The Philosophotographer

Blurring the line between the sacred and the profane.

I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man.

—Chuang Tzu, Nua-Hua Chen-Ching

Nature absolutely paints like the harlot..and when we proceed further, and consider that the mystical cosmetic which produces every one of her hues, the great principle of light, for ever remains white or colorless in itself, and if operating without medium upon matter, would touch all objects, even tulips and roses, with its own blank tinge..so the wretched infidel gazes himself blind at the monumental white shroud that wraps all the prospect around him.

—Herman Melville, Moby Dick

We are like chameleons, we take our hue and the color of our moral character, from those who are around us.

—John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education

But man, proud man,
Drest in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he’s most assured,
His glassy essence, like an angry ape,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As make the angels weep.

—William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure. Act ii. Sc. 2

© Jeff Mikkelson for Jeffrey Rackover

We know too much and believe too readily ever to feel at home in a questioning that is powerfully experienced. For that we need the ability to wonder at what is simple, and to take up that wonder as our abode.

—Martin Heidegger, Early Greek Thinking