The Orton Effect

The "Orton Effect" gives photographs a soft, dreamy, slightly blurred, yet more intense look.  I applied it (using Photoshop Elements) to the following photos taken right outside my door, during the past week.  See what you think.

The key to spiritual maturation is transforming all of life,

adversity included, into spiritual practice.

~Alan Wallace

Life affirms itself by consenting to its end.

~Thomas Merton

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.

It is the source of all art and science.

~Albert Einstein

 

 

Man, like the gen'rous vine, supported lives;

The strength he gains is from the embrace he gives.

~Alexander Pope

... glorious ...

As drops that dream and gleam

and falling catch the sun,

Evanescent mirrors

every ... one.

~Ezra Pound

We comprehend

Flowering and fading simultaneously.

And somewhere lions still roam,

Magnificent and all unaware

Of any weakness.

~Rainer Maria Rilke

Life demands for its fulfillment and completion

a balance of joy and sorrow.

~Carl Jung

I sing the endless finales of things,

I say Nature continues, glory continues,

I praise with electric voice,

For I do not see one imperfection in the universe.

O setting sun! though the time has come,

I still warble under you, if none else does,

unmitigated adoration.

~Walt Whitman

... when the crutches are broken ...

A couple of pieces of digital art, and some quotations written in my agenda in the last week.  Words to remind me, words to guide me,  words to inspire me to right thought and right action.  I hope these quotations prove helpful for you too.

The voice of the divine in us

is counterpoised not by the voice of the devil,

but by the voice of fear.

~Abraham Maslow

There is no enlightened being,

only fully enlightened actions

~Shunryu Suzuk

Only when all the crutches and props are broken ...

and there is no hope for security,

does it become possible to experience ...

meaning.

~Carl Jung

When you argue with reality,

you lose;

but only 100% of the time.

~Byron Katie

... and the winner is ...

In the giveaway of John O'Donohue's new book, Four Elements: Reflections on Nature, the lucky winner is Catherine in Carolina.  Catherine was the last person to enter.  Congratulations Catherine! 

Thank you to all who participated in the giveaway.  Keep your eye out - more giveaways to come in the near future.

A big thank you going out as well to the sponsor of this giveaway,  Harmony Books, the publisher of Four Elements: Reflections On Nature.



To determine the winner, I attached a number to each name in order of their appearance in the comment section.  Those who live outside of the USA or Canada were not included, as were those who specified they did not want to be included.  That left 14 entrants.  I used Random.org's sequence generator to randomly choose the number and it came up 14 - Catherine's number. 

Congratulations Catherine.  You have until Saturday, October 15th at 6:00 p.m. EST to contact me by e-mail giving me your co-ordinates.  If I do not hear from you by that time, I will move on to Random.org's next number.

Are you ready for a great giveaway?

Autumn is here in Eastern Canada in all its colourful glory.  These are a few photographs of the showy display on our property.  The yellow leaves are taking centre stage right now, but it won't be long before the red leaves will demand top billing.

The beauty, truth, hope and consolation offered by nature in every season always puts me in the mood to read some of the works of the late John O'Donohue.  His book Beauty: The Invisible Embrace has been a loyal companion of mine for several years now.

When John O'Donohue was lost to us with his untimely death a couple of years ago, I went out and bought several copies of Beauty: The Invisible Embrace.  Some to give away as gifts to honour O'Donhue's memory and a couple to keep as insurance that I would never find myself without access to the wisdom and comfort of this exceptional man.  It boggled my little mind that there would be no more books of his to anticipate and savor.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.  THE WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED IN A POST WHICH SHOULD APPEAR ON YOUR BLOG ROLLS AROUND 8:00 P.M. THIS EVENING.

You can imagine my surprise when the publishing house, Harmony Books, a division of Random House contacted me wanting to send me O'Donohue's about-to-be released book to review.  Since I have published a few different posts on this remarkable man and his wisdom they new I would be an eager recipient and reviewer of this new collection of John's writings. John's older brother Pat has compiled some of the unpublished writings left behind by John into a new book entitled, Four Elements: Reflections on Nature.  In it John O'Donohue writes in praise of fire, water, air and earth with both prose and poetry. 

O'Donohue uses his intimate relationship with nature to explore the difficult questions of life, to seek meaning, to offer inspiration and always, always ... to re-awaken hope in those of us who have succumbed to despair when viewing the sorry state of much of the world.

As a visitor of this blog, you must surely be a lover of nature and someone for whom this book would be of interest.  Harmony Books has given me one new hardcover book to offer here as a giveaway!  (This hardcover version sells for $24.00 in the USA, and $27.00 in Canada.) 

If you are interested in receiving this new, hardcover release, Four Elements: Reflection on Nature, all you need do is leave a comment here so indicating.  Make sure that I can access your e-mail address to let you know you are the lucky recipient!

The winner of John O'Donohue's new book will be announced here Thursday, October 13th at 8:00 p.m. EST.   I will get your co-ordinates and Harmony Books will mail you the copy hot off the press. 

(This giveaway has unfortunately been limited to Canada and the United States.  Regrets to those of you who live outside of these two countries.)