a day of silence - photography and contemplation

grail-8, originally uploaded by jonnybaker.

on saturday a few of us went to the grail, a retreat centre nearby to spend a day in silence. this was mainly inspired by watching the tv series the big silence. i found it a really good experience and i hope it's one we repeat. the lounge there was full of books. in a section called spiritual writings i was looking at a few by thomas merton. i vaguely knew that merton was a photographer which was somehow close to his being a contemplative. but i stumbled across a chapter in a book called thomas merton: a master of attention by r waldron which has a chapter on merton's photography. i had taken my camera with me because for me it is very suited to silence or contemplation - it is about paying attention, it helps me look at things. so i was re-assured to know that my own sense about photography was shared. i jotted down a few quotes from the book...

to become a contemplative one must develop the spiritual eye of attention and what in modern life symbolises more fully and exactly what the life of a contemplative life entails than the camera

solitude and silence are the sine qua non of being a contemplative. in fact a photographer is a contemplative in his own right: he too must become a master of attention

if we had to reduce merton's 'a vow of conversation' to one theme it would be 'learning to see'

for much of the world's beauty we have only one chance to look

all that by way of an intro to this set of photos a day of silence - i took these in the silence on that day trying to capture something of that silence and attention. no idea if they succeed...

Comments

[julie]

what an exciting discovery - silence and 'seeing' - i enjoyed your photoset - very nice to imagine myself walking down those pathways, through those doorways and stopping on each of those chairs for a wee think - thanks jonny

[KB]

Symptomatic really, but only just got round to reading this properly. Great post. Merton remains so interesting.... never knew he was so into photography.
Thanks.