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A self-portrait at midnight by tarazkp

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· @tarazkp ·
$10.62
A self-portrait at midnight
http://i.imgur.com/HAIGqo7.jpg

Happiness. Can it ever endure endlessly or is it always fleeting? A shooting star glimpsed from the corner of the eye, the mind unsure if it was actually seen or just another trick in the darkness. 

The mind plays many tricks. Perhaps that is how it has been created. To continually twist the information it receives to make us feel comfortable. Or make us feel fear. An endless stream of mirages in the distance promising heaven or hell. 

They are likely tricks of the mind too. Imaginary worlds to either aspire to or avoid. It doesn't matter which. If you are running towards or running from a trusted promise, the direction isn't chosen. It is forced. 

A control mechanism. For some it is dug into the mind from the environment, the surroundings, the home. For others, it is a self-inflicted prison, a cell where the inmate has the key, yet the door remains locked.

At midnight the darkness creeps, as does the mind. No good comes out but out they must come for in the morning, a new day will dawn and the mirages will fade, like the stars into the lightening sky. 

But there they lay, hidden but present, watching and waiting for the dark to return so they can live once more. 

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]

This photo was taken at midnight in 2010 with a Canon 40D while laying on my back on the floor, with a standing lamp as the light source.
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vote details (22)
@czechmate · (edited)
$0.05
Hi, very nice articulated thoughts and feelings. I really enjoyed reading it. 

I'd like to tell you something I was given grace to experience and know about happiness. One needs to find the right starting point in order to come to true and reliable conclusions about happiness. It has all to do with the condition man finds himself to be in. We need to know how we are. Otherwise we are blind in the dark not knowing why we stumble against stones on our way. 

The simple truth is that we can only gain truth from truth itself in order do know what's the matter with us. There is only one who can rightly be called the truth and he told us in Ecclesiastes 3:11

>He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 

I'm from Germany. The word happiness in German ist "Glück". It is derived from the Old High German word for gap, "Lücke". So to be happy in German was expressed as to be (gap)filled, to be "gelückt". In the course of time it became "Glück". 

So the truth is that in all of our hearts there is an eternal gap which can only be be filled by the eternal one. All non-eternal (created) things are fleeting and therefor the happiness they bring is also fleeting. You will never find eternal happiness apart from the eternal one. You and I were created with the eternity in our hearts. And yes, as God's Word says:

>He has made everything beautiful in its time.

The non-eternal, the created things are beautiful and everything is orderly designed, but you can't enjoy them rightly unless the eternal one is the joy of your life. 

God bless you
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@tarazkp · (edited)
Thanks for taking the time to comment well.

I tend to think differently. I think we are whole and complete already and the gap that some believe we have is an illusion. A mechanism of control used by those that peddle the solution to a non-existent problem. I have no problem with the idea of a creator but a creator that leaves the creations unfinished and lacking is not omnipotent nor great. A creator that will leave the creations wanting, living in the desire of itself is one that has taken a path, but for it to be eternal, there is no path, there just is.

For eternity cannot survive in time or space, it cannot  live in past or future, it can only ever be in the eternal now. A space that is unmeasurable by definition and impossible for a limited mind to ever comprehend. For if the creator is all, and eternity is it and we lay within that system, we cannot ever know. A bucket cannot hold the ocean.

And it doesn't matter what words or scriptures or prophets present themselves, they too are within the system and there are no words adequate, no explanation possible to describe eternity and all that is.

For me, those that claim to know 'the truth' are either fooling themselves or attempting to fool me but there is dishonesty somewhere. 

When it come to joy, happiness, contentment or however one wishes to express the idea, it must be found in that eternity, that now and the only way to be in that space is to be present. To be fully present allows for no gaps, so if there is a god, and god is eternity, the only possible way to meet the maker is to already be whole. 

When whole, there are no needs, wants or desires, you are already satisfied and always were. The quest for truth would have ended before it started if the illusions of the mind were not sold as truths to people led to believe that they are incomplete. 

A few of my thoughts on the matter :)
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@czechmate · (edited)
$0.03
Thanks for sharing your perspective. Though it raises my eyebrows. :)

>I think we are whole and complete already and the gap that some believe we have is an illusion.

Sorry, but if believing that we are **"whole and complete"** is not an illusion, what is it? I mean, in the very next sentences you're describing us as ***"unfinished and lacking"** and **"wanting, living in the desire of itself"**? :) 

# This  objection is also groundless:

>a creator that leaves the creations unfinished and lacking is not omnipotent nor great.

The christian theistic worldview has an answer to it:

#### 1Mo 1,31 
>_And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day._

#### Pred 7,29 
>_See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes._

Also there is a logical flaw involved on your part. A perfect good God could have a perfect good reason for permitting evil in the world even determining it to occur.

# DESCRIBING eternity as indescribable!? 

>there are no words adequate, no explanation possible to describe eternity

Well, guess what that is what you are making here: You ARE describing eternity! Thereby you are reducing your assertion to absurdity. You are stating that there are no words to describe eternity adequately, so the words you are using to describe eternity as indescribable are not adequate and therefor that assertion is false on it's own terms. It's a self-referential absurdity and it's therefor false in any case.

According to the biblical worldview man is made in the image of God. There is no contradiction that man has eternity in his heart. It's true that no one can know all of reality besides God. Still one can come to know reality or the truth itself because it is a person: Jesus Christ. Man is able to come to know Christ without knowing him comprehensively. I know my wife, but she surprises me all the time. ;) 

Again, there is no difficulty or tension on part of the christian worldview. What about your believe system? You've made many assertions. How do you know they're true? That is, what is your standard of truth?
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@por500bolos · (edited)
$0.05
>  I have no problem with the idea of a creator but a creator that leaves the creations unfinished and lacking is not omnipotent nor great. A creator that will leave the creations wanting, living in the desire of itself is one that has taken a path, but for it to be eternal, there is no path, there just is.

I like and concur with your point of view my dear friend @tarazkp. This image I post below probably will not earn me many sympathizers, but I couldn't resist the temptation to round off your comment. :)

![TechSupport.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmY47TBiuQousufAvYAs5pTu3Ns3hQAQZmnjmzRXf4vP2s/TechSupport.jpg)
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vote details (1)
@dolov ·
Good job, reality cool! Resteem
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vote details (1)
@tarazkp ·
Thanks. Your support is most welcome.
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@personz ·
Not exactly the same or anything, but this shot reminds me of this one of Aaron Swartz

![](https://nataliesalvo.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/aaron-swartz.jpg)
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vote details (1)
@tarazkp ·
You mean evil? ;)
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@personz ·
😆
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