My Philosophy

Additionally, these images represent three of my favorite subjects to contemplate.

The nature of the physical world

The art and philosophy of Japan

The architecture of civilized man

The geological formation shown above is Pilot Mountain, located in the Piedmont area of Western North Carolina. (The place was referred to as "Mount Pilot" in the old Andy Griffith show and is near a real town Called Mt Airy which was the fictional town of Mayberry. for those of you that remember the television series.) This area of the United States is rather unique. The eastern mountains are far older than the Rockies and were formed from ancient plate tectonic movement. About a billion years ago the area was a shallow sea. For millions of years, sediment formed on the sea bottom, the pressure causing eventual development of sandstone rock. There was also some volcanic activity during this period as well. About 700 million years ago, magma seeped into the sandstone and cooled to create granite Then came the plate tectonic movements that caused a series of folds in the Earth (which are visible to the 'tuned' eye by observation of topographical maps of the Southeast United States. If fact, I've provided such a view for you, just click on the picture) This folding, if you are still interested and still reading this paragraph, is called anticlinorium. The fascinating part of this kind of geological movement is that even though the granite is broken up at low temperature, the internal temperature of the rocks increase. This causes the sandstone to turn into quartzite. So, for the last 700 million years, weathering effects of water in the form of rain and ice have washed away the less resistant rocks, but the quartzite (which is extremely resistant to weathering) has acted like a cap, protecting the granite underneath, and producing the shape you see in the image above.

The photo of the Bonsai tree above represents one of the most interesting processes of the human mind. This function is one of the distinguishing factors between man and beast. It is the concept of symbolic representation. It is pointless to go into the background of the art form in this text when I can direct you, by mouse click, to one of the best articles on the subject, written incidentally, by one of my best friends. I encourage you to read the views of Ted Flagg on Bonsai

The structure depicted is the chapel of "Theodore" located on the Isle of Mistra. At the fall of the Byzantine Empire, the Isle of Mistra was considered 'heaven on earth'. The chapel represents to me the epitome and core of Western thought. Iceland may have fostered our democratic principles, Europe may have produced our ethical codes of conduct, but this corner of Byzantium surely gave us our soul.

The 'snippets' below should give you more insight into my philosophy of life

I'll be constantly updating them, so please check back as life goes on, to see what I think about it all.

I believe the number 6 bus will take me downtown. I do not believe it's being driven by Santa Claus

Over the years I have jotted down on scraps of paper, thoughts as they came to me. It was a habit genetically passed to me from my grandfather, Allen Guivere Miller. Born in 1875, he became a fiercely independent renaissance man who hiked over every mountain in Western North Carolina. A prolific and talented landscape painter, he also authored six books of poetry and philosophy, compiled by organizing the scraps of paper he collected. I have yet to publish my own books on the subject, but here are some of my 'notes' for your review.

ON THE MOUNTAINS AND NATURE

The mountains were draped in morning mist like a sleeping lover under a sheet

The mountain mist is collected by the leaves into silver drops of light

The mountains cradle peaceful thoughts, as a mother her child

Drawn by gravity, the stream gives up its beauty in exchange for peace

Trees show themselves individually as the gloaming arrives

The mountain man's face weathers like the hills

The spider spins soft webs out of respect for the wind

Bees do their job without fear

The mountains tolerate the parasitic attachment of people, with patient grace

The mountains call silently with their presence, as love does to the independent mind

ON LOVE

Thoughts of love wait patiently for the busy mind to stumble upon them, then, like sand on a beach, slow our progress

Love, always suspect, comes only when we are loved in return

Love comes only when not sought

Love, like a hummingbird, can be observed only when you are still

The ship of the heart is best seen by another on the open sea of independence

The ship of the heart moves best when its sails are filled with the wind of love

The texture of love caresses more sweetly when it cannot be felt

ON LIFE

The end of the tunnel, though shrouded in evening mist, still appears bright