Nature

Receptive perception
Direct sensitivity
Framed wildness

A wild horse in the Little Book Cliffs looks magnificent in the late afternoon sun.

“I am glad I will not be young in a future without wilderness.” – Aldo Leopold

Sudden alarm
Compact maneuvers
Over the shoreline

Active little shore birds, dancing with the waves, are a year round fixture on the Outer Banks.

“Each incoming wave brought with it tiny life forms, they need to move fast their morsels for to win.” – Francis Duggan

Primary features
Essential nature
Aesthetics inclination

Seeing possibilities in the details, the native vegetation demands attention.

“It’s to do with abolishing ways of existing or, as Nietzsche put it, inventing new possibilities of life. Existing not as a subject but as a work of art – and this last phase presents thought as artistry.” – Gilles Deleuze

Ancient moment
Buttressed majesty
Needles coppery red

Sharing the water with its shadow, this cypress tree is relatively old and well adapted to its prevailing circumstances.

“On the Outer Banks, bald cypresses flourish in our shallow sound side waters and maritime swamp forests.” – Lexi Holian

Distinct head
Bilateral symmetry
Mantle and arms

Colorful discarded bait temporarily decorates the beach.

“Anything that will bite a hook can be caught with squid.” – Dawn Aylesworth

Beach forage
Gregarious nature
Crustacean scavenging

Interesting reflection patterns appear in wet sand at the edge of the surf, as grackles dig for small invertebrates.

“The common grackle is known to be extremely opportunistic.” – Shane Gannaway

Wavering line
Flyway presence
Attachment capacity

A flock of geese congregate at Ocean Lake and occasionally take a spin out over the Atlantic.

“They have passed over us like an eraser over a blackboard, wiping away whatever was there before they came.” – Wallace Stegner

Consciously justified
Interpretations denied
Higher places

A nondescript environmental detail that was previously neglected becomes a focus of attention.

“Ontology seems the more numinous the less it can be laid down in definite contents that would give the meddlesome intellect something to latch on to.” – Theodor W.Adorno

Resoluteness reveal
Sufficiently clarified
Distinctive attunement

Some kinds of birds can be identified solely on their silhouette when in flight.

“But being “is” only in the understanding of that being to whose being something like an understanding of being belongs.” – Martin Heidegger

Tight relationships
Subsystems turn
Coherent organization

Proportionality between cause and effect is evident in a swamp.

“There is no objective way to determine whose view is right and whose is wrong, since the agents effectively live in different environments—although they may find that some of the regularities they infer appear to be similar.” – Francis Heylighen