Iridescent Blue Nameless

This is a photograph I took last week of a of dark purple Man'O War jellyfish.. near Alys Beach in Florida.

You might read that explanation, and be satisfied.. say, "Ok, I see."
You might read my explanation and think to yourself.. "Well yeah, of course, I already knew that."

But, I wish you could have been there with me on the beach.. when we discovered him. When we sat down and actually looked at this ridiculous blob stretched out.. slender tentacles still clinging to the edge of the ocean.. the incandescent shimmering of its body.. I wish you could have seen it up close.

What is in a name? A purple Man'O War jellyfish.
That is the name of this thing. At least that is what someone decided we should call it.
Does a name explain, does it define, does it de-mystify?
When we look at a picture like this.. are we calm?
Why are we calm?
Because we think we already understand what it is we see?
Do we believe that because we have named this thing.. that makes it fathomable?
We remember what we have been taught.. and an answer comes to our lips.
A name.
Jellyfish.

I love names.. they serve an amazing purpose. Allowing us to collectively identify and organize life in our minds.. allowing millions of people to communicate.
But I think the simplicity of names have untruthfully given simplicity to the objects themselves.
Instead of remaining a mind-blowing visual experience.. we have turned this creature into: "Jellyfish".. and in doing so, we've falsely removed its mystery and its magic.

Take away the name of what you see.. detach yourself from description, from definition, from your own responsibility to comprehend it.. and look at it again.
I think to see something as it exists without a name and without a description, is to see it with utmost clarity.








Andrew Tipton

Local

The breeze from the ocean is coming in the sliding glass door on my left. It is cool and slight; sends chills across my skin.. good chills. The skin I wear is a golden bronze color, warm from the inside, radiating heat. I lay on the beach today with sand between my toes and in my hair and against my shoulders.. looking up at a blue sky, listening to a blue ocean - feeling like a local.
The surfboard sticks to the curve of these waves.. saltwater champagne, bubbles everywhere. Purple and blue jellyfish on the shore. No sharks in sight.
This is my peaceful rebellion for the day, the chance to look out to sea and wonder to myself at myself.
Looks down at his hands and his legs wrapped around his surfboard.. looks beneath the surface of the water he sits on.. looks as little fish circle around him.
Blessed like colors are blessed.



Andrew Tipton

Lava Silver Waves Breaking

Andrew Tipton

TIGER KILLS LION

Re-imagine what can be.
Remove the limitations of our stories and the ways that we behave without thought.. how long have we thought the same way, spoken the same thing.. how many lies will eat & drink up before we want something better than what someone else has to offer.
They say, "I want to be him" or "I want to be her" - but when do we ever see the ones that want to be the ones?
I want me.. I want us. We are able.. we are gods.. we are what does not happen. We are what has never been. We are the stories that insite confusion.. ask the "why>", never refuse to ask the "why?".
Life is profound and a powerful creature.. it takes what we offer and becomes what we can never dream.

A tiger killed a lion today in Turkey. And the world noticed.
I noticed.




Andrew

Coversations with Jessie

Many times, we take offense to honest questions.. because they illicit honest answers... answers that perhaps we have not yet fully resolved ourselves.
Personally, I am used to being asked watered down questions.. those comfortable, easy, non-threatening ones.. that keep me off the hook, never engaging my mind or thoughts, never pressing me to address my own actions.
We like those questions I think.. because they are ambiguous.. because they let us drift. I watch myself and I watch friends, lingering in states of perpetual vagueness.. fulfilling daily urges, routines, and yet never attending to the reasons that drive our lives.
If we give ourselves the chance to create our own honest answers.. then we have given ourselves the chance to influence the shape our lives.
When someone asks us.. "Why are you here?", or "Do you think your life has purpose?", or asks, "Where does your happiness come from?" - the question will not seem so vulgar, because the answer is already resting in the back of our thoughts. Instead of fleeing because we have no response.. we will welcome the chance to expose our resolution.
I need some honest questions.






Andrew Tipton