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A new book of haunting and poetic fine art black and white landscape photographs from Italy, Ireland, Canada, the United States, and around the world that focus on themes of resilience, reclamation, and renewal while revealing the beauty of impermanence. Also included is a fitting collection of quotations, proverbs and poetry ranging from the transient to the transcendental.
The Beauty of Impermanence | Bret Culp
Standard Landscape 10x8 inches (25x20 cm) | 80 pages
Second Edition: July 2008
ISBN 978-0-9810253-0-8 |
"The Beauty of Impermanence" can be purchased online at Blurb (www.blurb.com/bookstore), a print on demand publisher specialising in softcover and hardcover photography books that can be shipped anywhere in the World. A limited number of personally signed copies are available for sale by contacting me at
Click here to order a copy.
"Roots creep over rock searching for refuge and nourishment, neglected bricks and mortar crumble under the elements and return to the earth, a mountain is slowly devoured by the sea forming a precipice – these are photographs of matter governed by time chosen to illustrate the relentless determination of nature, the eternal cycle of creation out of destruction, and the beauty of impermanence."
Bret Culp
Foreword of the book:
Nothing remains the same for two consecutive moments. Heraclitus said we can never bathe twice in the same river. Confucius, while looking at a stream, said, "It is always flowing, day and night." The Buddha implored us not just to talk about impermanence, but to use it as an instrument to help us penetrate deeply into reality and obtain liberating insight. We may be tempted to say that because things are impermanent, there is suffering. But the Buddha encouraged us to look again. Without impermanence, life is not possible. How can we transform our suffering if things are not impermanent? How can our daughter grow up into a beautiful young lady? How can the situation in the world improve? We need impermanence for social justice and for hope.
If you suffer, it is not because things are impermanent. It is because you believe things are permanent. When a flower dies, you don't suffer much, because you understand that flowers are impermanent. But you cannot accept the impermanence of your beloved one, and you suffer deeply when she passes away.
If you look deeply into impermanence, you will do your best to make her happy right now. Aware of impermanence, you become positive, loving and wise. Impermanence is good news. Without impermanence, nothing would be possible. With impermanence, every door is open for change. Impermanence is an instrument for our liberation.
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