Greetings from nature

Mother Nature seems to have many ways to accost us. The slideshow above is just a little amongst the abundance. [skd]

Happy Fasting, Ramadan 1430 H

The holy fasting month for the Moslems is coming. It’s Ramadan 1430 H. After a year of common life, today they have to retreat from lusty way of life into holiness, framed with fasting, and filled with prayers, listening to /reading Qurans, good deed and charity.

I just want to give respect to this special time with a brief insight, taken from my garden. I found a caterpillar, swinging on a banyan leaf. It just hung on with a tiny fiber from its spittle. The creature started to wrap its whole body with salivary fiber coming out from the mouth. A new stage of life began, a crucial one of metamorphose: to be a chrysalis - a silent chrysalis. It ceased eating leaves and everything, and spent the time by fasting. That’s a beautiful period for such creature to change its character: from being a greedy animal to be a beautiful and helpful one – from being an ugly caterpillar to be a fabulous butterfly.

So, chrysalis has become a spiritual symbol of fasting time for inner change of life.

However, all is begun with a little movement of the caterpillar: to let itself ‘drop down’ to be ‘hanging on’ a leaf! What does it mean? This is my spiritual insight: fasting should be based on humbleness. To be mature in faith, ones have to trust their lives humbly to God, not to their selves! Then, fasting is a process of letting this self go, and letting God come into the deepest heart and drive all the purity of human dignity.

The perfection of fasting does not depend on how strong ones can keep out from eating and drinking, but it depends on how ‘keeping out from eating and drinking’ has led them into the purity of being human before God! [skd]

Happy fasting, Ramadan 1430 H
my beloved Brothers & Sisters!

Some place to perch on

I wish I could tell you the vibration of this Javanese song "Kupu Kuwi", hoping that you could feel the cheerful atmosphere brought by the gamelan music. Or, maybe you could make a dance with the harmony! It's about butterflies. Well, here you are the lyrics, in Javanese and English:

Kupu Kuwi
kupu kuwi dak incupé
mung aburé ngéwuhaké
ngalor ngidul ngétan bali ngulon
mrana mréné mung saparan paran
katoné ra ngerti sayah
mentas méncok cégrok banjur mabur bleber

Translation:

The Butterfly
I would like to catch the butterfly
but it's flying busily
going to the north, flying to the south, to the east and back to the west
going around where it loves to
it seems to have no tired
after perching on here, then fly away somewhere

In many ways, butterflies may inspire ones who want to grasp the spot of their lives. The composer of the simply short and beautiful song just captured regular activities of them. He might think of nothing but describing the creature when it’s flying and perching. Of course it’s just looking for nectar, sometimes just enjoy flying. No relationship, so far. However, he made it when he wanted to catch one of the beautiful, and he realized that it was hard to do. This could generate many ideas for one's life!

One of my friends means it as a process of his struggle to survive. Like catching butterflies, he feels so when working for livelihood. Another one means himself like the butterflies, which will perch on some place after flying around. Everyone needs a place to stand on, temporarily or permanently!

So, let's dance with butterflies! [skd]


Get your own playlist at snapdrive.net!
Download: Kupu Kuwi - MP3.

Glory of Flowers - Laudes

Flower - Laudes, originally uploaded by BornJavanese.

Morning still reserves new things to receive. The show comes from blossoming flowers under the morning sunlight. Droplets of dew are on the stage as well. Focus on the yellow flower! It shows its ultimate beauty, I think. So, it seems to show the glory of nature. That should be a significant note: morning time should be a glory!

What about humankind? It the glory of nature, e.g. flowers, is shown by flowers when they are blooming, when should the glory of man be shown in the morning?

Morning time breaks a new day more. We start our activities. So, what is the first thing we do when waking up from the bed that shows our glory? Prayer, a morning prayer!

I give the picture "Laudes" as wondering if a flower were praying. At that moment, it should be the best performance of a flower! Laudes (Lat.) = Morning Service, Morning Prayer. [skd]

Get closer!

Serangga bertanduk - Weird insect, originally uploaded by BornJavanese
Download: 900*700.

Get closer! and you will find more than when you stay away.

Human eyes are not only these two at your lovely face, but also those in your heart. That's why human being can understand more deeply about things than any other creatures. The more you get information, the more you get comprehensive understanding through which you will construct priorities and attitudes and so your responsibilities upon your life, particularly and generally. Even particular experiences on the spot can drive awareness of responsibilities in wider aspects.

