Doors and Windows of Richmond, VA

This is a subject I'm drawn to again and again.  (Hmmmm... a subject for a future series, perhaps?)  

So, come with me on a little tour of Richmond, Virginia's doors and windows...

Doors and windows have had, throughout history, much symbolic meaning attached to them, and I don't think it's hard to see why.  Think of a classic book or movie (Wuthering Heights, The Lord of the Rings, Peter Pan, Jane Eyre, Rear Window, The Secret Garden... ) - and there's probably a door or window playing an important role.  Their part in horror movies is obvious.   (Why do the characters always open the door, after  you've pleaded so emphatically with them not to?)

Of course, the symbolism of doors and windows lies in their function:  Opening. Closing.  Who /what is allowed to enter, and who's kept out.  Who's forced to leave (or pushed out!), and who is set free; 

  who's protected and safe within, and who is imprisoned.

  A window may reveal, or conceal.  Symbolically, someone looking out a window is an observer, but not a part of what they see.  Is that a face behind the window, or just a shadow?

 A door may be a passageway, or a barrier.  Is that a spirit moving through a portal, or just a trick of the light?

A window may reveal what's inside,

or only reflect its surroundings.

 

 A window into the past...

 

  ...a moment in time, frozen and framed.

In dreams, two doors side by side often symbolize a choice to be made.  Would you like door number 1, door number 2, or what's behind the curtain?  (What was that show called, anyway?)

A window may function as a stage, where a bizarre story plays out in our imaginations- a view into another world.

A door within a door carefully protects the secrets that lie within...

The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.  ~ Flora Whittemore

There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.  ~ Aldous Huxley

Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.  ~ Joseph Campbell

Doors and Windows

There's an old saying...

I'm sure you're familiar.   It goes something like...

"When one door closes,

another door opens."

Or is it, "When a door closes,

a window opens."?

You're probably wondering if I have a point here, which I actually do.  Some of you may recall my recent post, where I ranted on and on about how much I hate applying for exhibitions.  Well, the rejections have started rolling in, and I could just hear the doors slamming!  I started to feel a little... less than hopeful, I guess you could say.  

But then, yesterday, a strange and unexpected thing happened.  I got an email from a gallery saying that they have chosen me for a solo show!  I'm still not convinced that it's not some sort of mistake.   I hear a voice in my head saying, "This just doesn't happen to me."

As a student of Buddhism and other philosophies, I know that our thoughts do create our reality.  I think we expect what we get used to, and those thoughts can become a habit, a pattern, a self-fulfilling prophecy.  My point is this: when you're busy focusing on the closed door, it's hard to notice the open one.

The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.
- William James