Down On the Sidewalk

I sometimes bring a camera with me during my walks through the city. Practicing seeing without the usual filter of conceptual mind, here is what I found on a sunny morning, down on the sidewalk - all  photos unedited and natural colors:

It was not long before mind took over, laying stories on top of the images. Is this what it feels like when one 'loses his or her mind'? Does the world become scary and full of ghosts? What awaits on the other side? 

Empty Houses in the Desert

(Back from two and a half week retreat with Ruth Denison, at Dhamma Dena Desert Vipassana Center, I am devoting the next few weeks to sharing Ruth's wonderful teachings.)

Every day, walking through the Mojave desert, I became fascinated with the empty houses strewn throughout the arid landscape. 

Pink house, 

all boarded up.

Boarded pink house in Mojave Desert.

Old house, looted,
nothing left to be had.

Looted house in Mojave Desert.

House of brick,
structure still intact.

Empty house of bricks in Mojave Desert.

Soulful wooden house,
begging to be visited.

Wooden empty house in Mojave Desert.

Dilapidated house,
and a brand new fence.

Fenced up empty house in Mojave Desert.

Houses, empty,
many of them.

And I thought of my  body, and the way I used to not be there.
I thought of most people's bodies, and the way they fail to inhabit
these most precious structures of theirs.
Empty, no life any more.
Empty, no life yet.

(impressions from retreat with Ruth, about learning to inhabit my body - following Ruth's lead - coming to my senses)

Up In the Clouds

In the plane, flying back,

glimpses of pure sky, in between passing clouds.