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Contributing Writer Philosophy & the Human Condition

Rashid Noor

Rashid Noor is a writer and essayist whose work spans photography, philosophy, and the study of human restlessness. He has contributed to Light & Composition since 2013. A photograph for Rashid is always a question in disguise — and his Reflections resist easy answers, sitting instead with the productive discomfort that a good question leaves behind.

517 Published Reflections

Reflections by Rashid Noor

Showing 12 of 517 essays
The Weight of Unwritten Stories Photo of the Day
July 18, 2018

The Weight of Unwritten Stories

Why do we assume that the eyes are merely windows, rather than the very rooms where the soul resides? We spend our lives building walls, curating our histories, and shielding the soft, unformed parts of our identity from the scrutiny of the world. Yet, there is a singular, fleeting age where the mask has not […]
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The Silence of Unfolding Photo of the Day
July 15, 2018

The Silence of Unfolding

Why do we assume that beauty must be loud to be noticed? We live in a world that prizes the roar of the storm and the sudden flash of lightning, yet the most profound transformations occur in the quiet, unobserved hours of the morning. There is a specific kind of patience required to witness a […]
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The Weight of Stillness Photo of the Day
July 10, 2018

The Weight of Stillness

How much of our history is written in the lines of a face we have never met? We often assume that to know a person, we must hear their voice or trace the path of their days, yet there is a profound language in simple presence. We are all vessels of time, carrying the echoes […]
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The Skin of Time Photo of the Day
June 25, 2018

The Skin of Time

Can a surface hold a memory that the mind has long since discarded? We often treat the world as a stage, focusing on the actors while ignoring the backdrop, yet it is the backdrop that bears the true weight of our passage. Walls, in their patient, unmoving existence, absorb the heat of summers and the […]
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The Geometry of Turning Photo of the Day
June 1, 2018

The Geometry of Turning

Why do we assume that to grow is to move forward, when the most profound shifts often happen in place? We spend our lives chasing the sun, convinced that if we could only reach the next peak or the next season, we would finally find the stillness we crave. Yet, there is a quiet wisdom […]
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The Architecture of Absence Photo of the Day
May 16, 2018

The Architecture of Absence

If we were to strip away the noise of our own existence, would we find that we are the architects of our surroundings, or merely the ghosts haunting them? We build towers that scrape the sky, desperate to leave a mark upon the silence of time, yet we often forget that the stone and glass […]
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The Architecture of the Divide Photo of the Day
May 14, 2018

The Architecture of the Divide

Can a line truly separate two worlds, or does it merely define the boundary where one begins to bleed into the other? We spend our lives obsessed with edges—the threshold of a room, the border of a country, the thin veil between what we reveal and what we keep hidden. We assume that light and […]
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The Map of Lived Time Photo of the Day
May 4, 2018

The Map of Lived Time

How much of our history is written upon the skin? We spend our youth trying to smooth over the surface, fearing the lines that mark the passage of seasons, yet it is only through these deep, weathered furrows that the truth of a life begins to emerge. Every crease is a record of a sun-drenched […]
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The Weight of Shared Silence Photo of the Day
April 25, 2018

The Weight of Shared Silence

How much of our history is carried in the quiet spaces between one breath and the next? We often mistake the passage of time for a linear march, a series of events that leave us behind. Yet, there is a different kind of time—a circular, ancestral rhythm—that lives in the way we sit, the way […]
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The Architecture of Waiting Photo of the Day
April 20, 2018

The Architecture of Waiting

Why do we feel the need to decorate the thresholds of our lives? We place things in windows, hanging them between the interior of our private selves and the public expanse of the street. It is a strange, silent negotiation. We want to be seen, yet we remain behind glass. We want to offer a […]
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The Persistence of Bloom Photo of the Day
March 21, 2018

The Persistence of Bloom

Why do we insist that beauty must be rare to be meaningful? We spend our lives chasing the singular, the monumental, the things that demand our full attention. Yet, the earth operates on a different logic. It favors the persistent, the quiet return of the familiar, the way life pushes through the cracks of our […]
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The Silence of Mirrors Photo of the Day
March 10, 2018

The Silence of Mirrors

Why do we feel a sudden, sharp ache when we encounter a world that does not need us? We spend our lives trying to leave a mark, to carve our names into the bark of time, yet there are places that exist in a state of perfect, indifferent grace. In these spaces, the water does […]
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