For instant, I did not realize that in bushes there is a community of micro-living. When I got closer with my camera, I could see bugs in there. The picture above shows a little bug that I never saw before, a weird one of little fellows. I became so curious, and it was surprisingly incredible that the visitation sparked many thoughts of significant roles of the micro-living dwelling in such area for the whole universe.

Usually bushes are neglected area; even more everybody thought they are so insignificant that they could have it cut-off without any consideration. People do not think too much of where the little fellows will go for their living after the cleaning-up. They do not care about what will happen if some of the bugs are getting perish or do not exist any longer. "There will be some other places for them," they think so, while other people do think the same.

There are still gardens. Yes, I hope so! I am even dreaming of having a square of garden. I have only pots of plants in my veranda. Lucky me, I still can see some kinds of bugs living in there...

Really, I do not know the exact roles played by the bugs. However I am really aware that they have in a certain dimension of human living, furthermore in whole nature. At least, spiritually and religiously, I convince that they have their role in God's sustaining creative work!

That's why they are absolutely significant! So, are we responsible for their existence? [skd]

Dancing ant

Tarian semut, originally uploaded by BornJavanese.
Download: 1024*384

Look at this ant! It's dancing! Even an ant is capable of dancing as charming as it can. I really do not know how it usually expresses its feelings as well as I do not know whether ants understand about beauty or not. However, what I know is that it was dancing and making me surprised and entertained when I got it shot. It's beautiful; more or less it showed a kind of beauty.

What about you, Guys? Even this ant is dancing! Don't say that you are not capable of doing so to express your soul in beauty. Human being is more precious than ants. We are intellectual and religious being with enhancing talents and potentialities of creativities. Human dance must be more creative and so more beautiful than the dance of all ants. Not only to express the soul in beauty, dancing is wonderful way to communicate our integrity of being beautiful humankind, even without words. Love, happiness, sorrows, passions… faith, hopes and dreams… tough and struggling… and all aspects of our life has style of movement, that can be articulated in a set of artistic and harmonic movements: DANCING!

Have a wonderful day, and don't miss to make a pure dance, pure human dance, for today! It can be a help to be happy. Be blessed! [skd]

Flies - Morning Talk

Flies - Morning Talk, originally uploaded by BornJavanese.

Download: 1024*576

"Hi, Guy! Good morning!"

"Hey...Good morning! It's a wonderful day, isn't it?"

"Thanks be to God... We have another new day, a blessing day for us. So, what's your plan for today?"

"Nothing special but simply essential."

"Oh yeaaa?!"

"Meet friends... going around to find something to keep living... changing decaying materials into useful substances for our Mother Nature... dancing and singing! That's the way we always celebrate the day, you know."

"We do... OK, then. Be blessed my friend! All the best!"

"You, too!" [skd]

Fishing morning

Fishing morning - COLLAGE, originally uploaded by BornJavanese.

Download: 1024*768

For some people morning is wonderful time to enjoy new day. Sunrise, fresh air, dews are things we love not to skip at every beautiful daybreak. They are like the most roles of beautiful shows in the morning.

However, morning time has more than just entertaining moment. It is moment to start activities of all mankind, even of all living things. See the pictures above! An old fisherman is ready to throw his net into the water. The collages would like to show how he does his fishing in that morning. He does it every morning.

When I see the picture more deeply, some insight comes into my mind, that morning time has to be beautiful moment of celebration: celebration of life in hope and readiness to face all things new! [skd]

Do you see a fish up there?

Do you see a fish up there?, originally uploaded by BornJavanese.

Download: 1024*780

Look up there on to the sky! You will find different configurations of clouds from time to time. Every single configuration is unique, sometimes so entertaining and amazing. When you see it, it would be a gift for you! It will not happen twice, will it?

I got the picture above on my way home from a suburb of metropolitan. I just stopped for a while as seeing beautiful scenery in front of my eyes: the sun was hiding behind a clump of cloud, giving a fantastic silhouette of a fish-alike. It seemed that nature was entertaining me with that kind of cloud's configuration. I thought that was just me enjoying the show. It might be a lucky, but to me it's more than just a good luck. Spiritually it could be a sign: a call for intimacy with nature to get closer to the Creator of all things....

Glory be to God, for giving me life in your providence, for keeping Thy eyes upon my ways... [skd]

Read another insight about sky: "Messages from the sky".

Time to change

Kepompong - Selamat Berpuasa, originally uploaded by BornJavanese.

Download: 880*640

Intentionally I made this card to greet the Muslim people during a month-long of fasting in this Ramadan 1429 H. However the picture of a cocoon above can be an analogical sign for everyone dealing with everyone's own life in progress to be mature. There is a period in a life time, which has to be nothing but introspection. Internal actions should be done to drive spiritual powers for the next stage of life, a new life of a human being in the universe.

