About

Welcome to the blog. The articles and images you find here are a celebration of a wide range of experiences, some of which, I hope, will motivate one or two others to fully explore the possibilities to be found in their own ‘Decisive Moments’.

Since the original idea was to show some examples of photography, the blog title was taken from a phrase made famous by Henri Cartier-Bresson, probably the finest candid photographer to date, who used it as a title for a now extremely rare book published in 1952.

In it he defines The Decisive Moment as ‘the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as the precise organization of forms which gives that event its proper expression’. A very relevant, if somewhat over-technical definition, which robs the image of much of its ‘magic’.

‘The Decisive Moment’ has become, for me though, much more of a universal concept, symbolising the major turning points and cardinal events in one’s life as well as those ‘instantaneous’ insights that lead to personal progress.

All these ‘Moments’, taken together, in effect, make up the catalogue of one’s journey through life. Each one representing a pivotal decision, personal challenge or principal endevour which defines one’s character and makes us the unique individuals we are. Perhaps they could equally well be called The Defining Moments!

Occasionally, in the pursuit of those insights and Decisive Moments, I have stumbled across aspects of philosophy which caught my imagination. John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism, for instance, is one such concept. Mill suggests that the moral worth of one’s actions is to be judged only in terms of the consequences of those actions – pursuing ‘the greatest good for the greatest number of people’ for example, which, to some extent, I agree with. Confucian precepts, on the other hand, have also given me food for thought, and I think now that I am more persuaded of the moral dimension’s influence on one’s actions rather than Mill’s or Jeremy Bentham’s pragmatism.

Anyway, here are some excerpts from Confucius’ ‘The Analects’ which may be of interest:-

• To prize the effort above the prize, that is virtue.
• The superior man seeks what is right, the inferior one what is profitable.
• The superior man is slow to promise, prompt to fulfill
• Men of superior minds busy themselves first getting at the root of things; when they succeed, the right course is open to them.
• Fix your mind on truth; hold firm to virtue; rely upon loving-kindness; and find your recreation in the arts.
• Learn as if you could never overtake your subject, yet as if apprehensive of losing it.
• When you have erred, be not afraid to correct yourself.
• Let the leader show rectitude in his personal character, and things will go well even without directions from him.
• Do not wish for speedy results nor trivial advantages; speedy results will not be far-reaching; trivial advantages will matter only in trivial affairs.
• When you know a thing, maintain you know it; when you do not, acknowledge it. This is the characteristic of knowledge.
• To see what is right and not to do it, that is cowardice.
• Tell me is there anyone who is able for one whole day to apply the energy of his mind to virtue? It may be that there are such, but I have never met with one.
• The superior man thinks of his character; the inferior man thinks of his position; the former thinks of the penalties for error, and the latter, of favors.
• Nor should one be greatly concerned at being unknown, but rather with being worthy to be known.
• I have not yet seen the man who can see his errors so as in a day to accuse himself.
• These things weigh heavily upon my mind: failure to improve in the virtues, failure in discussion of what is learned, inability to walk always according to the knowledge of what is right and just, inability to reform what has been amiss.
• Good men speak good words, but not all who speak good words are good. Good men are courageous, but not all courageous men are good.

Simply expressed, but very tough to live up to – every day, or on any one day, for that matter. These precepts represent a constant endevour; much more of a continuous work in progress than any state of grace one might personally reach. Of course, by highlighting them here, I get plenty of criticism about how far from perfection I am. But that isn’t the most important point – is it? They stand as sentinels of human values; worth aspiring to.

My thanks to those who have helpfully pointed out my many failings and weaknesses. Such criticisms, well meant or otherwise, serve as a cautionary and ever present reminder of why we need that guidance. I still have a long way to go. Don’t you?