Methodist Church, West Hebron, N.Y., sunrise

   Thomas Merton wrote that one cannot live without faith, and I think that is true. I understand now that I will never quite come to terms with the specific nature of faith. Most religious faith is a bit too rigid for me, most of the time, but you take photos in the woods most mornings, it’s also difficult to not believe God is whispering to you sometimes.
  I have faith in telling my story, and in confronting the truth about my life. I have faith in the power of love, and in the hard work that goes into the making of a meaningful or creative life. There is nothing worth doing in my experience that is not difficult, without some risk or challenge. People who cross the terrain of fear and take those risks can find great rewards, as well as much terror and confusion. People are either mythically driven or security driven, as Joseph Campbell wrote. I am mythically driven, and will perhaps never have the security I so often crave.
  Sometimes you just have to close your eyes and jump. You have to disregard the limitations, expectations and judgments of other people. As Campbell warned, this can send us plummeting into a dark place, from which we may return whole or broken.
 The sadness of life is also it’s joy. Out of pain, growth. Out of change, understanding. Out of risk, reward. Out of darkness, light.