Summary: A collection of stunning images from nature that teach us how to look at our own neighborhood.
There is nothing more beautiful to man than man. Nevertheless, when confronted with a stark and stunning image of a man or woman, often we reflect on how we compare to the figure, we see mirrored in the beauty our own inadequacy. If this sometimes happens when faced with beautiful people, it nevertheless fails to happen when we look at the most majestic images in nature.
Whatever our self-image, when faced with nature’s beauty, we always feel at home, as if we belonged exactly here: the ego relaxes and is willing to feel free, not at all threatened, welcomed, embraced. This is why the ancients called nature our “Mother.”
These images expose the sublimity of nature, render it palpable so that nobody can miss it and all must adore. The lesson to learn is not that some places on earth are inspiring, and some photographers are able to bottle them up and give us a taste.
Instead, let the pictures orient your eyes to the beautiful as such, and take that perspective home with you. Looking out your backdoor, looking out your car window on the way to work, and you can see the same stark and commanding images. If we know how to open our eyes to them, to engage them, to see what is right before our face, we will no longer be blinded by our worries, worries that direct our eyes only to what is ugly, troublesome and threatening in our environment. Consider such images as educative rather than palliative. For though the beauty around us may not be so obvious and transparent, it is just as real, and just as intense. What we need to do is open our eyes, which is never as easy as blinking.
