I was raised a Catholic and remember the first time I went to church with some friends. It was at St Pat’s church on Quidi Vidi Rd in St John’s Newfoundland. As bright little children tend to do, we were quick to recognize an opportunity and soon realized that if you made a little noise during service people would give you a dime if you would just batter the fuck out of there. Jesus Christ, back in the early ’70s, 10 cents could get you a plate of fries and if you went to Marty’s on Freshwater Rd you could get fries and coke for a quarter. Those were the days when you had nothing yet the world was magic!

One thing about living a long life is that you get time to reflect. A lot of time. I grew up on Eastern and Western philosophy and started a little too early because it can be disorienting for a child. I later realized that context is important when understanding anything, especially when reading things like the great works of Plato or the Tao Te Ching. Philosophy should often be taken in the context of its times, its zeitgeist. I believe it was Richard Dawkins who said, Aristotle was wrong about almost everything but that doesn’t make him any less important. Learning to live a moral life is something we learn to do by recognizing and ruling out bad ideas.

History has rewarded us with an increasingly liberal, free, and prosperous society—a hopeful foundation which we have an opportunity to build upon.

Meandering through life can be a journey of trying to figure out what it’s all about. I’ve tried a lot including spirituality. Spirituality is a word that gives me quivers and shakes these days. My condition is more about how the word is used than how I’ve come to understand it. Most people internalize spirituality and it is often monetized. In my opinion, spirituality can only be externalized otherwise it’s corrupted.

I’m one of those people who think all people should work to make their community better. A “thank you” for the person who just served you at the corner store can be pretty sweet. Taking on the responsibility for your community is a slow eternal process for raising all boats including yours and mine and it gets you heading in the right direction. And that’s what brought me here!

“At first, art imitates life. Then life will imitate art. Then life will find its very existence from the arts.” – Fyodor Dostoevsky

Thanks for stopping by and if you’d like to get in touch with me my email is: Brian@BrianCareyPhotography.com