I have never been good at photography… I remember going to the illustrious weddings in Sri Lanka and wonder about the “nonsense” of photographers running around the bride to capture her best moment of emotion… “What’s the big deal?” I often thought, “camera will capture the moment anyway”.. That was my thinking.

It took me time to realize the true nature of the art of the photography and philosophy behind it. It is the photographer’s job to frame that instance in a timeless image to speak about the emotion on that instance.. It is a fine art framing the moment, and selecting the moment in a timeless universe of material and emotional life.. Then I realized why I never was a good photographer. I was never in the moment!

The philosophy behind that moment is not a superficial one.. It has a deep meaning. In the documentary “Yoga-the Architecture of peace”, based on the book of the same title, photographer Michael O’Neill describes this moment in a passionate way. That moment of life he tried to capture in his photography went through a philosophical journey, shifting from Hollywood celebrities to the life of Yogis in Asia..

Majority of eastern philosophies speak about that moment in time which gives us the wisdom in life.. When watching the above documentary, I understood those moments changed the life of this award-winning photographer, and through the lens of his camera, he himself became a Yogi…

Surely the mind is the most beautiful object in the whole universe.. Thousands of Yogis explored the mind to find the universe inside ourselves for thousands of years while western science trying to answer the questions by analyzing the outside world. In my opinion, one should complement another. One tradition should not undermine the another… It is time to get the benefit of both..

When, centuries after, scientists wired the meditating Yogis, , they found how brain waves change in positive ways when you concentrate on the instances inside the mind.. A mind trained to behave consciously becomes one of the precious jewels in the universe. A tuned string of a guitar becomes very much sense for a touch of a finger and plays amazing music. Such is a trained mind..

This is where the modern “positive psychology” getting it’s “modern” ideas from.. The word “mindfulness” has now come into the daily life of modern living.. Many people try to “buy” mindfulness by various practices. What many do not (including myself for some degree) understand is mindfulness is in this right moment and with us. It is not to be possessed as it is with you.

At the same time, these are exciting times in history people realizing and questioning life’s philosophies.. I feel the human energy and craving around me to search that moment in life.. For such a long time we all forgot about running the rat race of life. Let’s stop and think about the moment and live in it.