LAWRENCE RUSS: Soul, Art, and Society
Archives: The Spirit and Reality
It Is Always at Your Doorstep
The artist’s world is limitless. It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away. It is always on his doorstep. – Paul Strand
Keith Carter and the Cloud of Mercy – Part 3 of 3
It’ll be tempting for me at times to get lost in exposition or explanation, but I want to stick as much as possible to what’s central to this series of posts: an experience that I had some years ago on August 28 in Israel that suddenly came to mind as I was looking at Keith Carter’s Fifty Years and thinking about his use of shallow focus.
Keith Carter and the Cloud of Mercy, Part 1 of 3
First: I love Keith Carter’s photographs. Let me say that again: I love Keith Carter’s photographs. That has nothing to do with opinion or analysis, but rather with the grateful, felt experience of receiving gift after gift. I love the man, too, who speaks to us in his recorded interviews and lectures: gentle, uncommonly humble, […]
A Different Kind of Clue
This time, I haven’t drawn from religious or mystical texts, or parables or poetry or painting, for my clues to reality. This time, I’m taking you to court, so to speak. And I’ll cite it as honorable “precedent” the fact that Kafka (who was a workers’ comp lawyer for the city of Prague) often drew […]
How do I love Thee? Let me count the ways. (Christmas 2019)
All ye works of the Lord, Bless the Lord, Praise and exalt Him Above all, for ever. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. […]
Three Clues, One Three-Part Exercise, to Open What’s Closed
I have for you three clues, or, if you will, a three-part exercise. Any of the parts could move you closer to certain comprehensions, but it’s my hope and belief that your taking all three, in order, together, will create an even better chance of that happening for you: 1. In the context of Zen […]
Some Cautions about Enlightenment
As I’ve said, a part of what I plan to do for you in these posts is to give you what I’ve called clues, aiming to bring you closer to genuine reality. As part of the preparation for that, sort of checking your spacesuit for leaks, let me dispel some common errors about the voyage. […]
A Little Guidance and a First Pair of Clues
We’re all taught – or, rather, misled – by our families, our schools, our occupational or professional training, by the ubiquitous stream of advertisements, to believe that what is unreal is real, what is real is unreal; that what is poisonous or trivial is priceless, that what is priceless isn’t worth our time. How often […]
A Welcome to Further and Farther Voyages
If you’ve read my first post on this blog — “Welcome to Artists, Lovers of Art, and Unknown Friends” — you’ll have a good indication of my intentions here. And if you’ve been here before, you may have noticed that I’ve upgraded the template for this site. But that was just a prelude to more significant […]
The Body, Mortal and Immortal, as a Camera
Yes, the word “camera” is italicized in the original text of this passage from “The God of the Living” by George MacDonald. The word opens an entrance into these thoughts as a revelation of what photography, at least great photography, in its essential, not its merely “definitional” nature, is and aims and serves to […]