Look at the chrysalis! It's just counting down to metamorphosis, said Gerry Ryder the photographer of the beautiful picture. Of course it is man's point of view, but it is more than just so for the creature. Something happens inside. It is a self-construction to be a beautiful butterfly from a disgusting and horrible caterpillar. There is a process of metamorphosis, a naturally perfect metamorphosis. What's next? A beautiful butterfly will do a new life with a new mission in this universe. As a butterfly, it will be no longer a destructive creature: it will be a pollination agent for all flowers; it will be an agent of recreation. What a great butterfly it will be! However... it will be so after this critical period of being a fragile chrysalis in its silence...

Happy Fasting, brothers and sisters! [skd]

Limited & Unlimited

Sailing Boat, originally uploaded by BornJavanese.

Sea has no limit! Maybe you agree with the sentence. People can go anywhere they want to. However, everyone has to accept, that he or she is still in the boat by which they sail over the sea! There are still barriers they should not break. [skd]

Patience

Patience, originally uploaded by BornJavanese.

Every morning after parking my bike in the parking area I always see many ball-sized fruits spreading on my way to the office. I do not know what kind of fruit they are. Some lay on the hot-mixed road. Oooh... how poor they are! Many of them are smashed, run over by wheels. Some lay on the ground on the sideway. How lucky they must be, as they lay on the right place to grow. Though it is just for a while before being swept away by the gardener, they have beautiful moment to build their hope for new living. At least, they have moment posing before my lens! Hahaha...

One of the lucky fruits caught my eyes. It laid neatly. I got it captured. See the picture above!

In a natural condition, I'm sure that the fruit just needs times to grow well, as it lays on the fertile soil. It has potentiallity already to be a big tree. "Just be patient!" it says to me. [skd]

Grow in a wrong place

Sprout 2
Originally uploaded by BornJavanese

When you see this picture, does it remind you of a certain words-of-God in The Bible? It is about seeds and soils as metaphors of Words of God and the listeners.

I toke this picture in front of my office a couple of days ago. The sprout was growing next to the rolling-door. I didn't know what sprout of it was. It doesn't exist anymore. Yes, it became dry and died few days after the shot. Of course, for such of seed it grew in a wrong place.

Wrong places make ones unhappy! [skd]

The droplet time

The droplet time
Originally uploaded by BornJavanese

Rain had just stopped falling when I enjoyed that evening. It seemed to be the last rain to close the past season. Recently the air is getting hotter and rainy day is very seldom already. The summer season had just begun. Therefore, the last rain might be like a farewell to the rains. Nevertheless, it made the air and surroundings quite fresh sweeping the dusts away from every leaf and surface. The dusty turned into the clear. That was so exciting.

Among the evening scenery, something little caught my eyes. It was a droplet! Yeah, not all the rainwater reached the ground successfully. Some left on leaves showed like pearly earrings swinging about to fall. They looked like dews in the morning. What a beautiful!

I played with them by shocking the leaf gently. Some droplets on the critical points really dropped into the ground, some were just swinging and still on the same place. There was a droplet, which was really catching my eyes. This one was bigger than another was. I thought it was just by one more gently shock – by me or by wind - and it would drop too. However, I did not do that. Wondering about the time it would drop, something occurred in my mind: a thought about life’s time!

Life is as fragile as the droplet! One shocking movement is enough to make it critical: drop-off or still hang-on! That is the moment of life! Of course human’s life is not just like a swinging droplet as he/she has power to survive more than any other creature. Time is not something from outside, which make barriers for his/her space. Time is what every human can create with his/her life to go. What about replacing the word "life" with "love"? That will be so human time!

Be blessed! [skd]

Close-up your view!

Recently I have been craving for photography! That's so wonderful world that I have to figure out what I've done. Yeah... My eyes become opened more widely after knowing that there are so many beauties shown by the mother nature! I even am being captured by nature rather than I capture things before my eyes with my camera!

Look around you! Perhaps you do not realize that spectacular shows have been just going on. But when you take a close-up angle onto things before you, you'll find out something spectacular! Natural entertainments will catch your eyes and attention. From one scenery to another will just lead you into an amazing world you've never realized before! At least that's what I experience until this post.

Flowers, plants, insects, clouds, droplets, leaves, people, stones, landscapes, etc., all will show the unlimitted beauties of nature. Look at these pictures! I'm not an expert in photography, but I try to pick the moments, compositions, colors into my interpretations about beauty of them. You know? When a picture done, I feel contented, and then there is such an invitation to the next shows and explorations.

