind is talking for the very first time with a melody that pulls you towards it painting pictures of paradise...and the water's crashing, trying to keep your head up high while you're trembling, that's when the magic happens, and the stars gather by, by your side, saying: rise up, to the light in the sky. watch the light lift your heart up and burn your flame through the night...spirit, watch the heavens open...spirit, can you hear it calling? your destiny is coming close” ― beyonce, spirit (from the lion king)
 
“there is no political solution to our troubled evolution. have no faith in constitution. there is no bloody revolution...our so-called leaders speak with words they try to jail you. they subjugate the meek, but it's the rhetoric of failure...where does the answer lie? living from day to day, if it's something we can't buy, there must be another way...we are spirits in the material world”― words by the police, sung by pato banton
 
“be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop” ― jalaluddin rumi, a year with rumi  
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ABOUT THE IMPRESSION
"i look up in
hope, dreaming to be
brightened up, and
begotten out of
this hazy funk, and
suddenly, i
see
my light glowing
high above me, she
is
warming certainty
wearing her
angelic halo, as
my spirits rise up to
kiss her, i smile
clearly" ― bodhinku, my spirits
 
this is single frame image composition, and it was a windless day (or this image would NOT have been possible) ...and since it is a 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, because it is sturdy, tall, and perfectly compact....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 composition, i used three filters to get the effects and balance i was looking for...so, i used the 1.8nd progrey genesis filter (and holder) to slow down the exposure 6 stops and naturally saturate all the greens more....plus in combination with the 0.6gnd progrey genesis filter to stop down the brighter light 2 stops for the right side of the image and the 1.2gnd progrey genesis filter to bring down the brighter left side of the image 4 stop and balance in-camera overall the image the way i envisioned it, as the sky on the outside was considerably brighter than the shadows under the trees' canopies...
 
i wish to openly thank my sponsors who have always supported me through both the good and bad times...for truly this ultra long exposure would not be possible without the use of my trusty dolica tripod in combination with the progreyusa filters which i use with every photo i take...
 
"contemplate without thinking. stop the world. slow down everything. shut off the noise. breathe in. breathe out. 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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please visit me at:
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