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the play of light

November 20, 2023

looking out into the Doe Forest the words come into the mind….the play of light.

i think, Notice the play of light.

and if you Notice the play of light, do you just notice? and go on with whatever?, or do you stay. Noticing. a

while

and how long might that while be? and what if it , off and on, fills a day? or two? or three, or?

Stuff can take time. How much do we want to give it?, are Willing to give? and then, it "starts up"…mind asks…Why? What's it FOR, noticing the play of light? there's no answer. so what if you just do it. see what happens

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10 responses to “the play of light”

Marti

November 21, 2023

The play of “noticing”…is it play or something else? Yesterday afternoon as I came back from getting the mail, mail box for the apartment complex is on the end of the driveway. Lots of gravel on the ground to get to it, makes such a crunchy sound when you walk across it and sometimes, I look and bend down because there is a rock that stands out, may have been there all along but for some reason, this time I noticed.
I hurried back because I had a pot of vegan white chili on the stove and it was time to add chopped cilantro and some lime juice. As I was walking back, the sky got dark, then the musical rumble of thunder was heard and shortly after came the light dance of rain.. Cold outside but the patio chair in the corner beckoned so I sat, listening, watching rain drops fall, the plunk of a few tiny apples to the ground, leaves falling and I sat…looking but not really focusing, sensing, smelling that rainy fresh smell, listening to the slip slide dance of rain when it poured out of the gutter downspouts…how long did I sit outside? I don’t know but it mattered that I stay for a while. To stop and notice, to pause and just take in an ordinary moment in an ordinary day, to me, is the gift of replenishing…

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Lace Lady

November 21, 2023

“There is a Japanese term “Komorebi”, for which no simple English translation exists. Yet it is a distinct phenomenon, that anyone who spends time among trees will have enjoyed. Komorebi roughly translates as “the scattered light that filters through when sunlight shines through trees”. It is made up of three “Kanji” or Chinese characters: “tree” or “trees”, “leaking-through” or “escape”, and “light” or “sun”. … The impact of Komorebi to the observer can range from creating a pleasant ambiance for a walk through the woods, to generating feelings of awe – which in the right place at the right time – verges on the transcendental.” here is a link to an article these quotes are from (hope you don’t mind). https://www.awatrees.com/2017/02/16/komorebi-sunshine-through-trees/
I first learned this descriptor in my senior year of high school beginning Japanese language, 2 years at university level, 3 years of adult on-the-job learning with Japanese buyers, learning contemporary Japanese at Saturday classes with children. One thing I was able to do was to return the favor, was teach the children about crepuscular rays among many other things. 45+ years later, memories of those classes are still so vivid ~ just some of what I call “pictures I didn’t take”. Those shafts of light. They stop me in my tracks, every time.
”
a couple of your questions ~ “What’s it FOR, noticing the play of light?” My responses “on the fly” don’t answer them per se, but I’ll give them a try. For me, there’s a wild, wild-open all senses engagement ~ each time I acknowledge with stillness, this once in a lifetime moment. I’ll never see this particular scene again. I lose track of the “construct” of time. sometimes deliberately, sometimes on the spur of the moment. Things to be done, or not done, can wait. They’ll always be there ahead of me. But the light ~ oh the mystery and miraculous ~ stays in my mind a long time.
Marti ~ the last sentence of your comment is just so perfect.
Grace ~ this is uncanny ~ a fine counterpoint to the moody moon and stars that I am seeing and watching this night. Thanks!

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Deb G

November 21, 2023

It’s a reminder and a hope and mystery for me.

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Liz A

November 21, 2023

I can call to mind sitting in my bedroom as a teenager doing nothing more than looking out the window … when I recall this, the sky above is gray, the rhododendron leaves below are a dark waxy green, and my mind is noticing all manner of other details … so firmly imprinting them that they have remained a part of who I am … all a part of my becoming

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grace Forrest

November 21, 2023

yes.. to stop. pause sensing

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grace Forrest

November 21, 2023

yes…again…the stopping. the suspending of the Doing
the just
stopping, the Letting
i love very much the link…the photographs are
breath taking

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grace Forrest

November 21, 2023

looking for kinds of hope

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grace Forrest

November 21, 2023

we did that, didn’t we. when we still were free
enough of the worldly things….

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Nancy

November 21, 2023

Sometimes I wonder, ponder…am I just good at the noticing part? Do I need to actually DO something with these things I’ve observed, noticed? Do they call for some action or is noticing enough? And now I am thinking maybe I need to not so much DO more, but go in deeper to the paused noticing itself.

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Cindy

November 22, 2023

Everyone’s words here bring back childhood walks with daddy; we’re so blessed!

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