Utah Expedition

02 July 2018, 12:05 PM

38°20'31.65" N, 109°53'21.14" W

Divider Image
Appalachian Moutains, Virginia
He who risks all
can also win all.

Summit of Blackrock

Appalachian Moutains, Virginia

10 June 2017, 05:14 PM

38°13'12.03" N, 78°44'24.95" W

Altitude: 3,128 ft

Ladakh Expedition

25 March 2015, 10:45 AM

38°20'31.65" N, 109°53'21.14" W

Divider Image. A lion holding a sword.
Appalachian Moutains, Virginia
Creation —
the meaning of
life

United States Capitol

Washington, DC

03 April 2025, 05:14 PM

38°53'23"N, 77°00'28" W

Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal, 645–635 BC

ਸ਼ਸਤ੍ਰਨ ਕੇ ਅਧੀਨ ਹੈ ਰਾਜ

Rule
is dependant on
WEAPONS

Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal

645–635 BC

CONTEXT

"Shepherds and herdsmen lament at what the lions had done.
Corpses of men, cattle, and sheep lie in heaps as if the plague had killed them."

Quell the lion scourge, exalt the struggle — that was the task of the King.

"ਚੁ ਕਾਰ ਅਜ਼ ਹਮਹ ਹੀਲਤੇ ਦਰ ਗੁਜ਼ਸ਼ਤ ॥
ਹਲਾਲ ਅਸਤ ਬੁਰਦਨ ਬ ਸ਼ਮਸ਼ੀਰ ਦਸਤ ॥੨੨॥"


“ Only when all
other means have failed
is it then righteous
to take up the sword.”

Guru Gobind Singh Ji,
Dasam Granth, Ang 1471

Death Valley

California

24 December 2019, 3:00 PM

36°13'44.1" N, 116°46'49.5" W

Not that they won or lost
BUT THAT THEY FOUGHT
till their last breath
IS WHY WE HONOR SOLDIERS.

The Fight For The Body of Patroclus

-- Book 17, The Iliad

Patroclus disguised himself as Achilles, the Greeks’ greatest warrior,
but was slaughtered by the hand of Hector.

Krater Vase, 530 BC
National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece

I am
WAR

Blackrock Mountain

Appalachian Moutains, Virginia

10 June 2017, 05:12 PM

38°13'12.03" N, 78°44'24.87" W

Altitude: 3,124 ft

“ Rage—goddess—sing
OF THE RAGE OF ACHILLES,
murderous, doomed,
that cost the Achaeans
countless losses,
hurling down
to the House of Death
so many sturdy souls,
great fighter’s souls,
but made their bodies carrion
—feasts for the dogs and birds.
And the will of Zeus was done. ”

Homer, The Iliad ~ 762 BC

The Triumph of Achilles by Franz Matsch, 1892 AD
Victory or Defeat
fight to the death

The Triumph of Achilles

by
Franz Matsch, 1892 AD

Achilles dragging the dead body of Hector near the gates of Troy.

Fresco, Upper Level of Main Hall of the Achilleion at Corfu, Greece.

Lion Hunt depicted on the Alexander Sarcophagus
The Fight
against impossible odds —
Courage

Scene from

The Mahabharata

directed by
Peter Brook
Video

Drona: Tell me what you can see, Arjuna.
Arjuna: I can see only the eye of the bird.
Drona: Can you not see the trees and the sky?
Or perhaps the branch the bird is sitting on?

Arjuna: No, all I see is the eye and nothing else.


“ If tomorrow the sun sets
without my having
killed Jayadratha,
then I will enter
the blazing fire. ”

— Arjuna's vow on learning of his son's murder
(The Mahābhārata )

Appalachian Trail, Tennessee
Create
Strive
BLESS

Appalachian Trail

Tennessee

09 March 2018, 02:36 PM

35°37'9.02" N, 83°24'30.99" W

Altitude: 5,783 ft

'Denkmal der Arbeit'

[Monument to Work]
by
Josef Thorak


The Joy

of

STRIVING
Khardungla Pass, Ladakh Expedition, 2015

Prevail

or

perish

Ladakh Expedition

23 March 2015, 02:00 PM

34°18'02.6" N, 77°36'48.5" E

Badlands, UTAH Expedition, 2018
You
are
my work of art.

