184. Imagination Conclusions

This rose seemed so bright that with its ragged edges it looked as though it were on fire. Our imaginations can be set aflame by so many different things, if we are looking with the right eyes, that it can sometimes be hard to dampen them down again. I wonder why we do. I wonder too, if part of becoming “like little children” is to regain that sense of awe that fires our imaginations into seeing the presence of God in burning bushes (and flaming roses) everywhere. This leads us on rather nicely to our next subject in our world of seeing, Scripture.

text and photo © Keren Dibbens-Wyatt 2017

 

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182. Two Snails (Imagination 12)

Sometimes it is not simply the visual before us that powers our imagination, but the story that we see unfolding, in this case, perhaps the conversation that these two snails have just had before heading their separate ways. Was it simply a greeting, “Nice day Ernie,” and a nod, or was it an argument about the best hiding places in our garden? How would you tell if a snail was in a huff, do you think?

text and photo © Keren Dibbens-Wyatt 2017

 

181. Cheers! (Imagination 11)

My husband found this absurdly happy duck at the bottom of his gin and tonic glass the other night. Apparently it is not just humans who enjoy the odd tipple. Uptails all! And Happy Birthday to my love!

text © Keren Dibbens-Wyatt photo © R R Wyatt 2017

 

180. Headless Man (Imagination 10)

This one might be a bit harder to spot than usual, but he is wearing a shirt and collar, if that helps. Amazing what one can find with an (admittedly) overactive imagination…

text and photo © Keren Dibbens-Wyatt 2017

 

179. Snail with a Flower in her Hair (Imagination 9)

I’m not sure whether this snail does the hula when we are not looking, but the idea that she might, is enough. I think that maybe this kind of seeing with childlike eyes and imagination never left me except during the years at university when I stopped enjoying reading. Afterwards, when I got ill, it was a few years before I was cognitively well enough to read, and I still cannot do it for very long at all. But losing myself in other worlds, whether reading or writing them, or seeing them all around me, has been a saving grace. Not being able to watch tv or cope with hardly any sensory input, has made my inner world and outer seeing, much more lively and abundant. Everything has become gift.

text and photo © Keren Dibbens-Wyatt 2017

178. Crow’s Nest (Imagination 8)

Sometimes a sight will set our imagination off rather than look like something other than itself. In this case, I saw a crow’s nest right atop a tree, and immediately imagined a Lost Boy up there, looking out through a spyglass for land to crow about. Pirates could be around any corner, and Peter Pan can sail up a High Street. If you know how to look for him, you might see him too.

text and photo © Keren Dibbens-Wyatt 2017

 

177. Skellington (Imagination 7)

What’s this? This dried leaf looked so much to me like Jack Skellington’s head that I had to laugh. Even dead things can bring life, story, humour, imagination, at times. Of course it does help at moments like these if you’ve watched Tim Burton films or read Grimms’ Fairy Tales, or the stories of Washington Irving. Anything that feeds our imagination helps it grow wild and free.

 

text and photo © Keren Dibbens-Wyatt 2017

 

176. Marshmallow Highway (Imagination 6)

As I was wowed by this formation of fluffy clouds, I wondered what it would be like to walk down them, as if they were a road, and wondered if, with the right angelic feet, it might be like walking down a highway made of marshmallows; small round pillows of utter softness, springing slowly back up into wholeness as the impressions of weight were released.

text and photo © Keren Dibbens-Wyatt 2017

 

 

175. Fairy (Imagination 5)

Even lichen likes to do art, as you can see. Patterns and stories are everywhere, dancing in the corner of our vision, if we only have the eyes to see.

text and photo © Keren Dibbens-Wyatt 2017

173. Patronus (Imagination 3)

The light coming through curtains quite often makes a picture here and there, thanks to our chum pareidolia, and today I saw a stag that made me think of the protective patronus in Harry Potter. IT is an interesting barometer of our inner state, what we “choose” to see in the light and shadows around us. If we are feeling fearful, the patterns can seem threatening, if we are peaceful, there might be a dove or a butterfly. The subconscious always affects our seeing, and this is another thing we need to be aware of when practising contemplation.

text and photo © Keren Dibbens-Wyatt 2017