Wednesday, May 30, 2012

City in the Sky

The lotus flower has brought a lot of beauty to my life. In addition to practicing a form of lotus meditation, I also photograph and paint the flowers. I think they're elegant, serene and beautiful -- and I'm not the only one to be inspired by them.

To quote from the web site, City in the Sky is "a concept about an imaginary tranquil oasis above the mega developed and polluted city where one can escape from the everyday noise, stress and dirt. The concept is inspired by the Lotus flower which is known for its ability to emerge above the murky waters pure and clean." This video shows what that oasis might look like (and for those of you at work, this one has some background music):



Japanese poet Kobayashi Issa wrote a haiku about the symoblism of the lotus:

世の中よ針だらけでも蓮の花

Which translates to:

this world
full of needles and thorns ...
yet lotus blooms

4 comments:

  1. Gorgeous. My favorite Baha'i temple is the one in New Delhi, India - called the Lotus temple - and this reminds me of it. It's the second one down at this link - http://www.bahai.us/bahai-temple/bahai-temples-around-the-world/

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  2. How lovely! i enjoyed that, actually on the first day out of my sickbed that made a lovely start.
    Then you reminded me of one of my favourite tracks of recent years, a song about creativity taking you where it will, called "Lotus Flower," so Radiohead agrees with you:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfOa1a8hYP8

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  3. Anonymous10:08 AM

    I was clicking through your photos yesterday looking for you Joren watercolors and saw your painting and photo and spend a moment admiring them. This is truly lovely - thank you for posting. I think I will try to keep the lotus in my mind today as I try to clean and make my home tranquil after a very tiring semester. :)
    JulieB

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  4. Loved the haiku, and the City in the Sky was just breathtaking.

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