Utah Expedition

02 July 2018, 01:54 PM

38°21'05.3" N, 109°53'02.2" W

Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal, 645–635 BC
Nobility
in the face of Death —
VALOR

Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal

645–635 BC

CONTEXT

"Shepherds and herdsmen lament at what the lions had done.
Corpses of men, cattle, and sheep lie in heaps as if the plague had killed them."

Quell the lion scourge, exalt the struggle — that was the task of the King.

The Battle Between Gods and Giants (The Northern frieze of the Siphnian Treasury)
The God of War has summoned you

The Battle Between Gods and Giants

525 BC

The Northern frieze of the Siphnian Treasury depicts stories from the Gigantomachy.

He who risks all, can also win all
Death Valley, California, 2019
That something
fierce
moved beneath
the blue sky...

Death Valley

California

26 December 2019, 12:39 PM

36°37'07.1" N, 117°06'56.5" W

“ How can Man die better ?
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes,
of his fathers,
And the temples
of his Gods. ”

— Thomas Babington Macaulay,
Lays of Ancient Rome (Horatius)

23rd Mechanized Infantry Regiment

Indian Army

“ Once more into the fray
INTO THE LAST GOOD
fight I'll ever know
LIVE AND DIE
on this day
LIVE AND DIE ON THIS DAY.”

The Grey, 2011;
Final Scene

Lion of Nimrud

865BC-860BC

Found in Nimrud at the temple of Ishtar, Sharrat-niphi.
The lion guarded the entrance to the temple (commisioned by Ashurnasirpal II).

Belief

INTENSITY

WRITE WITH BLOOD

Shooting Arrows, Florida, 2008
The Force

Florida

02 July 2008

An Athlete Wrestling with a Python, 1877 AD
Great Strength
either overcomes

or breaks
on the wheel
of suffering

An Athlete Wrestling with a Python

1877 AD

by

Sir Frederic Leighton

in
Bronze

Lion Gate, 1250 BC
3,271 Years Ago
The Age of
Heroes

The Lion Gate

1250 BC

UTAH Expedition, 2018
There is
nothing impossible —
to him
who will try.

Utah Expedition

03 July 2018, 12:37 PM

38°17'59.43" N, 111°23'29.96" W

Altitude: 6,725 ft

Ladakh Expedition, 2015
THE RAGING TORRENTS
know me
as the
immovable rock

Ladakh Expedition

23 March 2015, 03:12 PM

Florida

2007

When your best years have flown by,
when your strength is weak,
and loneliness grasps that frail waist,
your eyes will speak.
Of the legend that you penned
when passion ruled reason.
Memory fades,
achievements grow stale,
all you will have my dear
is a story to tell
to remind them
— that once you too were young.

Doryphoros Statue, Roman Copy, 27 BC–68 AD
PERFECTION

Doryphoros

Roman Copy, 27 BC–68 AD

by

Polykleitos

Officer disembarking from a train

UCLA Campus

California

04 January 2020, 3:18 PM

34°4'14.00" N, 118°26'35.00" W


In Search of
a life —
well lived



Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī
Struggle
defines
the order of
— Rank


Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov
Emperor of Russia
( Nicholas II )

by
Anonymous, April 27, 1906 AD

Speech from the throne of Emperor Nicholas II while opening the Duma, 1906 AD

Google Map: Winter Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Horizontal rule
Death Valley, California, 2019

This life:

a gift

from the gods

Death Valley

California

25 December 2019, 11:30 AM

36°48'54.0" N, 116°54'32.3" W