Winters Night

Winters Night by Tony Pinfold

below are the words that this image inspired :-

The world is quiet and frost begins to form, this is the depth of winter that I love,
The moon reflects in yet another puddle, it is all so simple yet so unknown.

Do you dare venture out after midnight and see the beauty?
Is the wonder of night lost on you, my anxious friend?

Man declares himself king of all yet where is he now?

Tucked up in bed so self assured with his books of science to keep him warm.

A billion stars mock these deluded children of the universe.

The trees chuckle in agreement – they know nothing these bringers of machine and mayhem.

Are you transfixed by the mystery of life, lost and so forgotten?

Then come stand in the moonlight and be found, know your place and that everything is just as it should be, how could it be any other way?

The world is quiet and frost begins to form, this is the deep of winter that I love,

my soul reflects in yet another moon, as my life dances on, so simple yet so unknown.

 

 

Life

A week or so ago, I created a work called ‘Life’. It was unusual for me in that it was not created from photos I have taken but by mixing a number of photoshop filters together. While some of my works take days, even weeks to created this at the most took an hour or so. I found it amazing how complex the image was and yet for me anyway easy to create. It was so simplistic a creation that my ego demanded that I not put it in my range of work as it wasn’t creative enough. Well as you can see I have brought it to you for that very reason.

Life just is

This image is like most of my work a visual metaphor. From a state of mind, life is very complex but from a state of being, life is easy, it ‘just is’. I find that when life becomes over complicated it stops being enjoyable and stress builds. We fight against the simplicity of life at every possibility, as a result the problems we find our selves up against are caused by our simple inability to ‘just be’.

Let’s go a little deeper

Why do most of us do whatever it takes to make life more of a drama then it needs to be? We at times pick verbal and physical fights with friends and loved ones or even complete strangers. Despite all we know most of us will have times in our life when we start down routes of self destruction via too much booze or drugs or we simply push the sexual boat out further and further until what we believed was fun becomes a nightmare. Humans do all these things and more to scupper our chances at being at peace Why? Do we even know?

Natural beauty is rarely enough, a picturesque view can seldom still the heart for long. Many beliefs and religions refer to this restlessness as suffering, sin or ‘Dukkha ‘ monkey mind. It really doesn’t matter what we call it or why we think we act this way, we just do.

Life ‘just is’, but the human mind has made a game that layers over life that makes us believe that we are small, separate and lost. This as a concept would appear totally ludicrous to even the smallest cell that relies on and is part of everything. Not one thing in the known or unknown universe can function without anything else. Yet Humans stand in direct opposition to what ‘is’. We believe that we are apart from life, that we are separate from each other, the elements, the planet, the sun, the universe. It is no wonder we all feel so ‘wrong’ – how absurd we are. Life is visually very complex but it all works with the greatest of ease. Even death is perfect life in action, It is not a failing, a separation, it is but more food for life. So above as below we are the cells of the universe in this never ending dance of life.

OM (AUM) New image.

OM is everything

The overview

The most sacred symbol in Hinduism. Aum (OM) is the sound of the infinite. This is representative of the Trinity of God in Hindu dharma Bhrahma Shakti (creation), Vishnu Shakti (preservation) and Shiva (liberation) Shakt

The three portions of AUM relate to the states of waking, dream and deep sleep and the three gunas (rajas, satva, tamas)

The three letters also indicates three planes of existence, heaven (swarga), earth/mortal world (martya) and netherworld/hell (patala)

My Thoughts

The sound ‘AUM’ that many people chant in meditation practice is just one of many ways to anaesthetize the mind and reduce the chatter. Indigenous people across the world all have their own way of doing this, for me other good examples of this are Tibetan gongs, singing bowls and even it the wonderful didgeridoo.

While I agree than chanting ‘aum’(om) refocuses the mind back to our natural state of being for me the effect is most powerful at the end of lets say 10mins of chanting then for just a few seconds even minutes a profound peace settles. I tried very hard in my image to convey the metaphor of the Om symbol. It seemed obvious to me to use a photograph of a gong at the core to this image. I have tried to convey vibration, a coming into form, a creation. The repeated circular grid pattern serves to take the viewer on a journey into the picture and so into themselves the longer the pattern is viewed, more zoned out one feels. The more one returns to a state of ‘no thought’ or at the very least ‘less thought’.

What has this to do with nonduality?

The vibration of “OM” symbolizes the manifestation of God and so everything, it is a reflection of the absolute reality, without beginning or the end and embracing all that exists, for me that is nondulism. While any talk in the above overview of heaven,earth and hell may seem like duality this is just a limited view point, for all these supposed separate parts lie within the one whole, no point in the seen or unseen universe, multiverse, the everything lies separate from any other and so ‘Om’ is another metaphor for the truth of oneness.

