you can go to a pitch black room full of darkness and light a little candle, and instantly that darkness flees, but u can’t do the opposite… you can’t go to a well lit room full of light and truth and take any amount of darkness and have any effect whatsoever… No amount of darkness can extinguish the light of one small candle… that’s why Darkness has no truth in it… there’s color in Darkness…

For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight…

Most gulls don’t bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight – how to get from shore to food and back again. For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating…

I just pressed the shutter on the right moment… just before less than a second when this gull would’ve grasped the bread thrown at it by the passengers at the back of the Kadikoy to Eminonu ferryboat…

80 centimeters exactly…

Patience alone can’t describe all the characteristics and deep meanings associated with the Turtle, however if the word Patience is analyzed in more depth, it will reveal a lot of the relative concepts which either they relies on it or completes their true meanings…

Turtle is a symbol of steadfastness and tranquility in religion, mythology, and folklore from around the world.  A tortoise’s longevity is suggested by its long lifespan and its shell, which was thought to protect it from any foe. In the creation myths of several cultures, the turtle or tortoise carries the world upon its back or supports the heavens. In Chinese tradition the creator goddess Nu Gua cuts the legs off a sea turtle and uses them to prop up the sky after Gong Gong destroys the mountain that had supported the sky. The flat undershell and round domed upper shell of a turtle resembles the ancient Chinese idea of a flat earth and round domed sky.  The World Turtle carries the Earth upon its back in myths from North America. In Cheyenne tradition, the great creator spirit Maheo kneads some mud he takes from a coot’s beak until it expands so much that only Old Grandmother Turtle can support it on her back. In Mohawk tradition, the trembling or shaking of the Earth is thought of as a sign that the World Turtle is stretching beneath the great weight that she carries.

In a story from Admiralty Island, people are born from eggs laid by the World Turtle. There are many similar creation stories throughout Polynesia.  Turtles and tortoises are incorporated into many religious traditions and mythologies around the world. In ancient Mesopotamia, the turtle was associated with the god Ea and was used on kudurrus as a symbol of Ea. Ijapa the tortoise is a trickster in a cycle of tales told by the Yoruba of Africa.  In Hindu mythology the world is thought to rest on the backs of four elephants, who stand on the shell of a turtle. In Hinduism, Akupara is a tortoise who carries the world on his back. It upholds the Earth and the sea. One avatar of Vishnu is said to be the giant turtle Kurma. The Sri Kurmam Temple in Andhra Pradesh, India is dedicated to the Kurma-avatar.

In China, the tortoise is one of the “Four Fabulous Animals”, the most prominent beasts of China. It is of the water element. The other animals are the tiger, phoenix, and dragon. These animals govern the four points of the compass, with the Black Tortoise the ruler of the north, symbolizing endurance, strength, and longevity. Along with the Tiger, they are the only two of the four that is a real animal.

Patience requires Stillness and inner-tranquility… it needs a state of total prejudicelessness… a mind without any preoccupations about anything… so that it wouldn’t judge and decide hastily… and many other things… I may add more through time… but all of these elements have a close relation with each other in that they both need and feed each other…

You can find a lot of information on the Internet about the symbolism of Turtle in Mythology, Religion and various cultures…

An interesting page is Tortoises, I-Ching and Magic Squares

And another quick searche returned this –> link… which has gathered interesting information about the Turtle symbol in one concise page.

When there is no desire,
all things are at peace…

Calmness in victory. Tranquility in defeat. Serenity when confronted by the inevitability of suffering. The sage does not rely on externals to provide him with spiritual strength, for he knows: dependence on external factors – such as status, wealth, popularity, hedonism, success, knowledge and relationships – is the reason why modern man crumples so easily in the face of defeat, failure or loss.

The sage is indifferent to success or failure. He understands that life driven by self-centered ambition will never make sense, no matter how successful you are or with how many positive externals you care to adorn it.

Life itself acquires meaning only when you satisfy your spiritual needs by living in total harmony with the Tao.

Divided… but United Inside…

Maybe those who are Like me…
are all hiding in places Like me…
and that’s why I can’t find those who are Like me…

we are differnet
but we are the same,

we are two…
but we are one,

we are far
but we have the same Roots…

———

I love this Tree… and I feel indebted to it… It has taught many things to me…

It shows and says everything that there is and will ever be…
This tree might has been cut into and divided into two because of a strong lightning… and it’s really fascinating to see that above the ground what seems to the observer at the 1st sight, are just two different tree bodies… but in fact they are one and the same Tree… sharing the same roots beneath the ground… even though they may look like two separate trees… they have and depend on the same root system…

Something that humans have long forgotten… and have searched every ways of creating Schisms… instead of just realizing this simple fact that we all depend on each other… and we’re all humans… we all have that beauty in ourselves… anyway… there’s so much to be said regarding this subject… and if I start I have to write pages of words… that what initiates these inclinations and so on…

Hope springs eternal in the human breast,
and every shadow, no matter how deep is threatened by the morning light…

on the shores of darkness there is light,
There is a budding morrow in midnight…