“The Voice Under All Silences” | Anthony Satori
“Love is the voice under all silences, the hope which has no opposite in fear; the strength so strong mere force is feebleness; the truth more first than sun more last than star.” – E. E. Cummings
“Out There” | Anthony Satori
“Look at the world out there, my God, my God, look at it out there, outside me, out there beyond my face and the only way to really touch it is to put it where it’s finally me, where it’s in the blood, where it pumps around a thousand times ten thousand a day. I get hold of it so it’ll never run off. I’ll hold on to the world tight some day. I’ve got one finger on it now; that’s a beginning.” — Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
“A Music Conducive to Dream” | Anthony Satori
“Truly fertile Music, the only kind that will move us, that we shall truly appreciate, will be a Music conducive to Dream, which banishes all reason and analysis. One must not wish first to understand and then to feel.” — Albert Camus
It was suggested to me that a proper introduction was in order for my recent book Animal Spirits: A Collection of Nature Photographs. So, please enjoy the short film above! (run time: approx. 2 minutes; video has sound) All of the images in the video are featured in the book, plus many more… in fact, it contains almost two hundred color and black-and-white nature photographs of animals from around the world. If just for the Emerson texts alone, however, it is easily worth the price of admission: the book features a generous selection of mind-expanding quotes carefully curated from the writings of noted transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson.
To find the book on Amazon, please click the Animal Spirits image in the right hand margin. Or use the link here: Animal Spirits by Anthony Satori.
Enjoy!
“Distant Shore” | Anthony Satori
I was driving up the coast, enjoying the unusual mix of cloud and sun, cool and warm, stillness and motion which constituted the day. I decided to stop and have lunch. I parked, grabbed my backpack and walked onto the beach. I looked out over the water and marveled at the sea and the clouds. The sky appeared to me almost like the atmosphere of Jupiter, a mysterious swirl of forces and counter-forces. It looked surreal and other-worldly to my eyes. The surface of the water seemed dense and heavy, like a choppy lake that you might find somewhere deep in the mountains, far and remote from where I stood. As I watched, the sun broke through the clouds and began to pour its light against the other side of the bay, creating a brilliant strip of light along the opposing shore. I stared into the distance, unable to figure out what it was that I was looking at. Were those buildings? Were they cliffs of stone? Were they docks or container ships? I started to take a picture, but then I delayed, attempting to identify what I was seeing. I stood for several minutes, watching the sunlight expand and glitter along the opposing coast, immersing myself in the pleasure of the light, the patterns, the sensation of beauty, all the while remaining unable to identify the objects across the bay. And then it struck me: the sensation that I was feeling was enough. I didn’t need to be able to identify every detail of what I was seeing before I could be entirely “in the moment.” I did not need to know everything, before I could savor the beauty of it all. If fact, this hybrid mix of knowing and not knowing, combined with an appreciation of beauty throughout, was an entirely satisfying experience. I lifted my camera and took a picture. It was a picture of the ocean, the sky, the light, the opposing shore. It was a picture of Jupiter, a distant mountain lake, wind on the water. But it was also a picture of mystery. It was a picture of wonder. It was a picture of how it feels to be fully absorbed in the pleasure of beauty even in the face of not knowing, and to be entirely content in the completeness of that experience.
“Dark Horse” | Anthony Satori
“Every day we should hear at least one pleasant song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a few sensible words.” – Goethe
“The Hyacinth Girl” | Anthony Satori
“‘You gave me hyacinths first a year ago; / They called me the hyacinth girl.’ / — Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden, / Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not / Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither / Living nor dead, and I knew nothing, / Looking into the heart of light, the silence.” – T. S. Eliot (The Waste Land)
“Limitless” | Anthony Satori
“Out of my pocket I drew a little edition of Dante — my travelling companion. I lit a pipe, leaned against the wall and made myself comfortable. I hesitated for a moment. Into which verses should I dip? Into the burning pitch of the Inferno, or the cleansing flames of Purgatory? Or should I make straight for the most elevated plane of human hope? I had the choice. Holding my pocket Dante in my hand, I rejoiced in my freedom. The verses I was going to choose so early in the morning would impart their rhythm to the whole of the day.” – Nikos Kazantzakis (Zorba the Greek)
“A Walk Along the Shore” | Anthony Satori
Two figures, a young girl and her mother, walking hand in hand toward the seashore in the middle of Winter. The child is wearing a vibrant red sweatshirt, the hood thrown back to feel the chill of the air on her face and neck. The mother wears a sensible overcoat, with a long skirt and large hat to protect her from the elements. The child walks with a spring in her step, looking gleefully around, taking it all in. The mother walks with a more level stride, directed more steadily toward their destination. Under her arm, the mother carries a heavy purse — the responsibilities of adulthood — everpresent in her possession. She holds it away from the girl, however, shielding her child from life’s weight by placing nothing less than her own self in between. They are at the shore on a cold day, presenting the young girl with a new experience, showing her that you do not have to wait until Summer to share a lovely walk at the sea — in fact, if you take your moments in life as they come, you might just be surprised by the unique and special beauties that you will find. The mother wears muted tones from head to toe, but amidst the greys and browns of her attire there is a hint of red in her shoes. It is a mere flash of color, almost easy to miss, but it is a true, living remnant of her own youth, a glimmer of the young girl that she herself once was, not so long ago. It is a spark of her own childlike spirit, preserved, still alive within her, giving her the ability to genuinely relate to her young daughter’s fresh enthusiasm and to truly share in the experience.
“Red Satin” | Anthony Satori
“True beauty is a ray that springs from the sacred depths of the soul, and illuminates the body, just as life springs from the kernel of a seed and gives color and scent to a flower.” – Khalil Gibran
Satori Circle | Art & Culture 