Its a lot like the “brown” experience in what I wrote. Once I started realizing the violent connotations in much of photo lingo, it is hard to un-see it. Snap, Capture, Take, Shoot…
I much prefer the sense of simply receiving something that is before me and also the sense that it is also there for someone else.
As a Vietnamese person, a brown person, and a minority, I find your thoughts on the inherent beauty of this color to be deeply validating. I wish to offer my support for your theological premises by drawing upon ancient Judaic thought and modern scholars who celebrate the sacredness of the earth and the marginalized.
In the Hebrew tradition, the creation of the first human, hā-ādām, is linked to the Hebrew adamah (Strong #127, the reddish-brown earth) and, as a note against patriarchy, adamah is a feminine noun and adam is masculine (I have argued in other writings that this tension should be viewed as humanity, the first human, as being non-binary/non-gendered!). The midrashic commentary, Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer (Chapter 11), describes God gathering dust from every corner of the world to form the first human. The Jewish spiritual insight here is that the color brown is not the result of a muddying of colors but, rather, it is the synthesis of all colors. The Hebrew hā-ādām is used as a wordplay on the word adamah, which means the ground or the earth. This reddish-brown soil is the source of all life and not just us. The scholar Phyllis Trible, in her opus magnus, God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality (1978), advocates strongly for this understanding of a non-gendered hā-ādāmas, by translating the phrase as the earth creature. Before gender or race were defined, we were simply of the brown earth. To be brown is to be fundamentally connected to the very foundation of creation. It is the color of our shared origin.
In wrestling with the story of Jacob found in Genesis 30:40, the Midrash in Bereshit Rabbah (73:10) focuses on the chum, the dark colored (brown) animals that were the anomalies of the flock. In the classical commentary of the Ramban (not to be confused with Rambam, who was known as Moses Maimonides) on Genesis 30:32, Jacob choosing these sheep is seen as a profound act of faith. He took what was common or overlooked and trusted the Divine to multiply it. This supports your premise that there is wonder in things that could easily be overlooked, such as a rail spike or a tiny snail.
The practice of savoring and paying attention mirrors what Abraham Joshua Heschel called radical amazement. When we engage in this, we discover a unity that dispels the illusion of disunity. By paying attention to the color brown, you are performing this sacred religious act that unites what prejudice tries to sunder. Or, in the words of Rabbi Hechel (one far wiser than I): Religion and race. How can the two be uttered together? To act in the spirit of religion is to unite what lies apart, to remember that humanity as a whole is God’s beloved child. To act in the spirit of race is to sunder, to slash, to dismember the flesh of living humanity. Is this the way to honor a father: to torture his child? How can we hear the word “race” and feel no self reproach? (Religion and Race, January 14, 1963)
As a Vietnamese American, I am also guided by theologians like Peter C. Phan. He emphasizes that our native culture and the geography of our origins define our identity and show unique characteristics of the Divine. To love the brown of the earth and the brown of our skin is to honor the family and ancestral values that are deeply embodied in our physical reality. This awareness is a safeguard against the destruction of places like Boundary Waters Canoe Area, because when we treat the land as a mere resource for copper, we ignore the principle of Bal Tashchit (do not destroy), the command to not destroy the world that sustains us. This Jewish principle is drawn from Deuteronomy 20:19-20. I would recommend Judaism and Environmentalism: Bal Tashchit by Yonatan Neril as found at Chabad.org website.
I believe that God’s intentional act of infusing divine life into the reddish-brown soul of the earth is, what I argue, the First Incarnation, the fusing of the earth-creature with the Divine. Because, if the source of our physical being is the adamah and the ruach is that which gives Adamah life, then Adamah (we reddish-brown creatures!) are not secondary to but essential to the First Incarnation.
Blessings,
Steven Joseph John Bruening
P.s. I envy your ability to capture the sacred in your photography 🙃
Wow Steven - thank you for this. I love all of it and the depth (pun slightly intended in the discussion about earth) that you bring not only to what you shared here but to all the ways you engage.
What you shared from Heschel - wow - I love how he puts all of that and I love how it helps me to engage this even more fully.
Thanks so much for the kind words! I loved looking through your photos. They are beautiful!
I’m interested in learning about photography for the purpose of contemplative/nature photography, but I only have my iPhone camera at present. Do you have any suggestions for a type of camera that would be a step up from an iPhone but not terribly expensive (and good for a beginner)?
As is comes to cameras…One of the things that I start with in every contemplatve photography course that I lead is this… Its not necessarily about the equipment because the best camera is the one you have with you.
That being said, I’ll send you a DM with a bit of a longer reply about other cameras. :-)
Thank you! The main reason I want a better camera is that I can’t get close enough to get a decent picture of some of the wildlife I see on my walks. I’d mostly just like a better zoom feature. I appreciate your help!
I like the idea of you “receiving” photos rather than taking them.
Its a lot like the “brown” experience in what I wrote. Once I started realizing the violent connotations in much of photo lingo, it is hard to un-see it. Snap, Capture, Take, Shoot…
I much prefer the sense of simply receiving something that is before me and also the sense that it is also there for someone else.
