Sometimes there is need to simplify, to lower the noise – whether it be sound or colours – in order to get a genuine understanding of the real picture. When I took this picture, I couldn’t see what the monochrome image would reveal. It was a sunny day, and Ran – the guy in the photo – was happily working in the garden, cutting the grass. Everything was quite enchanting, the many shades of green from the grass and the trees reflected, in a constant movement, the light of the sun. It was hot, and walking toward the shade of the house was a good, refreshing move.
But later, when seen in black and white, the photo reveals something different: there is no movement, no noise, no colours and no hot weather. All is reduced to a simple dialog between shapes and contrast.
Using our imagination, it is possible to see the symbol of Yin-Yang in the photo, the harmony in constant movement and opposition between light and shadow, life and death, and every possible duality.
From another angle, it is just Ran walking toward obscurity, like humanity taking the wrong path without even being conscious of the meaning of it’s action.
It reminds me of a concept I found for the first time in a little book called “The Voice of Silence”. In short, it says that when we succeed in being deaf to the many insignificant voices surrounding us -internal and external voices-, when we succeed in being deaf (or blind in the case of a photo) to the unending noise, which like a veil, deforms our perception of what is real, then and only then, can we hear the one and only true and constant voice, the “voice of silence” because it shouts in silence, in our heart. We can only hear it after becoming free from the influence of all the other voices which have no other goal than to distract us from being conscious of the truth.
One question – the most important – remains: What do we need to do in order to hear this voice? What is the Path? Well, every path begins with a first step, and in a path of expanding the consciousness, we usually see the next, or perhaps, sometimes, the next two steps. Never more. So what needs to be done is to take the first step. And in order to do this I believe that we must DARE. We mustn’t be afraid to dare to act in harmony with our heart and our mind. Dare to not listen to the many voices, and you will hear the Voice, YOUR voice!
