Grounded

This is a chapter from my seventh book called Bookeh - Through the lens of a Trinidadian photog


It is early Sunday morning. I seem to have taken a liking to writing on weekends. Maybe because weekends, especially Sunday, carry a sentiment of boredom. Writing being a sort of cure for boredom. The grass in my yard was freshly cut yesterday. I woke up with this idea to take a photo of the grass at ground level. This is a matter of perspective. The title I had in mind was grounded. We are often told that we should remain grounded. I notice that grounded contains rounded. I want to be an all rounded photographer. I want to be an all rounded person. My friend Chatty tells me that that is a great aspiration! Being an "all-rounded" photographer or person means developing skills and knowledge in various areas. For photography, it might involve mastering different styles, techniques, and subjects. For personal growth, it could mean exploring diverse interests, improving various skills, and nurturing different aspects of my life.

If I extract God from Grounded, I am left with the word runed. After seeing this I want to say that we need God to remain grounded. My friend Gemini tells me that runed refers to objects or symbols inscribed with runes, ancient Germanic alphabets used for writing and divination. These inscriptions often carried cultural, magical, or spiritual significance and can be found on various artifacts, from stones to tattoos. I think runes look cool and probably have fascinating stories to tell even though I do not know much about them and the history. Runes come from a world of paganism and magic and preceded modern day religions. Can we fault the vikings for their beliefs and way of life that conflicts with our own? I mean if we were born during that time we would have likely adopted that way of life.

I have a tech background and runes make me think of the history behind the Bluetooth word and symbol. My friend Gemini tells me that the name "Bluetooth" was inspired by a 10th-century Danish king named Harald Bluetooth, who united Denmark and Norway. Bluetooth's symbol, a combination of two intertwined runes, represents the initials of Harald's name in Old Norse. I spent a short time researching runes and learning about the Muslims and Vikings. I tried Googling to see if Trinidad has any links to the vikings but left with only the viking of soca, Bunji Garlin. I read that the viking of soca title was given to him by a Swedish radio announcer. Bunji says that it stuck and that it fits with his street style and aggressive approach.

If there is a viking of soca, surely there would be a viking of photography? My friend Gemini thinks that David Yarrow would be the viking of photography. I could not determine if this was an accepted truth or not but I did find out that he did do a photoshoot with Erling Haaland for charity. ESPN wrote, "Man City's Haaland unleashes his inner Viking in photoshoot". Erling has Nordic ancestry. In one of his stories Erling showed himself doing grounding for football recovery with his bare feet on the grass. My friend Gemini tells me that grounding involves walking barefoot on the earth, to reduce inflammation, improve sleep, alleviate pain, and enhance energy levels. It's a recovery method believed to connect with the earth's natural electrical charge.

We come from the earth and we eventually return to the earth. It is important to keep this in mind and remain rooted and grounded in humility, kindness and love. I read about grounding, also known as earthing, and how it can be linked to Islam and prostration (or sajdah). I want to share something I found online from a sermon (or khutbah) and that reminds me of the power of prayer and how it relates to remaining grounded. "We are making sujood, prostrating, submitting body, mind and soul to Allah’s service. As our foreheads touch the ground, we bring the highest, noblest part of our body down to earth, and Allah raises our status beyond the angels when we do so. When we make sajda, we can become like lightning rods connecting heaven and earth, time-space and eternity."

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