Ed,
As a Vietnamese person, a brown person, and a minority, I find your thoughts on the inherent beauty of this color to be deeply validating. I wish to offer my support for your theological premises by drawing upon ancient Judaic thought and modern scholars who celebrate the sacredness of the earth and the marginalized.
In the Hebrew tradition, the creation of the first human, hā-ādām, is linked to the Hebrew adamah (Strong #127, the reddish-brown earth) and, as a note against patriarchy, adamah is a feminine noun and adam is masculine (I have argued in other writings that this tension should be viewed as humanity, the first human, as being non-binary/non-gendered!). The midrashic commentary, Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer (Chapter 11), describes God gathering dust from every corner of the world to form the first human. The Jewish spiritual insight here is that the color brown is not the result of a muddying of colors but, rather, it is the synthesis of all colors. The Hebrew hā-ādām is used as a wordplay on the word adamah, which means the ground or the earth. This reddish-brown soil is the source of all life and not just us. The scholar Phyllis Trible, in her opus magnus, God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality (1978), advocates strongly for this understanding of a non-gendered hā-ādāmas, by translating the phrase as the earth creature. Before gender or race were defined, we were simply of the brown earth. To be brown is to be fundamentally connected to the very foundation of creation. It is the color of our shared origin.
In wrestling with the story of Jacob found in Genesis 30:40, the Midrash in Bereshit Rabbah (73:10) focuses on the chum, the dark colored (brown) animals that were the anomalies of the flock. In the classical commentary of the Ramban (not to be confused with Rambam, who was known as Moses Maimonides) on Genesis 30:32, Jacob choosing these sheep is seen as a profound act of faith. He took what was common or overlooked and trusted the Divine to multiply it. This supports your premise that there is wonder in things that could easily be overlooked, such as a rail spike or a tiny snail.
The practice of savoring and paying attention mirrors what Abraham Joshua Heschel called radical amazement. When we engage in this, we discover a unity that dispels the illusion of disunity. By paying attention to the color brown, you are performing this sacred religious act that unites what prejudice tries to sunder. Or, in the words of Rabbi Hechel (one far wiser than I): Religion and race. How can the two be uttered together? To act in the spirit of religion is to unite what lies apart, to remember that humanity as a whole is God’s beloved child. To act in the spirit of race is to sunder, to slash, to dismember the flesh of living humanity. Is this the way to honor a father: to torture his child? How can we hear the word “race” and feel no self reproach? (Religion and Race, January 14, 1963)
As a Vietnamese American, I am also guided by theologians like Peter C. Phan. He emphasizes that our native culture and the geography of our origins define our identity and show unique characteristics of the Divine. To love the brown of the earth and the brown of our skin is to honor the family and ancestral values that are deeply embodied in our physical reality. This awareness is a safeguard against the destruction of places like Boundary Waters Canoe Area, because when we treat the land as a mere resource for copper, we ignore the principle of Bal Tashchit (do not destroy), the command to not destroy the world that sustains us. This Jewish principle is drawn from Deuteronomy 20:19-20. I would recommend Judaism and Environmentalism: Bal Tashchit by Yonatan Neril as found at Chabad.org website.
I believe that God’s intentional act of infusing divine life into the reddish-brown soul of the earth is, what I argue, the First Incarnation, the fusing of the earth-creature with the Divine. Because, if the source of our physical being is the adamah and the ruach is that which gives Adamah life, then Adamah (we reddish-brown creatures!) are not secondary to but essential to the First Incarnation.
Blessings,
Steven Joseph John Bruening
P.s. I envy your ability to capture the sacred in your photography 🙃
Wow Steven - thank you for this. I love all of it and the depth (pun slightly intended in the discussion about earth) that you bring not only to what you shared here but to all the ways you engage.
What you shared from Heschel - wow - I love how he puts all of that and I love how it helps me to engage this even more fully.
I am grateful for you!
Good thoughts. I am furious about them signing away the environment. And a lot more dangerous things will be shoved thru before midterms, I fear.
I love the photo of Scout! Looking forward and looking backward at the same time. Is that even possible? Seems like an interesting topic to explore...
I love that perspective! (Pun somewhat intended). Once I finish colors…I might do just that. Thank you.
Hope you all are doing well!!!
Thanks for the inspiration.
Beautiful, as always, Ed. Thank you! Grateful to be a part of your reflective life and reflective sharing. You are a gift.
Thank you!
Lovely!
Thanks so much for the kind words! I loved looking through your photos. They are beautiful!
I’m interested in learning about photography for the purpose of contemplative/nature photography, but I only have my iPhone camera at present. Do you have any suggestions for a type of camera that would be a step up from an iPhone but not terribly expensive (and good for a beginner)?
Thank you!
As is comes to cameras…One of the things that I start with in every contemplatve photography course that I lead is this… Its not necessarily about the equipment because the best camera is the one you have with you.
That being said, I’ll send you a DM with a bit of a longer reply about other cameras. :-)
Thank you! The main reason I want a better camera is that I can’t get close enough to get a decent picture of some of the wildlife I see on my walks. I’d mostly just like a better zoom feature. I appreciate your help!
I just want to say thanks for sharing your way of seeing, and for sharing Scout and all of your good words. I look forward to seeing what you share.
Thank you! :-)