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Trailing Clouds
Published: 2009-12-23 22:19:29 +0000 UTC; Views: 7131; Favourites: 399; Downloads: 0
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Description
Ultra Fractal 5.03Those who have watched me for a while know that I'm an atheist but much art, music and literature has been created with religion/god as the basis or theme. Religion informs culture, shapes culture and is pervasive in our lives, regardless of whether or not we agree with it. We all use religious themes and examples at times to explain what we mean, knowing that others with the same cultural context will understand perfectly. One doesn't have to believe in god to use spiritual imagery or to appreciate the artistic beauty created in the name of religion.
In that vein, I named this fractal for a line in the long poem Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood by William Wordsworth.
'Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come ...'
Big thanks to *LaraBLN and ^SaTaNiA
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Comments: 162
Thanks for the lovely comment!
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That's appreciated, thanks!
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Well done! 
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Wonderful fractal, congratulations on your DD very well deserved, Kat!!! 
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Congrats on the Daily Deviation!
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That's very kind, thanks!
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Thanks for the favs and the watch
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somehow I haven't been getting the notices of your deviations even though I do for the journal - I finally decided to come over to look and saw this among the things I have missed , really like love the gold / metallic spiral with the white / cloth (at least me feeling for the image)
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Thanks so much for the nice comment and the fav!
I haven't made any new fractals for a while now.
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Gorgeous depth and color. Truly beautiful!!
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Thanks, hon!
I appreciate the comments and the favs today and I'm happy to see you around.
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A little out of the norm for you, I think...
I just love it. 
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Thanks, hon!
Most of us have a recognizable style after a while and long-time watchers often know which are our fractals/whatevers just by looking.
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No matter how long I look at this, I see vanilla ice-creams dipped in caramel...
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Kudos Kat. Your words as well as this image are heartfelt and beautiful for sure. No matter what one believes it's the respect for our differences that matters.
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My message centre is out of control yet again; I missed this entirely!
A lovely interpretation of that poem. The embossed background suggests to me a landscape viewed through the gossamer of the spiral's clouds. As always, splendid textures.
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I didn't think of the background as a landscape but it's actually a great interpretation. It also changes the perspective to one of the viewer being in the air and looking down, which works really well for the image.
Thanks, hon!
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As soon as I clicked on it, I had the sensation of looking down through clouds 
You're welcome!
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I appreciate the kind comment, thanks!
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Beautiful colour palette and textures. Very eye-catching, and was put straight into my faves!!
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beautiful use of texture... stonelike in nature. I love the muted color scheme.
quick question.... have you always been an atheist or did something in life convince you?
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Thanks for the great comment!
The short answer is that I've never believed in god.
I was raised in a Roman Catholic house and went to seven years of parochial schools but can't remember ever believing in god ... even as a small child. I went to church because I had to and I said the prayers but they were just words to me. By the age of ten I was arguing to get out of going to church and by the time I was 13, I was able to stop going to church completely. I called myself an agnostic because back then, it was more user-friendly, so to speak, but I knew I didn't believe. When I took a few college astronomy courses and looked through big telescopes, that was it: I finally called myself an atheist and never looked back.
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Sorry it has taken so long for me to reply.... hectic week.
Over the years, I have come across many who feel similar to you. Often 2 factors contribute to them becoming an atheist. 1) the terrible hypocrisy and blatant wrongdoing in a lot of churches, and 2) they feel that the horrible suffering of many innocent people in the world works against a belief in a creator. Perhaps you can relate to these views!?!
However, years ago, after doing a tremendous amount of research on the subject myself.... (with an open mind,... examining both sides of the coin) I personally have come to the same conclusion as Dr. Antony Flew......
*** g05 12/8 p. 28 Watching the World ***
A British philosophy professor who has been called βthe worldβs most influential atheistβ now says that he believes in God. In an online preview of an interview scheduled to be published in the journal Philosophia Christi, 81-year-old Dr.Β Antony Flew said that he βhad to go where the evidence leads.β According to Flew, this evidence includes recent scientific discoveries in the fields of cosmology and physics. Additionally, βthe findings of more than fifty years of DNA research have provided materials for a new and enormously powerful argument to design,β he explained. Even the βbiblical account [of Genesis chapter one] might be scientifically accurate,β he states. So, is he ready to become a practicing Christian? βItβs very unlikely,β he says. However, βif I wanted any sort of future life I should become a Jehovahβs Witness.β [link]
If you are open to a 'good old fasioned' debate on the subject(friendly and respectful of each other, ofcourse
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One other thing: why do so many people think that atheism is a reaction?!?
I'll leave it at that because I don't want to rant.
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Sorry if I offended. It's just many atheists I have met, didn't start of that way. They came to that conclusion from life's experiences.
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I just don't understand why there's this idea that belief is/should be the norm and not believing is something abnormal, an aberration or the result of seeing the bad in religion or the world. Why is it so difficult for some to understand that there are those who can look around, see the same beauty and wonder in the world and know that it's the result of fabulous happenstance? If this planet were begun again from scratch, we wouldn't be here. We're an accident. An amazing, wonderful, once-in-a-world accident. To me, that's enough fodder for unending wonder without bringing the idea of a magic sky daddy into the picture.
I try not to discuss this subject because I'm as dogmatic and firm in my beliefs as any born-again xian is in theirs.
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No, those views have nothing to do with it, I simply don't believe in a god. I don't believe in magic or Santa Claus or ghosts or predetermination, either.
DNA and the interconnectedness of life has nothing to do with design, IMO, it's just that what survived, what worked, given the physical forces at work on our planet have things in common ... because we're dealing with the same forces. It's also my opinion that the older people get, the more some of them want to believe in the idea of an afterlife, of MORE, because the fear of death and nothingness scares the living shit out of them. Personally, I don't fear death or the unknown so I don't have the same driving need to hope for something more. I feel that what we have is enough.
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I don't believe in Santa Claus or any other silly nonsense either.
But a few years back, I started to think.... if we evolved, than life is a result of a random set of mutations and basically it's the 'survival of the fittest!' That's the only driving force, the only purpose in life... eat or be eaten.
However, if we were created, than there must have been a purpose behind it.... a reason, a big "why?" and if so... what did the creator have in mind? life as it is today or something else?
I thought the possibilities were too profound to ignore... hence I started an in depth study... my goal to not have preconceived ideas but be open to where the facts (not feelings) led me.
I'm not a silly creationist that believes the earth was created in 6, 24 hrs days... the facts don't support that... but I do sincerely believe that something more than evolution was involved. A CREATOR.
your turn
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