For the next two weeks, I will be posting images and experiences from the Miksang contemplative photography workshop I’m attending in Boulder, Colorado. This first class is called “Opening the Good Eye” (Miksang means “good eye”) and the first exercise is on our colorful world.

The exercises come from the book, The Practice of Contemplative Photography (paid link), by Michael Wood and Andy Karr. Wood is presenting along with Julie DuBose, a contributor to the book and Director and Founder of the Miksang Institute. It is about how to experience direct seeing without the baggage we normally bring – concepts, judgments, memories, labels, etc. In our introductory meeting, I was struck by this thought:

How much of the world do I ignore?

The instructors said that most of us operate on the highlights and lowlights in life. We experience life and things as good or bad and there is a whole lot in-between that we totally ignore. With Miksang training, these two extremes are brought together and we experience all of life as a seamless reality, neither good nor bad, just what is.

Our first assignment was to notice our perceptions of colour. This is a perfect place to start because it is so prevalent in our world. How often do we take the time to notice and appreciate colour just for colour’s sake? We were to look for images where colour was the main theme, not a particular colourful thing. This is harder than it sounds because our minds love to label and we are drawn to things rather than the colour itself.

I had to really stop and think about how to frame the image so as to present the colour that stopped me just as it appeared in that first moment of seeing. The blue to your right was my favourite because it came closest to expressing what I saw.

The purpose of these exercises is to experience life as it is and the joy that comes from that. This was a very joyful exercise.

More on Thursday.