Om must include our supposed solid world just as much as perceived mythic realms like heaven and earth. While I may sound like a broken record oneness is everything including every thought or no thought, every word or no word, every action or no action. If you attempt to exclude anything from oneness, then it is not oneness it is duality. Duality is an illusion set up by the mind that believes in the concept of separation and opposites .

Om is unconditional, eternal and perfect. Om is union. Om is one.

The Tree of Knowledge

This is my latest image ‘ The Tree of Knowledge’. I have always been fascinated by the metaphor of the eating of the forbidden fruit in that international best seller the bible. The translation I have goes as follows:-

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying: ‘Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.’

So what does it all mean? Well what it means is open to heated debate, but for me it suggests the worst thing man ever did was start thinking. In fact billions of people a day meditate in an attempt to escape their over heated brains. I’m sure before Eve came along and started eating everything in sight, Adam was blissfully at one with the natural order of things much like all undomesticated animals. Suddenly, the what, the why and how came into his brain and the pooh has been hitting the fan ever since. This was mainly spurned on through history by Christian theologians and Augustus of hippo who proposed ‘original sin’ was physically transmitted through the generations so suggesting we are all guilty simply by association with Adam and Eve.

Eve never really happened neither did Adam but what the story points to is man’s greatest folly:- A constant thirst for knowledge that has brought us to this point in history where we can destroy the very planet we live on with a press of a button…

The fascinating thing is that whoever wrote Genesis (no it wasn’t Peter Gabriel) knew that too much thinking would only bring mankind a whole bucket load of problems…
So what is the solution, lobotomies for all ? While that would work I think the Garden of Eden tale points to the answers:- a respect and alignment with the natural order that operates beyond our feeble physical control and a severe reduction in the need to eat from the tree of knowledge .

There are as many version of the Garden of Eden as there are Christian religions and even amongst them they can’ really agree on whether there was a tree of knowledge or even a Garden of Eden. But one things for sure without all that supposed knowledge from smart asses like myself the world and the web would be a much quieter place.
Any way I am off to eat an apple and ponder the problem some more.

The Tree of Knowledge will be available as a 16×12 only from Oct 17th.The picture represents the following:- On the left hand side there is a wave of knowledge flooding into Eves mind, filling it with thought as she takes a bit of the apple. In that instant she becomes she believes separated from her natural state of being, hence why she is rising out of the tangle wood behind. In the bottom right hand corner of the picture is a flame which represents the serpent disappear out of shot and beginning to burn up the perfection of the garden. In the distant you can see a perfect grove with a rainbow falling down into it, this part is Eden as yet untarnished the part we all pine for. And above is a tumultuous sky line anticipating the events to come.  Don’t forget the image like the tale it’s self is a metaphor.

How many masks do you wear?

We have all at times got lost in a play or movie. The world furnishes actors and those that can weave illusion with much praise and material comfort. Yet in the ‘real’ world anyone who displays the ‘talent’ of playing multiple personalities is ultimately considered sick, in need of medication and in the worse cases locking away.

Now tell me in all honestly who are you?

To answer that question many people will present you with a list of the roles they carry out. For example, they may say they are a mother, a father, a nurse, a solider or a cleaner. They may even reference their physical appearance, their most honed trait or simply their age:- I am a sexy woman, an ugly girl, a confident 25 year old male… The list is endless. But you can be sure these are simply masks (personas) They are smoke and mirrors that hide a deep truth that few people have any clue who they are and in fact many would rather not know.

The average human is weighed down by so many masks that the act of living (for it is an act) has become a burden. It is believed by many in mental health and the healing arts that the way to make someone whole is to strip away the masks they hide behind. But I do not believe this is possible because people are much like onions, just when you metaphorically peal one layer of skin away you find another. So then you have to ask the question which layer, which mask is the real you? The answer to that is not clear cut for underneath the perceived ‘evil person’ is not always an angel playing a role. Likewise underneath the do-gooder is not always a person trying to make up for some guilt ridden past. Throughout history mankind has tried to shape humanity into what it believes it should be, should look like and time and time again it has failed.

The ‘truth’ of it all is that we love the lies, we love the divide comedy in which we all take part -the good and especially the bad… oh how we love to go on and on about the bad. A tragedy usually has a far better mask to wear and more people would rather moan and argue than sit in silence.

And there in lies the clue (possibly)… As I have said before we are a human being, we simply are and while that sounds all very wonderful it is a kind of death. I mean meditation can maybe point you to the stillness of your being but who would want to really be that when there is a huge box of costumes and masks to get lost in?

Could it be that earth is just a big stage on which life gets to simply dress up a play the fool? It knows that it is everything, endless, perfect but hey just for a while wouldn’t it be great to play at not being ‘that’. If everything we know and don’t is god then maybe earth is just the place in the mind of god where it wonders what would it be like to not be ‘that’.

