“Shadow Dancing” Couple taking a Fall walk on Tybee Beach in Georgia Photography D. Paul Graham / imageGRAHAM, LLC 2024

Monday 5 Things ….. Shadowed ……

Some M5T’s reveal themselves easily. Others take time to percolate, to take form, and to unveil themselves through my keyboard. This missive was the latter that started with images from a meandering, arm-in-arm, sweater-weather-walk along Tybee beach in the fall of 2022.

There is a veritable tango that takes place every day in our life. Yet we often go through the day unaware of the subtly of this twirling couple, their presence, and their movement. It is the dance between light and shadow. Shadows often linger at the edge of our awareness, rarely captivating our curiosity. There are profound aspects to these silhouettes if we simply take the time to observe and contemplate beyond the simplicity of light and shadow. This morning’s M5T considers the complexity of shadows.

1. ABSTRACT AMBIQUITY. Shadows only appear when light appears. They only show shape, not color. They embody the back-and-forth struggle of existence and absence, highlighting the abstract ambiguity that so often envelops us. Plato contemplated shadows as imperfect reflections of unmatched forms. Existentialists ponder the shadow’s significance as a reminder of the inherent limitations of human perception and base understanding of truth. A shadow is indestructible and constant, yet it needs light to exist. It is larger than yourself, elongated by the moving sun. Your shadow is hidden without light yet is it always there, unique to you.

2. PHILOSOPHICAL PERCEPTIONS. From the depths of darkness, shadows can be profound reminders of the constraints of human experience and perception. In Plato’s Republic and his allegory of the cave, Plato revealed shadows as impressions that obscured the reality of the prisoners bound in the cave. If all you ever see is shadows, you will never experience the true nature of reality in life. From Descartes’ skepticism and his thoughts on knowledge, to Kant’s analysis of pure reason, philosophers have used the metaphor of shadows to probe the boundaries of human morals and to challenging us to question the truth and validity of our perceptions.

3. SAGE SYMBOLISM. Shadows can serve as mirrors to the unconscious mind. Carl Jung explored the concept of the “shadow self,” representing the repressed aspects of our inner selves that exert a subtle, and at many times not so subtle, influence on our behavior. In literature and art, shadows often symbolize the darker aspects of human nature, inviting introspection and exploration of the hidden depths within us all. The great philosopher Roger Waters, in “Dark Side of the Moon”, wrote of mankind’s dark shadowy sides of greed, conflict, psychosis, squandered lives, and death.

4. APPEALING AESTHETICS. Shadows create perception and the experience of space. They create moods, new narratives, and can change the meaning of the subject. Since the earliest of time, artists and photographers have used shadows to add emphasis and form to texture, lines, and shapes. Shadows fill negative space, add depth and dimensionality, and can enhance, contrast, obscure or hide elements of a piece of art. Shadows in art invoke contemplation, introspection, engagement, and exploration. Leonardo da Vinci said, “Shadow is the means by which bodies display their form. The forms of bodies could not be understood in detail but for shadow.”

5. TEMPORAL TRANSIENCE. Shadows represent the limited time that we have here on earth. As the sun moves through the day, shadows shift and move, but after sunset, without light, shadows come to an end. Our shadows are largely ignored in our busyness, but they serve as poignant reminders of the fleeting nature of life, urging us to embrace and live in the present, and to seek a life that recognizes the beauty, the sensuality, and splendor that is all around us.

Here’s to a week of taking a deeper look at shadows and to contemplating the mysteries of the truth of our existence and of eternity.

2024 © D. Paul Graham, all rights reserved.

For over 12 years, D. Paul Graham has published “Monday 5 Things” ™, also known to readers as “M5T”™

You can reach Paul by email at dpg@imagegraham.com

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