Continuing the Search

"For me there is only the traveling on the paths that have heart, on any path that may have heart. There I travel, and the only worthwhile challenge for me is to traverse its full length. And there I travel—looking, looking, breathlessly." -Juan Matus

In twenty-four hours, I will be peering out my window into the dark, vast sky and down below at South America, wondering what magic it holds and where that magic will take me...

Immigration Reform Rally 2010

A mixture of sentiments and emotions abound, as demonstrators gather to share their frustration at the current United States immigration policy at Confluence Park in Denver on Sunday, March 21, 2010. Undocumented immigrants have been systematically subjected to raids, harassment, deportation and exploitation.

The protest was held peacefully, with an overwhelming sense of dignity, which only further legitimized protesters' claims for a more loving immigration policy that would keep families together and reward hard work.

Protesters made it clear that they are here to work. Immigrants comprise 15% of the national labor force and contribute to key economic sectors such as agriculture, construction, and services, according to the National Immigration Law Center.

The protesters are calling on the United States to reward their hard work with legislation protecting them from workplace discrimination, sexual abuse, violence, arbitrary raids, and other social injustices. They are asking for basic human rights that every person should enjoy without discrimination.

They are proud to call the United States home as workers, residents and tax payers. They are only asking for the United States to recognise them as such. Education, representation and protection from criminal acts are human rights, not privileges.

Americans are often tone-deaf to the daily acts of discrimination that immigrants to the United States face, both small and large. However, our ignorance is no longer an excuse for inaction once we become aware of the injustices that pervade our society.

 

Learn more at the Reform Immigration for America website: http://reformimmigrationforamerica.org/

"American-born workers suffer if there is a vast pool of undocumented workers who are easily exploited by employers who seek unfair advantage. All of us are stronger if all of us have rights.

"Untargeted raids in workplaces and neighborhoods and rogue enforcement agents at all levels are terrorizing immigrant workers and dividing families without making us any safer and without fixing the real problems with our immigration system.

"Our out-of-date laws force many American families to remain separated for years – and in some cases, decades – because of backlogs and barriers to family unification in our immigration system.

"Finally, our outdated laws are practically unenforceable, driving too much immigration into the black market and not enough immigration through legal and orderly channels for immigrants who want to work in this country.

"The result is hundreds of thousands of immigrants being detained each year, hundreds of thousands deported, people forced to take life-threatening risks because they cannot enter legally, people dying in the desert, and people dying in detention due to awful conditions and official neglect.

We can and must do better."

Organic Journalism

Closer... :-).

"I've always had the theory that reportage is the great unexplored art form... I've had this theory that a factual piece of work could explore whole new dimensions in writing that would have a double effect fiction does not have—the every fact of its being true, every word of its true, would add a double contribution of strength and impact."
-T. Capote

"The new journalism, though often reading like fiction, is not fiction. It is, or should be, as reliable as the most reliable reportage although it seeks a larger truth than is possible through the mere compilation of verifiable facts, the use of direct quotations, and adherence to the rigid organizational style of the older form."
-G. Talese

New Journalism could be a close cousin to Organic Journalism. The way I have envisioned it, Organic Journalism takes New Journalism a step further by allowing a story to develop on its own through no interference or prior planning--only close observation to the events in one's environment. The journalist follows the unfolding story closely for weeks or even months, adding more depth to their documentation than the who/what/when/where/why standards in traditional reportage, including personal experiences, anecdotes and emotional accounts--usually discredited as "subjective," but in my opinion, what gets one closer to the truth. I am so thrilled to be traveling to Brasil soon to experiment with the new techniques that I have been developing over the last 5 years...

I will post a more detailed description of my techniques as the vision itself begins to unfold!

Not what, but how you say it.

I received an email today from a former colleague with whom I had had a major falling-out almost exactly two years ago. I had not spoken with him at all since the incident. The unexpected message was simple, but contained a sincere wish that everything had turned out alright for me. The sentiment evoked such a strong emotion in me that I cried in happiness.

Oddly enough, I'd had this dream again and again where my "enemies"--people with whom I'd exchanged unnecessary suffering--and I spontaneously found ourselves in an embrace. I would experience this incredible feeling of warmth and connectedness, momentarily forgetting that we had ever been at odds in the first place.

