God in the Details
Lately, I’ve been photographing a lot of details. Over the past two years, I’ve been dropping low to the ground, low to earth, photographing and following my curiosity. I see patterns—whether it’s in nature, in human behavior, in the leaves on the ground, or in the tall skyscrapers. I find beauty in it.
I feel as though God is in the details. As humans, it’s important to remember that we’re bound by gravity, that we are flesh creatures who feel pain, who suffer, who cut, who bleed. The closer to the ground, the closer to the details within life’s complexities—the world’s complexities—maybe that’s where you find God.
I’m not saying, God is nature. I’m saying we are closer to God the closer to the ground we are. People think of heaven or an afterlife or God as some person in the clouds, or heaven as some place in another realm. But I’ve found that I’m closest to God, I’m closest to the divine, the lower I am to the earth.
Jericho and Finding God
I found this connection to gravity and the earth during my time in Jericho. Back then, I was on this journey, studying abroad in Jerusalem. I’d travel the road from Jerusalem to Jericho every day, photographing in the lowest elevated city in the world—the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. Through curiosity, I found myself entering mosques and learning how to pray, learning how to make salah.
I remember putting my head down on a mat, at the lowest elevated place in the world, submitting to God close to the ground. Bound by gravity, you find God. You feel this connection to the earth, recognizing the laws of physics that hold us here.
Yearning for an afterlife or paradise feels foolish when the details of life—the air, the space around me, the sensual experiences—are where God is found.
Not in a grandiose, egotistical way, but in a humble, lowly, earthly way.
Gravity, Struggle, and Beauty
I think about this every time I get down on the ground to photograph the leaves. Recognizing that we’re bound by gravity but striving to move upwards—maybe that’s the eternal struggle of humanity.
God’s in the details. God’s all around us. The kingdom is within you.
Just pay attention to the morning dew. Look at it—it’s so beautiful. Maybe nature is divine.