what is real?

how can the essence of anything

be separated from

reality,

from our experience of

the thing,

the thought,

the emotion?

if everything is funneled through 
individual perception,

what is left but abstraction?

does this mean nothing is real?

or the opposite;

everything is real in a particular moment

to someone,

at least it could be.

While I do not claim to be a philosopher, many years ago as a young woman, I did study art and design. A student now of living in the slow, intentional lane of mindfulness augmented by the unexpected gifts of MS, I've certainly spent a great deal of time observing life unfolding with my senses (albeit sometimes altered in interesting ways from disease) with my heart aligned and engaged. So from my armchair it seems clear that these digitally softened images of birch bark are just as real now, reconstructed from my memory and bits of electronic wizardry, as the moment I was first awed by their magnificence standing before me; squinting at their patterns, their texture and color, through my camera lens on a bright snowy afternoon walk in the woods behind our home. Are they abstractions? Of course! Are they real? I believe they are, for the essence of each tree portrayed is present, as we experience them together on this page.

This coming Saturday will be Rosh Chodesh Shvat, the New Moon, welcoming the lunar Hebrew month of Shvat. In Jewish tradition, particularly on the 15th of the month, Tu b'shvat, we celebrate trees and our connection to all that grows on earth, and renew our sacred intention to tend our precious planet. This month I will feature trees, especially bark images that have drawn my attention here on my blog.

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