New Year's Day 2016 by Rick Doble

  New Year's Day 2016  

 This is the moment 

 in the Earth's travel 

 when Santa's friend 

 Father Time 

 reminds us 

 that time flies 

 out with the old 

 in with the new 

Text, design & research by Rick Doble. All images are from commons.wikimedia.org unless otherwise noted.

Winter Solstice 2015 by Rick Doble

 Winter Solstice 2015 

 We have forgotten 

 that at this darkest time 

 of year 

 when the sun 

 almost slips away 

 we are slightly afraid 

Text, editing and design by Rick Doble. All images are from commons.wikimedia.org unless otherwise noted.

The Urge To Create by Rick Doble

 The urge 

by Rick Doble

Drawings on birch bark by a 7 year-old Russian boy Onfim, about 1260 CE, Novgorod.

In the picture on the right Onfim wrote "I am a beast."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onfim

 to create 

Contemporary painting by a child of her town in Slovakia.

 is as basic 

The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly, ca. 1950-1964, by James Hampton. (Photo courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum)

Made of tin foil from gum wrappers, light bulbs and other objects he found as a janitor, James Hampton in Washington DC USA created this piece of religious art during a 14 year period. When he died no one knew about its existence, and it was almost discarded until someone recognized its value; it was eventually placed in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC

James Hamtpon posted the following on his wall in his garage where he built 'The Throne': "Where there is no vision, the people perish" — Proverbs 29:18 (King James Version)

http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=9897

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hampton_(artist)

 and necessary 

A New Year's Day mummer's costume and performance from the Mummers Parade in Philadelphia. Mummery, which is associated with Christmas, has been in existence since the early 1800s. Yet Mummery in various forms is an old tradition that goes back almost a thousand years. Groups that participate in the parade often spend a year designing and creating their outfits. You can see the new 2016 Philadelphia parade streamed live on your computer starting at 10 AM EST on January 1, 2016.

http://www.phillymummers.com/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummers_Parade 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummering 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummers_play

 as the need 

 to breathe 

Text, editing, design & research by Rick Doble. All images are from commons.wikimedia.org unless otherwise noted.

Rationalizing The Irrational by Rick Doble

  So Why Did You Do That?  

Text & design by Rick Doble. All images are from commons.wikimedia.org unless otherwise noted.

 Much of the time 

 our rational minds 

 are used 

 to think up 
 reasons 

 that justify 

 our irrational 
 behavior 

Is There Such A Thing As Reality? by Rick Doble

  REALITY?  

 Text & design by Rick Doble. All images are from commons.wikimedia.org unless otherwise noted.

 If there is 
 such a thing 

 as reality 

This man is not wearing clothing, but is naked, with clothing painted on.

 it lives on the edge 

 of our perception 

These lines are not angled but go straight across.

 which 

 shapes and molds it 

 to give it 

 form and meaning 

Our World Is Different Due To Technology by Rick Doble

 Our World Is Different - 

 Due to Technology 
(Text & design by Rick Doble except as noted. Photos and images from commons.wikimedia.org except as noted.)

Painting by Paul Klee.

"For the artist communication with nature 

remains the most essential condition. 

The artist is human; himself [ED: herself] nature; part of nature..."

Paul Klee, Paths of the Study of Nature, 1923

Manhattan, New York, NY, USA.

 The old bond 

 between humans and nature 

 has been permanently altered 

 by technology 

Code named, Castle Romeo, this is a photo 

of the first hydrogen (thermonuclear) bomb 

that would be deployed by the US military.

 The task of the 21st century artist 

 is to forge a new relationship 

 between humans and the world, 

 since our fate is inseparable 

 from that of the Earth 

Rick Doble, 1999

Man-made electric lighting at night, across the world 20 years ago. 

Composite satellite imagery, NASA.

(NASA image)

Gentle Wind That Blows Through Atoms by Rick Doble

 The Gentle Wind  

 That Blows Through Atoms 

Poem by Rick Doble written in 1969. 

These original pictures by Rick Doble were enhanced and processed 

from static caused by cosmic microwave background radiation, 

known as the CMBR or CMB,

from the Big Bang explosion that formed the universe.

 The gentle wind 

 that blows through atoms 

 that curls and lies quiet 

 waits for a mind 

 to focus it  

 like burning sunlight 

 and penetrate 

 the weave of space 

Poem By Wols (Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze)

Poem by Wols (Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze, 1913-1951), 

abstract painter, photographer, poet.

(Photograph, editing and design by Rick Doble)

It's Not A Cookie-Cutter World by Rick Doble

 It's Not A Cookie-Cutter World  

This principle of change or movement prevents nature from ever really repeating herself... 

The History of Scientific Ideas, Charles Singer

(Text, research & design by Rick Doble. Photos and images from commons.wikimedia.org except as noted.)

 Water molecules* 

 are the same 

 yet every 

 snowflake 

 is different 

(Left photo by Rick Doble)

 every 

 leaf 

(By Rick Doble)

 every 

 person 

The newly photographed moon of Pluto, Charon (NASA).

 planet or moon 

Our sister galaxy Andromeda.

 & galaxy 

*While there are two other isotopes of water, normal water (H2O) makes up 99.76% of water.

Halloween And The Dead by Rick Doble

 HALLOWEEN & THE DEAD 

(Text & design by Rick Doble. Photos and images from commons.wikimedia.org except as noted.)

 In the West 

 we bury our dead 

 in separate cities 

 to keep them 

 at a safe distance 

 except on Halloween 

 when the dead 

 are invited 
 out 

 for a day 

 to 

 celebrate 

Intuition Is The Gift, Reason The Servant by Rick Doble

  Intuition Is The Gift,  

  Reason The Servant  
(Text, design & research by Rick Doble. Photos and images from commons.wikimedia.org except as noted.)

There comes a point where the mind takes a leap 

— call it intuition or what you will — 

and comes out upon a higher plane of knowledge, 

but can never prove how it got there. 

All great discoveries have involved such a leap.

Albert Einstein

Rembrandt's etching of Dr. Faustus in his study, 

receiving an inspirational understanding.

 Before he called it "gravity" 

 before he did the math 

 Newton knew 

 what held things together 

From Isaac Newton's Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687)

in which he gave a detailed explanation of the forces of gravity.

 Before relativity 

 before his equations 

 Einstein 

 imagined chasing 
 a beam of light 

 and understood - 

 what would take him a decade 

 to prove on paper 

Einstein's universe in which space itself is affected by gravity.

Eureka by Rick Doble

      EUREKA      

(Text, design & research by Rick Doble. Photos and images from commons.wikimedia.org except as noted.)

The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility …

The fact that it is comprehensible is a miracle.

Albert Einstein

 Some live 

 for the apple moment: 

 When Isaac Newton 

 saw in a flash 

 that apple and moon 

 were one 

 and the same 

 Pythagoras hearing 

 the harmony 

 of 

 blacksmith's hammers 

 Archimedes 

 taking a bath 

 Kandinsky 

 seeing the world 

 abstractly 

 from a painting upside down 

 Einstein 

 chasing a beam of light 

 The Universe 

 split open 

 for a second 

 to let 

 one small creature 

 SEE