A Personal
Recipe of Spirit
Earl Moore
A Personal
Recipe of Spirit
Photographs and Writings by Earl Moore
All photographs copyright Š 2009 by Earl Moore All rights reserved Book design by Earl Moore May 2009
This book is dedicated to all my loving family. They are the true source of my spirit and the drive for getting up each day.
Introduction A Personal Recipe of Spirit When standing upon a beach gazing out across an ocean to the distant horizon my mind extends to imagine what lies beyond. In those moments I feel uniquely small as one of the grains of sand upon the beach. However, this book isn’t of beaches or things of the mind--it’s of mountains and forest--of the very ingredients which recharge and raise my own personal spirit. The ingredients for your own recipe of spirit may vary, so feel free to adjust for taste. The title, “A Personal Recipe of Spirit” only announced itself after the initial layout of the book. As with most late arrivals to a meal there was some shifting required to accommodate it. I hope the new seating arrangement is acceptable. I backed into this subject. These photo were taken as part of a wonderful day spent in the Asheville, NC area of western North Carolina during a weekend visit with my daughter. It was a day that left me feeling emotionally recharged and light of spirit. Only later, while reviewing the photographs, did I began putting
cause and effect for these feelings together and with this realization the concept of this book as my Solo Photo Book Month (SoFoBoMo) ‘09 was born. So here I share my own personal recipe of spirit. Technical Details: The start date for this SoFoBoMo ‘09 book was May 2nd, 2009. All photos are from the Western Carolina Arboretum and the Asheville Botanical Gardens, Asheville, NC and were taken among the rain showers on May 2nd, 2009 with a Nikon D700, Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.5, and Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8. Post-processing was done with Adobe Lightroom 2.3 and Adobe Photoshop CS4 on an Apple Mac Pro computer running OS X Leopard. Adobe Indesign CS4 was used for book assemble with text writtened and edited initially in Nisus Writer Pro v1.2.
Ingredient List Forest Foliage and Natural Mountain Vistas - Page 10 Paths to Stroll and Places for Contemplation - Page 16 Structures and Shelters - Page 24 Soothing Waters - Page 38 Life’s Energy and Beauty - Page 44 If asked what this personal Recipe of Spirit would be if it was a food I’d probably say it was a hearty bread. Perhaps a breakfast bread with fruit and nuts and a touch of applesauce icing drizzled over the top.
Forest Foliage and Mountain Vistas • Place a heaping amount of Mountian Views in your local vicinity • Add a generous measure of Forest Foliage • Mix until you feel the morning’s mist upon your skin and the green leafy aroma penetrates to the very core of your being • Allow to sit until you experience a clearing of thought and stress. While I acknowledge and enjoy the individual beauty flat country offers, I do not connect to it as with mountains or rolling foothills. I’ve always looked to the mountains when needing comfort, inspiration or renewed energies.
“Keep close to Nature’s heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” - John Muir - Environmentalist
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Paths to Stroll and Places for Contemplation • Take the mixture of Forest Foliage and Mountain Vistas and slowly add Paths to Stroll until marbled to suit individual taste • Sprinkle in Places for Contemplation allowing them to be absorbed • Allocate sufficient time for ingredients to be active • Rotate, turn or move as necessary As a small boy strolling with my father and grandfather I remember being told the way I carried myself reminded them of my great-grandfather. Perhaps he’d been a thinking-walker also.
“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads”. - Henry David Thoreau “Few people even scratch the surface, much less exhaust the contemplation of their own experience.” Randolph Bourne
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Structure and Shelter • Frame the Forest Foliage, Mountain Vistas, Paths to Stroll and Places to Comtemplate with calming and rustic structure • Allow connections to form between what you know, feel and believe. • Ensure Shelter exists for processing under all conditions Every life needs structure and a certain amount of security for growth and happiness. What could be better then ducking under a shelter during a spring rainstorm or to know that you’re not alone on the path you walk--the spirit grows.
All architecture is shelter, all great architecture is the design of space that contains, cuddles, exalts, or stimulates the persons in that space. - Philip Johnson We need quiet time to examine our lives openly and honestly - spending quiet time alone gives your mind an opportunity to renew itself and create order. - Susan Taylor 24
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Sitting by a Bush in Broad Sunlight When I spread out my hand here today, I catch no more than a ray To feel of between thumb and fingers; No lasting effect of it lingers. There was one time and only the one When dust really took in the sun; And from that one intake of fire All creatures still warmly suspire. And if men have watched a long time And never seen sun-smitten slime Again come to life and crawl off, We not be too ready to scoff. God once declared he was true And then took the veil and withdrew, And remember how final a hush Then descended of old on the bush. God once spoke to people by name. The sun once imparted its flame. One impulse persists as our breath; The other persists as our faith.
Robert Frost 35
Soothing Waters • apply the quiet cooling effects of water to temper the mixture • allow yourself to indulge in their quiet calmness Water is magical and enchanting. It draws our attention, imaginations and spirits to moments of quiet reflection. Liquid water is never rigid but in constant motion. Light plays on its surface much as our spirit touches our hearts and consciousness. Water is persistence.
“Water is the driving force of all nature.” - Leonardo da Vinci
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The underlying attraction of the movement of water and sand is biological. If we look more deeply we can see it as the basis of an abstract idea linking ourselves with the limitless mechanics of the universe. - Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe
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Lifes Energy and Beauty • this is the icing of the recipe--the sweetness of new beginnings • nurture the beauty and energy to fuel your own thoughts, feelings and spirit Feast upon the “Recipe of Spirt” Since earliest times flowers have been endowed with magical, supernatural or divine properties. Flowers were seen to possess an in-dwelling spirit or soul which determined each shape and form, way or habit of growth, and purpose in the world in relation to human life. Flowers and blooms represent new beginnings and new directions. Many are thought to have healing powers but for sure their beauty touches the human soul and causes our spirits to soar.
People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong. Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom? - Nhat Hanh 44
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A Passing Glimpse I often see flowers from a passing car That are gone before I can tell what they are. I want to get out of the train and go back To see what they were beside the track. I name all the flowers I am sure they weren’t; Not fireweed loving where woods have burnt-Not bluebells gracing a tunnel mouth-Not lupine living on sand and drouth. Was something brushed across my mind That no one on earth will ever find? Heaven gives its glimpses only to those Not in position to look too close. Robert Frost
A Personal Recipe of Spirit was
created as part of the Solo Photo Book Month (SoFoBoMo) 2009 project.
About the author I’m Earl Moore, a regular guy who’s had a number of professions and his fair share of life experiences. I’ve always appreciated the beauty and special qualities of life and it’s those I try and capture through photography. I also use photography to learn and understand more about myself. I have a loving wife, who’s also my best friend, and four great children I both love and respect. I also have two dogs who accept me as I am and continue to teach me new things. I’m a lucky man!
Personal Weblog: http://meanderingpassage.com
Meandering Passage Media