“We practice to find the message within ourselves.” Shah Nazar Ali Kianfar (Uwaiysi Sufi Master)
At 4:45 this morning I followed a call to peer into the darkness with camera in hand. The snow was barely visible and the trees were completely hidden. I opened the aperture as wide as possible and set a 30 second exposure to let in the light I knew was there but could not perceive. I held my breath as I pressed the lens against the window, not knowing what would be revealed to me. After the shutter finally closed, I waited again as the camera processed the information it had just absorbed into itself like an animal digesting, like a mind sorting, like a universe spinning spinning spinning expanding contracting, like unity itself breaking into bits to cohere in a new form. I finally looked. And, imperceptible to my eyes and only witnessed through a tool capable of “seeing” into that unknown dark, I discovered the first hint of dawn.