Light Figures

CROSSOVER
I WANT
It demands
Leaping up inside
Hello
Looking through
My eyes.

Colour changes
Many have said it
Heard it
Never seen it
No to seeing it
Dismissed it.

It moves inside
It never leaves
No need to see
Within blue seas
Eye colour shifts
For confirmations.SITTING IN SHADOWS
What lies within the shadows? I’ve heard several people talk of love and light for at least a few years. I’ve wondered what this means. Does the behaviour match the slipstream speak spun out? Along with this talk, there appears to be a negation of the coin flip side, the one comprised of darkness, where all those shadow parts reside.
When I hear someone tell me repeatedly that they are a good person, I question it. When anyone tells me I’m a good person, I question it. It’s not that I don’t believe someone when they make that statement in relation to themselves or me. I believe that this is what they see. At the same time, I know that’s only one side of the coin.ELECTRIC BLUE HEART
Am I a good person? Am I? People often tell me I am. I know that I like people and enjoy them quite a bit. I know that I am, for the most part, well behaved. I train myself. It’s a daily practice. I know I try very hard to be kind, to be helpful, and to meet people where they are. Perhaps those are some reasons that result in people telling me, “You’re a good person”.

Do I tell others they are a good person? Occasionally I do. Although, I find I usually say that when a person is looking for the response that they are a good person. I know it’s not me they are trying to convince. They are trying to convince themselves and there’s something unresolved within them. I know that no matter how much I reassure another that they are good, they won’t ever really believe me. I’ve traveled that repeat road tripping experience enough to know.RED LEER
Why do we need someone outside of ourselves to tell us that we are a good person?

I don’t think I’m either a good person, or a bad person. I know I am both and everything in between those two polar opposites. I know myself intimately. So, when someone tells me I’m a good person, I wonder what their perceptions of the world are.HOOK LIGHT

The Duality Game

Good___________________________< | >___________________________Bad

Ever heard the expression, “black and white thinking”? Supposedly, this is an unhealthy way of seeing the world, or so I’ve been taught and read. Quite apparently, good and bad are opposites. I’ve had a close look at myself and my way of thinking for years now. I’ve put it under a microscope and watched my thought processes daily. One thing I saw was this “black and white” thinking, programmed in there like cement. This need to categorize and apply the label of good or bad.ELECTRIC SNAKES
Is it unhealthy? I came to the conclusion it was, after I saw all the issues and unnecessary suffering this way of seeing brought into my life. It took a long time to deprogram myself from that. I still watch for those thoughts daily. This kind of thinking sneaks into the mind if one is not paying attention.

Shifting away from “black and white” thinking into a more balanced way of seeing the world taught me something I wasn’t expecting. I realized that society is constructed in terms of black and white, the ‘Duality Game’, as I call it. Most people perceive the world this way. Pick a side. You absolutely must align with a side, someone’s side, wherever you are, at all times.ELECTRIC WAVE MUSHROOM
Ever stand in the middle ground holding both opposite sides in your vision at once?

It’s a whole different viewpoint. It’s one most are not comfortable with. It’s one I was extremely uncomfortable with years ago. For several years, I’ve focused on seeing the world from this perspective, without aligning to one side or the other. This has made many people rather unhappy with me when I won’t pick their side, or align to a ‘side’. There have been attempts to coerce me in one direction or the other. I’ve been yelled at, verbally threatened, and it’s come close to a physical assault, as recently as last year.WHITE LIGHT SIGNATURE
I consider viewing others from a perspective of good or bad to be a trap. It’s polarizing to one side or the other of that coin. It causes both inner and outer conflict. It blinds a person to seeing beyond a single-sided perspective. It can be quite hazardous to view people and the world from this perspective. It can be downright dangerous, as I’ve directly experienced on several occasions.

Do you see yourself as a good person or a bad person?

Do you see only one side of the coin, or do you acknowledge the whole coin, standing balanced on the edge so that you see both sides?

More importantly, do you see the range between the two extremes of good and bad?GOLDEN SIGNATURE
_{All photos taken by Nine with a Pentax digital 35mm camera.}