Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Unblinking Stare

Back to anemones, only closer. This flower's bold eye radiates energy. Its unblinking stare is a hypnotic explosion in red, black and white. It's March. Time to wake up.

Somehow the following words from Joseph Campbell, from the prologue of The Hero of a Thousand Faces [1949], fit this image:

Myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestation. Religions, philosophies, arts, the social forms of primitive and historic man, prime discoveries in science and technology, the very dreams that blister sleep, boil up from the basic, magic ring of myth.

-- Joseph Campbell

Yes. "The very dreams that blister sleep." Beautiful, that.

The photo is of a hybrid anemone I got at Battenfeld's Anemone Farm. Click on image to enlarge. Scroll down two posts to read more about anemones.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Great shot to have with your "time to wake up" words. Hoping you are seeing some signs of Spring outdoors.

Christine said...

Hey, Annie! Thanks. Not too many signs of spring here yet, just the changing light, which is wonderful. The last few days have been warm and sunny, which is a balm following the wild snow.

Deborah Batterman said...

The more I stare, the more I see. This photo definitely speaks to the mysteries of the cosmos. Oh that such a gorgeous flower gets its name (mythologically speaking) from the death of a Greek hero!

Christine said...

Hello, Deboooorah. You would know that, wouldn't you? Love it. Hard to believe this flower is real, isn't it? It pulls you right into its center.