I'm So Thirsty!

by Douglas Clark

I was struck today by the terrible images of Drought that certain parts of the US and the world are suffering with. For some reason, I'm fascinated by dry lakes and desiccation. Strange perhaps, but fascinating all the same. Perhaps you may or may not be aware of the Aural Sea. Well, it's basically gone. It dried up because of human interference with its water supply. Hard to imagine draining an entire sea, but there you have it; man's capacity for destruction. 

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not all gloom and doom here. Human kind is capable of great things, but when I see pictures of docks and boats sitting on a dry and dusty plain, my imagination sparks with ideas. Perhaps it's the incongruent nature of ship and desert, or a dock leading to nothing. But my mind is transported to what it was like while the water was drying up. 

What did the people do who relied on that water? 

How did they cope and deal with the loss of the life they knew?

What caused this to happen? 

These are all thoughts that race through my head. 

See, I'll use those images and the thoughts they provoke to find a story. It may be tragic that the Aural Sea is gone, and drought is destroying countless habitats. But if it sparks your imagination to do something about it, that's at least something positive. There is usually a reason behind the catastrophes and disasters of this world. Sometimes they are caused by nature, sometimes caused by man. It's up to you to find the truth and bring some good to the world because of it. 

Thanks for reading.

Questions and comments are welcome.

DouglasHClark.com

Questing for Knowledge

So I've found that a lot of times, learning new things is a great way to find inspiration and motivation. I've always been fond of quirky little tidbits of information, whether it be about history, science, nature, you name it. I guess you could say I'm a student of everything. Okay, I really hate math, so you probably won't be seeing me crack open an Algebra book any time soon. My point is, knowledge of the things around us is important to me. The various ways in which we can find them is amazing. 

For the last year or so I've been a subscriber to Vsauce. It's a Youtube.com channel that's all about knowledge. Now the guy that runs it has several channels devoted to fun and interesting things available all across the internet, but his main focus is imparting knowledge. He shows an enthusiasm and thrill for what he's doing that makes learning infectious and fun. Here's an example of his work. 

I seriously could listen to this guy all day long. If my science classes in high school were this interesting I might have become a scientist. My point is, knowledge is a wonderful thing and you never know where you can get it. Keeping an open mind about learning is a great way to expand your mind and invite contemplation about the world around us and existence as a whole. If I'm not learning something new I feel like I'm stagnating. Personal improvement has always been important to me, finding knowledge is a vital key to that improvement, at least in my view. 

Do you hunger for knowledge? At the very least, learning little bits of knowledge will help you out when watching Jeopardy. Seriously, people don't like watching that show with me because I answer way too many of the clues. They think I'm a genius. Well, I'm not, I just pay attention and soak up information like a sponge. What about you?

Questions and Comments are welcome. Thanks for reading. 

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.

- Confucius 

What is beauty?

Just a couple of days ago I went on a hike up in the Mission Trails area of San Diego.  The hills and trails are an amazing place to see the natural world, get some exercise, and really appreciate the beauty that surrounds us.  It’s a wonder how easily people, myself included, can block out the simplistic splendor the world has to offer.  In the fast paced consumerism world we live in, it isn’t sexy or profitable to advertise the beauty in things that don't easily translate into profit.  Apropos to this idea is the very word beauty.  I’ve often found my mind going directly to an image of a gorgeous woman when I hear the word beauty, and it’s not surprising when we consider every American is bombarded with pictures, movies, advertisments, and such constantly telling us that is the accepted form of beauty.  Now there’s nothing wrong with thinking of women as a form of beauty.  I for one am completely anamored with women, however, as Confucius has told us, beauty exists everywhere.  We just need to open our eyes to it.

Does Everything really have beauty?

If you think about it, saying everything has beauty might seem suspect.  Garbage heaps and sewage plants aren’t the most attractive places to be or to visually admire.  Some might argue that abandoned buildings are not very attractive either.  However, if you examine each without the accepted negative connotations associated with them, what do you see then?  Nothing exists in a vacuum, but opening yourself up to a new perspective might lead you to a new appreciation for something you once thought had no beauty at all.  Certainly you may find that some things are much easier to identify as beautiful as opposed to others.  That’s natural. 

Creating a new beauty

Now for the hard part.  Take a moment and set aside all you know about beauty, all you expect and want from beauty, all you have been conditioned to believe is beautiful.  Just try to silence the expectations and just appreciate a subject for what it is.  Contemplate the value of the object before you solely on its merits. Practice with several different things and see if it jars your way of thinking.  Really look, let yourself feel. 

Now, what do you see?

Majestic Lake

I saw this picture and just had to share it!