INTENTIONAL CAMERA MOTION (ICM)

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 These pebbles are found on several Lake Ontario beaches close to Toronto. With no cliffs or outcrops of bedrock adjacent to the lake, how did they get there? They were likely eroded from Paleozoic limestone by glaciers during the ice-age and deposited by associated rivers. Their final shape is dependent on the original rock fragment’s shape, texture and composition. 

Are our memories like pebbles? Eroded and smoothed by time, leaving only traces of their original form and tenuous links to what we had once been a part of.

 At depths between 13 -18 km, rocks in the Earth’s crust experience pressures and temperatures that facilitate change in the nature of their constituent minerals. Within that environment they become malleable, reacting plastically rather than fracturing. Their ductile flow transforms original fabrics, creating folds and dislocations. 

Likewise, when we are young our malleable and ductile minds are shaped by external influences. This helps us learn but also intricately transforms the fabric of our character. In later life, cognitive flexibility allows us to simultaneously think about multiple concepts and adapt to new situations.

Rock colour is determined by the proportion and light absorption characteristics of minerals within them. Geologists use colour to evaluate and classify rocks, describing the hue and primary and secondary nature of what they observe. The breakdown of minerals and leaching of certain elements changes primary colouring and bleaches or stains surfaces. 

We have long-used minerals to create pigments to produce art, but nature, being the ultimate artist, creates works that we can only hope to mimic. We have also used colour to distinguish race and purity, yet our genetic code, like most rocks, is anything but pure. 

During orogenesis rocks are buried, metamorphosed and deformed. Deformation also produces faults and the latter often juxtapose rocks of different age and character. Sometimes it’s easy to see, but in certain settings the relationships are obscured or subtle. Geologists need to guard against bias because our brains are adept at creating connections between simultaneously observed objects. 

The daily juxtaposition of cultures can also be obvious or subtle. Our feelings are often communicated by comparing and contrasting places, people, objects and ideas. Bias is an inherent part of the process. In the current environment, we deal with the juxtaposition of not just Good versus Evil, but what is real and what is fake.

If a fossil I could be, which one would you like to see?
A foram, or a graptolite, maybe pollen from a tree?
Those are important indicators of environments long ago.
They’re interesting choices, but ones many would not know.
Should I take a coral’s form, that had felt the tides go by?
Or the bones of a dinosaur? Now that‘ll surely catch your eye.
Instead, I’ll pick an ammonoid, nature’s masterpiece of design,
Preserved by quartz and calcite with a spiral so sublime. 

 Via zones of least resistance,magma moves through the mantle and crust to form igneous bodies that conform to, disrupt or assimilate the rocks they intrude.
Whilst normal and part of our human condition, intrusive thoughts disrupt our rational minds. In most cases they are ephemeral and minor, but for some they are overwhelming and consuming. 

The relationship between volcanic and intrusive rocks is not always obvious, even to geologists. Though they appear physically different, their formation can be interdependent

Intrusive and volcanic rocks are produced by melting of oceanic crust in collisional orogenic zones. In these environments, different terranes are juxtaposed against one another and the earliest-formed rocks are often intruded by later upwelling magmas.  Fragments of older lithologies are often caught in these and, under the right conditions, assimilated into the magma.  If enough material is incorporated, new magmas can be created.  Surviving fragments and minerals preserve evidence of their connection to the past and this cyclic process is a testament to the geological balance of nature

Fragments of our early life lie beneath the surface of our psyche’s shell and deep within our memory.  Regardless of their perceived character they are interdependent and represent the connection between who we were, who we are and who we may become. In geology we say, “The present is the key to the past”, but our past, is the key to the present

Whilst some experiences can overwhelm and lead us along destructive paths, others can be complimentary.  Positive traits and experiences are not the only foundations for building future success. Yang doesn’t have to defeat Yin; they are part of the same system.  Our full potential is achieved through integrating and harnessing the energy created when we harmonize both. We can become stronger when we break free from our biases and isolation, learn from our mistakes and overcome hardships. Thus, we evolve by creating balance in the flow of opposites and ultimately dissolving the Yin and Yang of life 

Work in progress