Thursday, October 7, 2010

ENLIGHTENED

He wasn't pleased with the stark severity and bleakness of the photo. What he intended was to depict a lush, vibrant and colorful array of leaves as they predictably fell to the ground and complied with the natural alchemy of decay. Instead, somehow what he had perceived and what he now saw in his picture was a caricature of his reality.

Captivated by the mystery, his eyes remained glued to the photo. He stared not at the distorted and diffused image of leaves, but at the white empty space that separated them. He had not seen this when he clicked his camera, thinking he was preserving the beauty and uniqueness, the intricacy of design inherent to the leaves and to that moment.

He ignored his wife's pleas to stop, to come to eat, to sleep...to be normal. In stillness he stared and asked the white empty space questions unimaginable to him before. "Is love real? What about happiness? God? Dogma? Truth? Am I real? I am?"

Alone, he stared for hours and days until time lost meaning as did everything else. The white empty space engulfed his mind and his spirit until...gradually, he realized it had been inflicting a lethal violence upon him. He was dead.

Strangely, his death woke him up. Awake he knew he was alive. He could see reality without the need for a camera, a shutter, a filter or anything to interpret his sight. From then on he lived only to see the naked Truth.

He saw everything. And he watched as others still slept comfortably, unwilling to see... the white empty space.
_______________________________
This has been a magpie tale hosted by Willow. Thanks Willow for this opportunity to write something instigated by your prompts.

21 comments:

  1. Wow Myrna that is so interesting and beautiful. I like to think of the negative space as providing another layer to life. Wonderful writing. Thank you for all your kind support of my writing. Your words are gifts to me. Love, Kristen

    ReplyDelete
  2. This has to be magic! What a tale! It's chilling and wild and wonderful. Myrna! You should send these in to a magazine and start getting paid for them!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Such beautiful words you have melded together.

    xo Erin

    ReplyDelete
  4. wow. that is definitely an intriguing story...what happens in those spaces that are in between...perhaps i should look a bit closer...smiles.

    ReplyDelete
  5. How very interesting! This certainly gives one reason to think.

    ReplyDelete
  6. That white did stand out.
    How excellent that you made it work for you so well.
    Very nice piece.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow. Very powerful. Thank you for your sweet comments on my blog wishing us well. Appreciate you!

    ReplyDelete
  8. he could see reality without need for the camera..the white empty spaces..intriguing..sometimes the white empty spaces are just the important things we have to look at..

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love this ... as I looked and looked at Willow's photo I saw white first, then leaves ~ AND I wrote about baseball!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Wow. I had to read this twice. There's so much in that story! You have an amazingly creative mind and you weave human truths into poetic language so deftly! Thank you!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. nicely done!! " alive by being dead..." just love it! hope to write mine on Sunday.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I like this ... it makes u think ...

    ReplyDelete
  13. The beautiful intriguing interpretation of the 'white empty spaces' that so often are not empty at all. How true to life this can be!

    Very well done.

    ReplyDelete
  14. loved this take on the magpie photo...
    the truth does live in the white spaces in between

    ReplyDelete
  15. "Strangely, his death woke him up": This line startled me. As many have mentioned, this is indeed a poignant one. When existential angst envelops a being, strange are the dispositions. You have depicted them brilliantly in this story.

    Have a glorious weekend, dear Myrna.

    Joy always,
    Susan

    ReplyDelete
  16. Channeled information presented beautifully!


    Warm Aloha from Waikiki

    Comfort Spiral

    ReplyDelete
  17. smart take,
    there is always room for liveliness....
    thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Intriguing and provocative - nicely done!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Myrna this is truly captivating...a wonderful piece of prose. :-)

    ReplyDelete