looking up

Lohbado paused along the bicycle trail and looked up at chimneys of an incinerator shut down years ago.

does a cat think about being a cat?

Does a cat think about being a cat? A cat could wear an identification tag and have its own residence, bowl and cushion. Dog and mice are part of the identity of a cat. Dogs have been known to chase cats. Cats eat mice and birds.
The cat could be open to anything. Just because a cat is a cat doesn’t mean the cat has to act like a cat… or maybe a cat is determined by the nature of being a cat. The cat doesn’t choose to behave like a cat. A cat by nature behaves as a cat. The cat in the photo has a territory, including part of the back lane. If it goes outside its territory, it might get in a fight with other cats. The cat acts according to cat-nature in a world of other cats, humans, dogs, mice, territory, infinite interconnections.

freedom and necessity

While the horsie tried to make sense of the sign, Lohbado raised his glass and drank a toast to the beautiful evening. That's the simple explanation. In a waiting room at the procedure clinic Lohbado read about determinism, freewill and morality. Will the horse, as a free agent, make the right decision and obey the sign or will biological necessity take over? That depends on the nature of "intelligible" reality, which Kant invoked as support for the concept of free will, hence, the ability to make a moral decision. The intelligible is supposed to exist in a realm that transcends the senses. It's pure reason with a practical twist. It isn't affected by nature and yet makes decisions related to creatures of nature, the old intellect/biology routine. If one acts according to nature as opposed to a reason which transcends the world of the senses, is one truly free? Determinism suggests one acts according to one's nature. One is a physical being, with a mind, in a material world.

The doctor injected cortisone into Lohbado's left shoulder so Lohbado will experience less pain when reading heavy books.

direct experience

Lohbado watched a Pema Chodron video in which she mentioned direct experience. A moment of awareness happens. The moment quickly gets slathered over in mental chatter. Lohbado found it helpful to pay attention to sight and sound. When his mind went too fast and anxiety surged, pause, have a look, take a photo. Take a deep breath. Let go. There's no shortage of photogenic subjects in Montreal.

birthday and Jean-Baptiste day celebration

A friendly gathering in the back lane, beautiful weather, food and drink, a birthday and Jean-Baptiste day celebration... more photos after the jump

exotic outing

Riding a bicycle through Montreal can be quite exotic. Lohbado stopped to take a photo of an exotic food store. Then there's the bakery with a truck going by, coated in images of chicken, shrimp, beef and pork, a bread and meat situation. To stimulate hearing, one could ride past a demolition site. A steady stream of water hosed down the rubble to reduce dust.

sign

A sign on the horizon, textiles, Lohbado discovered an old sign tucked in some undergrowth next to a bridge in Montreal. There used to be a Tapis store nearby. Maybe it's still there. Tapis doesn't refer to Trappist monks. It's a word meaning carpet or rugs. Lohbado enjoyed the shape of the letters and the faded colours.

video portrait Imad

Instead of taking a snapshot, Lohbado recorded a few minutes of video to capture a moment during a sunny afternoon. .

questions and problems

Question contains the answer, the problem is more interesting than the solution… well of course the solution is like the punch line. One wants to know what happened. How did the movie end? Did they catch the villain? Did the romantic couple ride off into the sunset in a blaze of glory, a love that will last forever until the honeymoon phase wears off and they start to get on each others’ nerves?

demolition

Lohbado watched as the walls came tumbling down. It was like something from a horror movie. A huge metal arm reached out, grabbed hold of a wall and yanked it into oblivion. more photos after the jump

waterfalls

Lohbado paused to enjoy the beauty of water roaring under a bridge over Lachine Canal in Montreal. More photos below the jump.

found art

As Lohbado paused to cross a wooden bridge over the canal, he gazed down at scum formations on the water. The beauty of the line, texture and colour looked like an abstract expressionist painting from the late 1950ies. He took a few photos. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A man commented on how it would be terrible to fall into such scummy water, but then he also noticed the layers of colour and form.

portrait sequence

 Lohbado took five photos of Lion Excellent on a sunny afternoon, during a moment of friendliness and relaxation.

wheel of Lohbado

Lohbado does an impromptu poem about eternal return in a phone booth.

visible building

Lohbado paused to take photos of an area where old buildings were being torn down. With walls removed, the insides of the building became visible.

Kate Gong and Peter Stumps

            Peter Stumps, the birth name of Lohbado, never forgot the moment when Miss Kate Gong, his grade two teacher, in 1963 showed him anger like he’d never seen before.

fun with thinking

Lohbado is about half way through Différence et Répétition by Gilles Deleuze. The chapter “L’Image de la pensée” discusses thought in a fascinating new way. Before venturing into a précis of this text, Lohbado paused to digest the material.

calendar art

Lohbado's mind was a bit destabilized after waking with a leg cramp at 4:30 am. After an early morning walk in the park, he did some calendar art to celebrate this day, June 10, 2017.

Plato's Sophist

Plato’s dialogue The Sophist involves an attempt to define a sophist. Sophists on one level were educated people who tried to make a living as tutors to wealthy youngsters. They also acted as consultants or did training workshops for lawyers, politicians or anyone interested in the art of winning arguments and getting one’s own way.

fun in the goat room

Years ago Dr. Jane Wormsly invited Lohbado into the goat room to show a new bed of larvae, basic organisms struggling to evolve at Lumpkins University in Yamaville.

questions and decisions

Some questions arise as Lohbado attempts to make a decision.

to make a decision

Dr. Dhoo, chair of philosophy at Lumpkins University in Yamaville led a discussion years ago which Lohbado never forgot: how to make a decision. He walked away feeling that if in doubt do nothing or do something. To do nothing, one could let things unfold. Let destiny or momentum take charge. To do something, flip a coin. If you can't decide, chances are it doesn't make too much difference whether you choose A or B. Each will have consequences. A decision leads in A direction. B goes B all the way up to P and Q, or to Z then back to A again.

A person could consult oracles, dreams, look for signs, try to decipher hidden messages in the flight pattern of birds or in the rhythm of pavement smashers at road construction sites. One could gaze into a glass of beer, a cup of coffee or swill a glass of wine. One could go to the gypsy to have one's fortune told.

cinema dream

portraits

Lohbado rode to Donald Berman Up House for a visit yesterday afternoon and took a picture of friends. Lohbado's motivation to take so many portraits: people are fascinating. Faces are intriguing and rich. They say so much about human experience. In one way, taking a photo is like trying to put yourself in the other person's shoes. It requires connecting with the person, trying to have an idea of how the person feels, then taking the photo.

Dr Jane Wormsly and Lohbado at the Busy Bee Motel

We need to do a ritual. The ritual begins with beautiful talk and anticipation, said Dr. Jane Wormsly one night as she and Lohbado met at the Busy Bee Motel to reconnect with joy. Together they enjoyed warm cozy comfort and ecstatic intimacy or blissful intermingling.

a cultural outing with Michael Waterman

Michael Waterman an artist friend who now lives in St. John's met Lohbado for a cultural afternoon and evening in Montreal. They began by visiting a video exhibit, the work of Ed Atkins: Modern Piano Music at DHC/Art Foundation pour l'art contemporain. After they enjoyed stimulating conversation about creativity and existence. more photos and text below the jump