We must always be strong, we must always be faithful, we must always forgive, and love. For the One who we follow is not all the things of this world; He is One thing... He is love.
He is One
Author: jamesdeeclayton
Global Pilgrim and Wanderer... simple man of faith; an Eastern Orthodox Christian... Chaser of sky, mountain, desert, jungle, Creation, Earth, and the quality of Stars... Ad Astra. Infinitum // Music moves me, deep drums and harmonic voices. I prefer infinity to the limits of social expectation, a paragraph, or an about me. Love all people and can find beauty in all places. So inspired by earth, and always looking to escape the realm of man and seek the Divine.
The Valley of the Shadow (Walking The Judaean Desert)
'Alone' in the Judaean Desert, Year 29, The Dead Sea, Being Chased by Armed Israeli Soldiers, Tea with a Bedouin and Finding Wadi Qelt... "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."And so I came to this place... brought [...]
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Life in a Monastery, Cyprus
I began a journey at the end of Spring that set a great and terrible tremour in my foundations, sparked a fire in my spirit beyond all imagining... pyres are made to burn, and ashes make fertile even tired, wintered soil. Even a desert becomes a delta in the rains... What my eyes and soul witnessed in those days I will never forget.
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All Roads Lead to Rome
I thought, there, where all this began, I might find something of before. Some treasure, some sign... some relic of a former life. In a way I was totally right. In a way I couldn't have been more wrong. I found a skeleton, all flesh decayed and returned to dust. It seems time does not preserve [...]
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Somewhere in Tuscany…
Isn't it fascinating how different places call forth different energies from within? Complex beings we are... I find it amazing how it seems our inner being, or our soul, is apparently greatly affected by our environment, the people and the energy around us. Long have I been bewitched by this phenomenon... I've tried many things, breathed [...]
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The Song of the Heart
You could spend an eternity this way... floating between folds of time, no more a traveller or sage, years of searching simply washing away... nobody's man and yet prisoner of the elements, caught up in a war between swirling waters and burgeoning skies... perhaps this is eternity? ...not a destination, but a hidden place between, nearly impossible to [...]
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A New Day
A whole new day has dawned in my life! And I couldn't be more grateful, more alive, or more in love. This most recent 'journey' has brought me so much peace and illumination. I feel so blessed to be alive, to be given another chance to roam this earth and carry on my journey as [...]
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And Did Those Feet…
Everybody knows I love me a bit of England from time to time. Catching up with family, old blast-from-the-past friends, sentimental places and nuances of English life I'll never fully shake off as the self-professed Aesthete I am. Cities like Oxford and Cambridge are no exception. Seriously, I have much overlooked these absolute golden [...]
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Morocco Diaries
Morocco. North Africa. We've been here before. This time we will see it through new eyes. Since my first trip back in 2017 I haven't quite been able to stay away. So vivid, alive - its landscapes, winding cities and warm-hearted people. The place is crazy! In the heat, the bustling medina; weaving in and out [...]
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Inferno
Florence. Italy. 2013-2019. It's been a long, winding love affair. A lot of poetry, a lot of tears, a lot of cigarettes and laughter. Forever, somehow, will that city be associated with this aesthete... and what was. (and, of course, this diary) I'm always drawn back, somehow, even when I think it's finally over. Life speaks [...]
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Black and Gold Crusades
A little poem and a little visual. Today's musing... Film clips from Ghana and Morocco, 2017 and 2018 respectively. Words from my mind, circa 2011. Jx *** all inquiries: diary.aesthete@yahoo.co.uk ***
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Touching Skies ~ Ode to the Long Road
Welcome to 2019 one and all! I am so happy to write those words. What a privilege to be alive and well and still moving forward in my journey. Each new day and each new step up the tall ladder of my dreams is a day well spent, and I regret not. To celebrate the [...]
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Palace of Earth (Jerusalem + Tomb of Christ)
☩ ירושלים Even the very name fills me with a certain hope, a lightness; an awe. Heckles spontaneously prick up all over my body every time I think back. A place of deep fascination for me since I first knew it existed at all. And yet, somehow, I feel it's always been with me. He [...]
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I Am Me
...and that's my promise to the world ~ to keep it that way. As time goes on, I find the same thoughts and feelings coming back to me, sentiments that I have had from the very beginning. Strangely enough, right now as we approach the end of 2018, I feel very similar to how I [...]
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Hold On To Your Faith
...and Believe in Your Heart "Believe in your heart that you're meant to live a life full of passion, purpose, magic and miracles.” - Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart ...even if a thing feels totally and wholly like an ending, perhaps even the very 'end' itself, quite often, in time, you will see it was [...]