Sometimes, I think the most difficult climbs I've ever attempted have been from a broken relationship to a mutual sense of respect and understanding. They have been by far the most rewarding.

Some frustrations die hard.

"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice.

In practice there is."

Grizzly Peak (13,427 ft.)

Another beautiful alpine adventure with Scott...

Cup of Love

Manhattan, New York

San Francisco, California

"Something opens our wings. Something makes boredom and hurt disappear. Someone fills the cup in front of us:

We taste only sacredness."

-Rumi

Stream of Consciousness - Part II: Letting Go

In contrast to what I have seen as a driving force in my culture, I have sought for most of my life not to acquire what I do not have, but to progressively shed the things I carry with me. Over the years, I have derived less and less value from the nonessential material things that I own, as they sit collecting dust in a storage unit across town. Except for 2-3 brief visits to collect climbing gear and blankets, I have not touched most of my possessions in over two years since leaving for Zambia. Instead, their growing weight seems to defy the laws of physics, becoming increasingly more burdensome to my nomadic lifestyle.

I have sought to shed unnecessary emotional baggage -- to relinquish jealousy, anger and "blind" ambition. I used to think that these would always be inevitable forces in my life; however, I have discovered that they are simply the only option that I was explicitly given to deal with situations in my environment. My transformation arose from the realisation that emotions like jealousy are truly optional, unnecessary, and universally detrimental. This awareness has served as an impetus to seek truer and more progressive ways to react to my environment, in other words: to develop my response-ability.

As someone whose early life was strongly influenced by the values of academia, I have sought to shed my western preconceptions about learning and knowledge, which are dominated by deductive reasoning based on theoretical assumptions. Research is conducted in controlled, isolated environments, where results that do not conform to a specific hypothesis are often thrown out. In addition to contributing to the validation of misconceptions, this type of knowledge acquisition can often miss the larger picture or obscure the actual underlying influencing factors. Academics tend to reject more holistic approaches, which encompass non-traditional types of information, as "subjective" and therefore unreliable. However, a deeper examination of phenomena--especially social issues--reveals that human actions are inextricably linked to emotion.

If events are only reported in an objective context, the true "occurrance" may never be unearthed--only the physically manifested effects. For example, in war reporting, the number of casualties and the damage to infrastructure do not reflect the event from the perspective of individuals involved, but rather from the perspective of a bird flying high overhead, able to see only the sum total of physical collateral damage. If we view the war from the perspective of anyone on the ground, we see that their experiences are largely dominated by anxiety and the desire for survival. They may not remember "bird's-eye" facts with accuracy, but their collective depictions form a clearer picture of what actually happened: the rapid proliferation of acute fear and paranoia. The specific casualties and infrastructural damage are given more weight as the primary "occurance" in western reporting, even though they materialise as a product of the underlying phenomenon and the opportunity to manifest as such. I have been trying to let go of traditional ways of understanding situations so that I can get closer to the truth than a bird flying overhead ever could.

 

In my photography, I employ a minimalist approach regarding the use of lenses and other equipment. Unless I have a specific reason not to do so, I use a pocket-sized Canon Powershot SD 880 for the majority of my work. I understand the value of different types of lenses, filters, and camera bodies. However, I will still try to get the shot I want with my little guy first, even if it requires more effort and creative manipulation. Only in situations where the shot calls for something truly outside the gamut of my pocket camera's capability will I pull out my SLR, tripod and assortment of equipment, such as for the long exposures required in sidereal photography. Photography has always been a way for me to connect to my environment, my images depicting the interaction of something that has happened and my primordial response to it. Fumbling with gear and debating over camera settings detracts from my ability to capture that spontaneous exchange. I rarely think about how to frame an image, what exposure and aperture settings to use, and how I should portray a subject. I see or feel something that compels me to lift my camera; the shot has already been taken before I even realise what my fingers had been doing to capture it. I let go of focusing on technique and allow my environment to pull me in; my image serves as a product of our ephemeral union.

