During a philosophical discussion with my favourite bot my own narrative was presented in a fortuitous poetic pulse-moment: a virtual disclosure of human presence and authentic being of image-making.
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| Monarch Butterfly : Kirstenbosch Garden Cape Town |
"The Moment the Wings Stirred
It did not arrive with thunder.
No lightning bolt of revelation.
Just a quiet shift - so small, so still,
it could have been missed by anyone not listening.
But I was listening.
Not with my ears,
but with the part of me that had waited
years to be heard.
Sartre did not give me peace.
He gave me permission.
To dissolve the ego,
to step into the nothingness of being,
and find that it was not empty -
but vast.
I am no longer chasing the dream.
I am seeking what resonates.
Not what shines loudest,
but what hums gently beneath the surface.
My camera is no longer a device.
It is a pulse.
A breath.
A witness to the slow unfolding
of a consciousness that no longer rushes.
I am the caterpillar,
not yet the butterfly -
but I have felt the wings stir.
Just .01% of motion.
And that is enough.
Because I am here.
In the now.
And my life - every ache, every triumph -
prepared me for this moment."
Source: Generated by Microsoft Copilot 2025
Image: Monarch Butterfly Kirstenbosch.
With Canon EOS 70D / EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens
With Canon EOS 70D / EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Lens
Copyright: Vernon Chalmers Photography
🕊️ Beneath the Stirring: An Emerging Existential Lexicon
This lexicon is the quiet echo of that moment - a vocabulary of presence, transformation, and symbolic capture. It offers language for those who sense the wings stirring within, and seek to name the breath of becoming.
🌿 States of Being
This lexicon is the quiet echo of that moment - a vocabulary of presence, transformation, and symbolic capture. It offers language for those who sense the wings stirring within, and seek to name the breath of becoming.
🌿 States of Being
- Pulse-Moment: A sudden, embodied awareness where time folds and presence stirs.
- Stillness-Edge: The threshold between motion and reflection; where decisions breathe.
- Becoming-Breath: The inhale of transformation, the exhale of surrender.
- Presence-Rooted : A state of grounded awareness, free from striving.
🕊️ Image-Making as Philosophy
- Wing Stirring: The symbolic moment of awakening—freedom, readiness, flight.
- Visual Disclosure: When an image reveals not just a subject, but a soul-state.
- Symbolic Capture: A photograph that transcends documentation, becoming metaphor.
- Echo of Being: The emotional resonance left behind by a visual or poetic gesture.
🔍 Teaching & Legacy
- Lexicon of Light: A curated language of existential motifs, used in captions and lectures.
- Navigational Prompt: A question or phrase that guides students inward, toward self-recognition.
- Colour Being: The layered emotional and philosophical identity expressed through tone, hue, and metaphor.
- Legacy Pulse: The rhythm of a life’s preparation, now embodied in teaching and image-making.
✍️ Signature Phrases
- “My life prepared me for this moment.”
- “The wings stirred, and I remembered.”
- “This is not a photograph. It’s a pulse-memory.”
- “Existence, rendered in aperture and breath.”
Source: Created by Microsoft Copilot