What I can say about this world before my lens is, "Oh my God, you are so beautiful!" And I got a wisdom from this restarted hobby: Close-up your view, and you'll understand deeper! [skd]

Visit my portfolio at EyeFetch.com or Flickr.com.

You are the most!

Being well-designed from the beginning...
You are THE MOST!

On the previous post, I shared my reflection on a separated fly. Such disgusting insects usually stay in dirty and vile places. Some days ago, I got a picture of another fly, which perched on a leaf in my veranda. Still inspired by the reflection, I write an insight as shown on the picture.

Flies may be insignificant creatures as they are supposed to be animal that brings many of epidemics. A question may occur in our mind, “Why do they exist? Why does God create such of dangerous animals? Etc…” We may ask this question for being the most superior amongst all creatures.

Instead of being more arrogant, why do not we think of our responsibility as human? Being human must be more responsible, mustn’t we? If flies have been well design by the nature from the beginning, moreover we human are! It is our responsibility to be thankful more significantly! [skd]

Resonating nature

When I see a grasp of beautiful flowers, still on their tree, I feel something. If they were human being, they would tell a story. It is a story of being creature, blessed creature. What is appearing on my eyes is nothing but beauty. Furthermore, there is a show of expression. They just express a smile and cheerfulness. An author will say that they are welcoming everyone. They are entertaining. Even in a wake, fresh buckets of condolence flowers will present such an entertainment. The effects are cool.

Beautiful flowers upon our eyes are sending messages of invitation. It is an invitation into a smiley world of nature. I am just thinking that by nature flowers are to be smiley, cheerful, cool, entertaining, and nothing gloomy. Life is a big deal, big enough to us so that we should not miss the celebration of it. Moreover, celebration must be like feast! It is full of joy!

Lovely flowers - resonating nature - are inviting us to join in the celebration! [skd]

Morning Dew

Once I missed of morning dews. Maybe that’s because the wet-season was so long. There was no mist when the dawn’s falling. It was, maybe. But the drizzling always wiped them out before they sprinkled over the ground.

I don’t remember the last time I was occupied with morning dews. It’s just a memory of the gentle sensations at my feet when stepping on the lawn sowed with dews along my path. Immediately my legs got wet by those clear and pearly little-dots. Some dry grasses clang to them. It's creepy. When I turned my head I saw images of my own footsteps left behind. They looked dark-green amongst the silvery sheen. When passing through a clump of bushes, I saw cute earrings alike swinging at the end of their leaves. There was a scenery of a world across inside wrapped so beautifully. It’s reversed, but showing an amazing contrast.

Again and again, morning dew is romantic when boredom of wet season comes up. That’s a romance of nature showing their beauty in time. The beauty will be remembered attaching memories of mornings. Shiny dews reflecting lights are the accent of morning shots. Their gentleness store millions of stories and songs of hopes in the beginning of days. That’s the episode of nature which gently welcomes the wriggle of every creature to walk on their stepping history.

Enjoy the morning before the dew’s gone! Learn from them how to bridge the stars-and-moon world to the lively world of sunlight. Doesn’t it come with a rug of carpet at dawn to welcome every creature into a celebration of a new and refreshing day? Every morning presents a new re-creation day, doesn’t it? Learn from them about gentleness and tenderness, as they come down without force but gently cuddling over every surface. Learn from the dews about honesty, as they come to every living: inviting dusts to lay-down on the ground, refreshing the earth with coolness, beautifying every face of leaves which will meet the sun in a while, permeating every niche until the deep-down roots; and the rest will fly away in union with the winds while the sun is shining to lead the universe.

Dear morning-jewels, let me welcome you tomorrow dew. [skd]

Indonesian version of this post: Click here!

Beaches and Wind Blows

In my home-town, province of Jogjakarta, there are many favorite beaches: Parangtritis, Parang Kusuma, Samas, Baron, Kukup, Krakal, Kobaran, Wedi Ombo, etc. All are along the southern coast of the Java Island, straight to the Indian Ocean. Some of them are still virgin or less of human touch. When I am in Jogja I always try to spare my times to go to one of the beaches. I like going to such of places to get refreshed after a hard-working-week, or just to have a relaxation and to search for inspirations.

Now I live in Jakarta a metropolitan city and capital of Indonesia. It is about 650 kilometers away from Jogja. Though it has the famous Ancol Beach, during 4 years living in the big city, I just visited the place once. However it was treating enough to my missing of the beaches in my hometown.