Even if this sounds like stuff and nonsense, can you tell me hand on heart you really feel you are this persona you present to the world? Doesn’t it all just feel like a great big act?

Below is the new image Persona that inspired the above blog

To buy this print and support my blog click here:- www.tonypinfold.biz/Persona.html

‘We are One’

The other day i was searching through some of my old writings and i found the thoughts that were inspired by my works ‘We are One’ and ‘The whole’. While i guess my thinking on nonduality may have moved on a little since i wrote this for my first book (no longer in print) it still resonates on a very human level beyond what many people may call ‘woo-woo notions’. Even the most reluctant soul must recognise how we are all in this together, linked in this predicament called life which is if you think about it both beautiful  and just a little bit (ok a lot)weird:-

When we view the world from a general perspective it would seem the notion of Oneness, that is everyone and everything is interconnected, is far from being expressed. Many in the World are born into a state of separation from each other, the Planet, the Universe and even their God/Gods.

It is without a doubt that the theory of "We Are One" may be hard to grasp especially when viewed at ground level. By simply expanding our view to a universal perspective, it becomes obvious that the concept of separation is truly flawed. No matter our supposed status on Earth, many times a day our very survival depends totally on others for water, food, shelter, power, protection and even health care. Sadly most choose to over look the fact that we are totally reliant on people we’ve never even met. By simply branding ourselves the human ‘race’, we subconsciously suggest that we are in competition with each other; this fundamental notion breeds discontent and damages nature’s perfect balance of co-dependency.

It is evident that despite our many miss guided notions, wars and differences we do generally work as a united unit. Every day in our flawed manner we work on mass in order to keep each other alive, deep down we know this to be true. Looking inward we can see the cells in our body function in the same way, but with a thousand times more efficiency. Each individual cell works together with every other without complaint, for the good of ‘The Whole’ once again such an inspirational example is completely over looked. Surely it must dent our well honed egos to know that cells are generally doing a far better at oneness than us.

I’m sure we have all heard or quoted the phrase ‘No man is an Island’, even this it would seem is incorrect for no island is an island either, at its base it is quite clearly connected to every other land mass on the Planet. Even those that choose not to expand their brain beyond the superficial, are able to see how all of nature is interlinked, despite this we as humans still refuse to see ourselves as being any part of this. It is not going too far I believe to say we not only walk the Planet, we are part of the Planet and beyond that the universe. ‘We Are One’ is not some cool phrase, neither is it some hippy happy love notion, it is an obvious fact.

The one thing that gets in the way of us freely embracing our oneness is our ego. The ego works hard daily to maintain this status quo of separation, by bombarding us with the notions- we are special, better or deficient and unworthy. Exactly what the ego uses as its mantra depends on upbringing, events in childhood and insecurities. Why it does this is open for debate, the fact is the egos operating within us all, from a New York stock broker to a Buddhist monk. Many will proclaim they are egoless but by simply making such a statement they are proving of course they are not.

I believe that it is important to point out that "We Are One" does not require us to be all the same. We do not have to give up our individualities. It is our own unique skills which help to make ‘The Whole’ function. What ‘We Are One’ does require is that we start to focus on what we do and say, making sure it will be in the best interests of not only ourselves, but everyone else on the planet. I’m depending on you and everyone else to do the ‘right’ thing, to be the perfect cell in this boundless body of everything.

Above ‘We are One’

Below ‘The Whole’

Please all  my oneness images at:- http://www.tonypinfold.biz/Oneness.html

Winter Dance and Gift Cards

 

 

Above new Image ‘Winter Dance’

Ok so it’s only just mid September but every year I leave my festive picture too late to be professional print on cards. So this year I decided that would not happen. I have just received the 16×12 print of Winter Dance and it looks great!!! 
So it’s now available to view and buy on my website www.tonypinfold.biz

From mid October I will be introducing a limited range of blank gift cards which will include the image Winter Dance. I have been asked time and time again for gift cards of my work and up to this point it has never been economically viable for me to produce cards. But finally I have found a company that can produce high quality cards without me having to sell the house. I believe I will be selling them in sets but I have yet to decide on price and quantity so watch this space.

Winter Dance was one of those pictures that happened without to much of a struggle. It was born from three main photographs I have taken. The first is a tree in midwinter in Stour Wood Suffolk. The second is some dead tree trunks in St. Ives Cornwall and the final picture is of water in a glass bowl I took in my studio a few years ago. Why I exactly told you all that I don’t know it’s just many people still find it hard to believe my work is created from photographs.
Hmm isn’t time I had a camera sponsor …yes me thinks it is ..lol