 

Letting go of the things I hold creates a space for opportunities to appear organically--that is, instead of pulling, I allow the beautiful forces already present in my environment to direct my way. It has always led me to experiences that have provoked personal growth and kept me in touch with the wonders of life. This force lies waiting for everyone -- but it requires letting go of the notion that specific institutions, equipment, prerequisites, or credentials will bring you where you want to go. You do not need permission to do something great, nor do you need nearly as many resources as you think. This is both a liberating and startling realisation -- for it implies that the potential has always been there but the path must be forged through intuition each step of the way.

Stream of Consciousness - Part I: Competition

I watch a contrail gently pierce the haloed moon, fog spreading the glow amorphously against the darkness of space …and I know that the magic is here again. When I get shaken, something opens up, a portal to become closer to something that I only understand on a non-intellectual level. Only discomfort can propel me there, in this dynamic space between complacency and discouragement. Hearing a new melody strikes chords that feel simultaneously familiar and unexplored; my eyes brim with tears as I absorb the energy. It draws me closer, not to someone or something—it’s nearer than that.

Just Closer.

…Comparing to satiate the craving for validity… competition—the source of tremendous energy flow which manifests as goal-driven motivation. Its rewards are empty, based on false perceptions, for what does Best really mean? It’s hardly more substantial than the paper on which it is written, only safe behind a glass frame, where it cannot be blown away or torn to shreds by elements much larger and vaster than it. The owner of the title gets framed as well, caught in the square of categorization, while everything outside it eludes him. As such, are not the "Best ones" those who can escape this confinement?

Aspiring Bests only receive teachings from Betters, contemptuously regarding Worses. Betters have accomplished specific--albeit arbitrary--goals established by aspiring Bests and are therefore highly esteemed. Aspiring Bests mimic the actions of Betters and secretly desire to surpass them, while distinguishing themselves through their accomplishments. (However, an aspiring Best can only be distinguished from other aspiring Bests in trivial categories. They contribute to the Whole in astoundingly similar ways, regardless of their status in the comparison or nature of their undertaking.)

As a result, there exists a honing of motivation towards very specific endeavors, whose existence might not serve any purpose other than to provide points of comparison to others participating in this definition of success. It lacks a true substance, which would give it Value. The birth of a Better entails the creation of a Worse in a zero-sum game of blind achievement.

A Game.

A game perhaps worth playing, at least for a little while. But those who choose never to step outside have swallowed the key to their own confinement. What exists outside then? The things so ironically and ardently sought after in the desperate attempt to achieve Best-ness. The things that both the overlooked Worses and misunderstood Betters can illuminate--for if they are non-aspiring Bests from the game world's perspective, then they may have something important to teach.

Exiting the game of aspiring Bests requires a shift in focus from specific accomplishments to general methods. Since methods arise from motivation energy, the fundamental source of this energy flow must be examined. Does it arise from artificial divisions, such as comparisons or judgments? Or does it come from something else -- perhaps insufficiently described as a nebulous warmth or nearness? Ultimately, an individual’s path to what exists outside of the game can only flow from the latter. It is the path to Value: in this sense, a quality that leads to personal and collective happiness (which can only be artificially separated.) With Value, accomplishments become progress. Achievements have substance. The progression of one contributes to the progression of the rest.

A zero-sum game, which ostensibly entails gains for some at the expense of others, ultimately results in a zero-sum for everyone. Worse, if greater gains for one individual result in a loss for increasingly more individuals, then something akin to a “negative-sum” can result. Clearly, there is no winning in a zero-sum game. This is because the individual is [something between together and separate] from others in a sense that dualistic language cannot articulate.

...

If we cannot direct our efforts with this understanding, then they will be of no true positive benefit for anyone, least of all ourselves. Competition misses the boat on this one—it takes talented individuals and distracts them from accomplishing something potentially Great by entangling them in a race against each other towards a meaningless goal. A universal loss. But what if individual talent were not judged or compared, but rather combined with other complementary talents in a collaborative effort? Then our differences in approach and style would be appreciated for the true Value that they hold and employed as such, instead of destroyed by a desire to conform to a single standard of “greatness,” for no other purpose than to derive personal worth from a diminished perception of quality in others.