Inspiring beaches

For me, beaches are always romantic as well as poetic. We can find enjoyable moments of breaking waves against corals, beautiful scenery of colorful sailing boats in the midst of the sea, swimming various little fishes, a spread out area of white sands, and waving coconut trees. How many songs, poetries, stories, paintings and pictures are inspired by the place? How many blessings could we get in the beach? Harmony, peace, serenity, faith, life, love and hope, longings and dreams are themes amongst many. From there we even can see a real analogy of horizon of our live. We can find a line which separates and unite at the same time two different worlds: world of sea and world of dry land. What if I say that a beach is a spot of interconnections between human and the ultimate orientation of all creatures? In the beaches there are always opportunities to discover mysteries of our lives in a kind of intimacy with The Creator, The Origin and The Orientation.

Beach, it’s windy!

Well, recently I am impressed by a simple fact: beach is always windy! When I realize it more deeply, it is not mere a simple fact, it is really a great-great one. Eliminate the wind (if you can) from the beach if you want a strange place! If it could be, there are no waves, no sailing boats, and no waving palm-leaves. I guarantee the beach will be so hot and boring. You even will be so exhausted on your surfing board by rowing with your hand all the time! No wind means there are no sea-water flows and no cycles of replacement. The water on your seashore will stay motionless. Furthermore, all wastes from the land will stuck in front of you to produce vile smell in time. What a dead place! Wind blow is the spirit behind the beach which makes it so vivid and wipes all the terrible imaginations above!

Wind, what are you?

Scientifically, when there are two air areas with different pressures there is a gap between them. The tension of the gap will drive an air-flow from the higher pressure to the lower one until they reach one same pressure degree. 1 mb (milibar) pressure (even less) is capable enough to make a motion, a flow of air. That is called “wind”. The bigger difference between two areas is, the stronger the power of the wind will be, and so the faster the wind will flow. Of course, it causes impacts that depend on how strong the power is. Hurricane is a terrible example to mention. It can strongly damage everything. But a breeze is a kind of wind that we are familiar with as it blows softly and can make us sleepy. We even create such of wind by turning on a fan when our room is getting hot.

Let’s go deeper from this natural fact of winds!

I wonder of equilibrium of the universe. By nature this universe provides a wonderful self-management system to maintain its existence. Something is “on” in this universe, which keeps everything in it alive, unless there are just dead matters in this planet earth. Wind blow is just a phenomenon of the existence of the “thing” in one kind of its actions.

Scientists will mention “energy” to name the thing. The scientific notion of energy comes from the Greek “energos”, means "active, working". Scientifically it is “a scalar physical quantity that is a property of objects and systems which is conserved by nature. Energy is often defined as the ability to do work” (Wikipedia).

At this point, when I tried to understand the words “active”, “working”, and “ability to do work”, I was drawn into an ancient understanding upon the original movement, nothing else than the causa prima which made the first movement (action) in the universe. In the new-age literatures (e.g.: The Secret by Rhonda Byrne) the concept of energy is a way to understand the existence of God, even though “God” is just a notion to mention the ultimate reality.

Keep the winds of heaven blowing!

For the Christians it is not hard to associate wind blows with God’s Spirit. On the Pentecost Day it was told that Jesus Christ blows upon the heads of his apostles as a sign of his giving The Holy Spirit to them. He gave them the holy power to continue his mission. Long time before Christ, the great prophet Elijah had a spiritual vision of Yahweh who appeared to him in the breeze. Even in the book of Genesis, God blew the dusty-made man with his spirit to make him live.

The biblical tradition has provided a spiritual understanding of a wind blow or a “blowing action”. Literally the second means an action of making an air-flow out of the mouth. In the light of the tradition it has special meanings which contain missions to carry out, actions to complete. What else but to actualize our humanity which contains the Spirit of God himself blown upon us from the time being? What else but to spread the God's love to every creatures all over the world?

Everyone has a special richness, a unique goodness or talents, and superiorities towards others. It is like a milibar degree in terms of air pressure. Agree or not, gaps do really exist among our milieus. Why don’t you make a flow of blessings by sharing yours to others? If so you represent the Pentecostal Spirit! Don’t let the atmosphere become hot and the air smell vile! Keep the winds of heaven blowing upon us all!

Every kind of winds has its impacts to the circumstances. What kind of impacts will you choose to make? What kind of winds of yours? What about your speeches, your words and the way you speak? Your moving actions are also your wind blows! Your pro-activities in the community are your flowing spirit given to them. And what a beautiful day to come if yours is a fragrant breeze, not a hurricane! ***

HAPPY EASTER 2008!

"Verily, verily, I say unto you:
Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abides alone:
but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit." ~ John 12,24.

Click on here to read "Glorious Shoot" - Poetry.