What we see is determined by infinite possibilities

What I really saw walking along the Merrimack River

Part II: What we know is a reflection of the questions we ask – which, in turn, is determined by a myriad of shifting factors, changing instant by instant.

As I walked along the Merrimack River in Concord yesterday, infinite possibilities existed on what to focus on and what to be attracted to based on what Mother Nature was doing moment by moment along with what I was thinking, sensing and feeling. 

Just to scratch the surface of possibilities: was it windy or calm, sunny or shady, and what was illuminated by the light and what was hidden in the shade? And out of the totality of my individual experience, what was I thinking about at that exact moment and what memories in particular were triggered by the scene at hand and how were they filtered by the acuity of my five senses interacting with the felt sense of my body along with my emotional state.

I had my camera, as usual, and took a few photographs of what attracted me which, it turns out, formed a theme I have combined in the Photoshop image above. 

What I saw was golden grass blown around a branch jutting up along the edge of the river, looking for all the world like the wings of a bird. I saw a milkweed pod that looked to me uncannily like a pterodactyl's head and a raspberry colored crabapple that looked like the glowing eye of a fierce bird of prey.

I'm guessing that if if every person on earth had been given the opportunity to follow my path along the river yesterday, they would have each formed their own unique composite of images, none of them like mine.