Transcriber: Bob Prottas
Reviewer: Ariana Bleau Lugo
Hi everybody.
Feel like I'm in a revival.
This is great.
It's great to be back in my old
stomping grounds of San Francisco.
When I graduated UCLA,
I moved to Northern California
and I lived in a little town called
Elk on the Mendocino coast.
And I didn't have a phone
or TV, but I had US mail.
And life was good back then
if you could remember it.
I'd go to the general store for
a cup of coffee and a brownie.
And I'd ship my film to
San Francisco, and low and behold,
two days later it would
end up on my front door,
which was way better than having
to fight the traffic of Hollywood.
I didn't have much money,
but I had time and a sense of wonder.
So I started shooting
time-lapse photography.
It would take me a month to
shoot a four minutes roll of film
because that's all I could afford.
I've been shooting time-lapse
flowers continuously,
non-stop, 24 hours a day,
7 days a week for over 30 years.
And to see them move is a
dance I'll never get tired of.
Their beauty immerses
us with color, taste, touch.
It also provides a third
of the food we eat.
Beauty and seduction is
nature's tools for survival
because we protect
what we fall in love with.
It opens our hearts and makes
us realize we are a part of nature
and we're not separate from it.
When we see ourselves in
nature, it also connects us
to every one of us, because it's
clear that it's all connected in one.
When people see my images
a lot of times they'll say,
"Oh my God!"
Have you ever wondered what that meant?
The "Oh" means it caught your attention,
makes you present, makes you mindful.
The "my" means it connects with
something deep inside your soul.
It creates a gateway for your
inner voice to rise up and be heard.
And "God",
God is that personal journey we
all want to be on to be inspired,
to feel like we're connected to
a Universe that celebrates life.
Did you know that 80%
of the information we receive
comes through our eyes?
And if you compare light
energy to musical scales
it would only be one octave
that the naked eye can see,
which is right in the middle.
And aren't we grateful
for our brains that can
take this electrical impulse
that comes from light energy
to create images in order
for us to explore our world?
And aren't we grateful that we have
hearts that can feel these vibrations,
in order for us to allow
ourselves to feel the pleasure
and the beauty of nature?
Nature's beauty is a gift that
cultivates appreciation and gratitude.
So I have a gift I want
to share with you today.
A project I'm working on called
"Happiness Revealed"
and it'll give us a glimpse
into that perspective
from the point of view of a child
and an elderly man of that world.
(Video) Child: When I watch TV,
It's just some shows that
you just, that are pretend,
and when you explore,
you get more imagination
than you already had.
And, when you get more imagination,
it makes you want to go deeper in,
so you can get more,
and see beautifuler things.
Like, it could, the path,
if it's a path it could lead you,
it could lead you to
a beach or something,
and it could be beautiful.
(Instrumental music by Gary Malkin)
David Steindl-Rast:
You think this is just another day in your life?
It's not just another day.
it's the one day that
is given to you today.
It's given to you.
It's a gift.
It's the only gift that
you have right now,
and the only appropriate
response is gratefulness.
(Instrumental music)
If you do nothing else but
to cultivate that response
to the great gift
that this unique day is,
if you learn to respond as if it
were the first day in your life,
and the very last day,
then you will have spent
this day very well.
Begin by opening your
eyes and be surprised
that you have eyes you can open.
That incredible array of colors
that is constantly offered
to us for pure enjoyment.
Look at the sky.
We so rarely look at the sky.
We so rarely note how different
it is from moment to moment,
with clouds coming and going.
We just think of the weather.
And even of the weather, we don't think
of all the many nuances of weather.
We just think of good weather
and bad weather.
This day, right now,
has unique weather,
maybe a kind that will never
exactly in that form come again.
The formation of clouds in the sky
will never be the same that is right now.
Open your eyes. Look at that.
Look at the faces
of people whom you meet.
Each one has an incredible
story behind their face,
a story that you could
never fully fathom.
Not only their own story,
but the story of their ancestors.
We all go back so far.
And in this present moment, on this day,
all the people you meet,
all that life from generations
and from so many
places all over the world,
flows together and meets you here
like a life-giving water, if you
only open your heart and drink.
Open your heart to the incredible
gifts that civilization gives to us.
You flip a switch,
and there is electric light.
You turn a faucet, and there
is warm water and cold water
and drinkable water.
It's a gift that millions and millions
in the world will never experience.
So these are just a few of
an enormous number of gifts
to which we can open your heart.
And so I wish you that you would
open your heart to all these blessings
and let them flow through you,
that everyone whom you will meet
on this day will be blessed by you.
Just by your eyes,
by your smile,
by your touch.
Just by your presence.
Let the gratefulness overflow
into blessing all around you.
Then it will really be a good day.
(Applause)
Louie Schwartzberg: Thank you.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)