Inner Core

It is determination that gets us moving and tenacity that keeps us going and belief in ourselves that makes it happen...

Lake Martin, Louisiana - Sunrise

We got up early one morning and took the boat out on Lake Martin which is just a couple of miles from where we live in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.  I usually go there late afternoon to catch the sunsets but this time, we decided to go early for sunrise. Glad I had my camcorder with me - managed to get some really beautiful scenery on video. Enjoy!

Lake Martin, Louisiana

Photo by Eileen Beniest

The allure of this Lake comes in many forms. From the haphazard flight of a swamp-drunk dragonfly to the stillness of a lone alligator. Hot, sultry Summers, ice-crackle Winters, a sea of water lilies and turtle lined logs. Trailing Spanish Moss drips from the trees where nesting birds amass each year; Herons, Egrets, Spoonbills and more... The huddle of cypress knees known as the wood spirits of the swamp cast shadows in the waters; a hiding place for crappies. The screech of an eagle, the flapping of wings, the swish of a kayak paddle. Sunrise, Sunset and all that comes between... Lake Martin has a way of imprinting her beauty into our hearts. A Sunrise will bring early morning light drizzling through the trees. Sunsets turn the soup green swamp into liquid gold.

Indifference

Photo by Eileen Beniest

Indifference is the strongest force in the universe. It makes everything it touches meaningless. Love and hate don't stand a chance against it.

                                                   The Snow Queen- Joan D. Vinge                                                     

Every so often I have come across a person who practices the Art of Indifference… and believe me, it is an Art.  I wonder to myself if this is something that they have learned along Life’s way, from a parent or has it been there within the very core of their beings right from the start? Out of all the emotions, I think Indifference is the most calculating of them all. Only when you are on the receiving end of Indifference do you feel the impact of its power. We can overcome anger, we can change attitudes with love but as long as Indifference stands in our way, nothing will change. The person who holds Indifference close to their heart in the end, has no heart - Eileen Beniest

Anticipation

There was a time back when I was young when I would awake each morning in anticipation of the unknown; to embrace the giddiness of life itself. It was a time of chasing after dreams, traveling to far-away places and even re-discovering the beauty of my own chartered territory. Now that I am older and living a more 'regulated lifestyle' I find myself going to sleep each night in anticipation of the unknown; to embrace the giddiness of life itself.. in my dreams.. - Eileen Beniest

No Excuses



                                    

There comes a time when you have to stop playing the Blame Game. You have to tear up all of Life’s Excuse Notes. You have to take a good hard look at yourself in the mirror and if you don’t like what you see, then you had better start applying yourself to Your Life - Eileen Beniest

Conditioned to ecstasy...

Photo by Eileen Beniest

"Conditioned to ecstasy, the poet is like a gorgeous unknown bird mired in the ashes of thought. If he succeeds in freeing himself, it is to make a sacrificial flight to the sun. His dreams of a regenerate world are but the reverberations of his own fevered pulse beats. He imagines the world will follow him, but in the blue he finds himself alone. Alone but surrounded by his creations; sustained, therefore, to meet the supreme sacrifice. The impossible has been achieved; the duologue of author with Author is consummated. And now forever through the ages the song expands, warming all hearts, penetrating all minds. At the periphery the world is dying away; at the center it glows like a live coal. In the great solar heart of the universe the golden birds are gathered in unison. There it is forever dawn, forever peace, harmony and communion. Man does not look to the sun in vain; he demands light and warmth not for the corpse which he will one day discard but for his inner being. His greatest desire is to burn with ecstasy, to commerge his little flame with the central fire of the universe. If he accords the angels wings so that they may come to him with messages of peace, harmony and radiance from worlds beyond, it is only to nourish his own dreams of flight, to sustain his own belief that he will one day reach beyond himself, and on wings of gold. One creation matches another; in essence they are all alike. The brotherhood of man consists not in thinking alike, nor in acting alike, but in aspiring to praise creation. The song of creation springs from the ruins of earthly endeavor. The outer man dies away in order to reveal the golden bird which is winging its way toward divinity."  - Henry Miller (The Time of the Assassins: a Study of Rimbaud)