Strathspey and Loch Insh from Ord Ban
I was very glad this afternoon when the rain cleared and the sun started coming through the mist. I took a series of images from Ord Ban, its only a wee hill but it has a great outlook over the Strath. Unfortunately by the time I had climbed the hill most of the mist had cleared, but it was still well worth it with the autumn colours suddenly vibrant in the evening light. The mist-wisps kept flowing and catching the sunlight, easy to imagine the forest as a giant breathing being (it is…)
“Think of a tree. When you think of a tree, you tend to think of a distinctly defined object; and on a certain level, it is. But when you look more closely at the tree, you will see that ultimately it has no independent existence.
When you contemplate it, you will find that it dissolves into an extremely subtle net of relationships that stretches across the universe. The rain that falls on its leaves, the wind that sways it, the soil that nourishes and sustains it, all the seasons and the weather, moonlight and starlight and sunlight – all form part of this tree.
As you begin to think about the tree more and more, you will discover that everything in the universe helps to make the tree what it is, that it cannot at any moment be isolated from anything else, and that at every moment its nature is subtly changing.”
– Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying