There's a reason Zen monks meditate with their eyes partly open. The aim is to facilitate real experience and perception rather than having the eyes closed, which is like a movie screen for the ego.
Much of how we think about and experience the world comes from our visual perception of it. The Zen approach is to show the reverse side of our perceptions, the eventual idea being to realize that what we see is merely an illusion, and our thoughts simply subjective viewpoints.
I went through Flickr and enjoyed picking out/arranging these 20 pictures. I hope they do for you what they did for me: challenge your perspective and raise questions about the nature of art, beauty and reality. Images can serve as a springboard for how we view the real world. Looking at these photos will change how you view the world. It may be a subtle change-- it may even be completely subconscious-- but it's a change nonetheless, one that's valuable and creative.
(click a photo to see more on photographer's flickr page)
