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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 Small Things Photo of the Day
August 31, 2024

The Weight of Small Things

Why do we insist that the most significant burdens are the ones that break our backs, when the heaviest things we carry are often those we hold in our arms by choice? We spend our lives accumulating objects, titles, and expectations, yet there is a specific gravity found in the things we cling to when […]
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The Weight of a Moment Photo of the Day
August 26, 2024

The Weight of a Moment

Why do we feel the need to preserve the fleeting, as if by capturing a fragment of the world we might somehow halt the inevitable decay of all things? We are creatures obsessed with the tangible, seeking to anchor our memories in the physical—a taste, a texture, a lingering scent. We treat these small, sensory […]
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The Weight of Small Spaces Photo of the Day
August 13, 2024

The Weight of Small Spaces

Is it possible to be entirely free while remaining within the boundaries of a single, unyielding frame? We often equate vastness with liberty, believing that only the open sky or the endless sea can offer us a true sense of self. Yet, there is a profound, quiet dignity in the creature that knows its own […]
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The Rhythm of the Blade Photo of the Day
August 10, 2024

The Rhythm of the Blade

Why do we feel the need to strip away the layers that define us, as if the essence of a thing only reveals itself once the exterior is discarded? There is a profound, almost sacred violence in the act of shedding. We see it in the changing of the seasons, where the trees surrender their […]
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The Architecture of Wonder Photo of the Day
August 3, 2024

The Architecture of Wonder

Why do we spend our lives trying to unlearn the very things that once made the world feel infinite? As children, we possess a strange alchemy; we can breathe life into inanimate objects, turning a scrap of fabric or a stitched companion into a confidant, a witness, or a king. We do not need the […]
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The Geometry of Sustenance Photo of the Day
July 31, 2024

The Geometry of Sustenance

Why do we feel a need to impose order upon the things that sustain us? There is a quiet violence in the way we arrange the fruits of the earth, lining them up as if they were soldiers in a silent, colorful parade. We seek to tame the wildness of growth, to force the chaotic […]
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The Echo of Iron and Wood Photo of the Day
July 6, 2024

The Echo of Iron and Wood

Can a room remember the hands that built it, or does it simply hold the silence left behind by those who have moved on? We often treat our surroundings as static, mere containers for our fleeting lives, forgetting that every wall and beam has witnessed a thousand departures. There is a quiet weight to places […]
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The Weight of Small Things Photo of the Day
May 31, 2024

The Weight of Small Things

Why do we assume that significance is measured by scale? We spend our lives looking for the monumental, the towering, the things that demand our attention through sheer force of presence. Yet, the world often reveals its deepest truths in the quietest corners, in the soft indentations left by a creature that does not know […]
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The Architecture of Silence Photo of the Day
May 29, 2024

The Architecture of Silence

Why do we seek patterns in the chaos of our surroundings, as if finding a rhythm could somehow justify our own existence? We build our lives in rows, stacking days like bricks, hoping that the structure will hold against the erosion of time. There is a strange comfort in repetition—the way a line continues, the […]
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The Weight of Stillness Photo of the Day
May 25, 2024

The Weight of Stillness

If the sky were to mirror the depth of our own silences, would we still be so afraid of the grey? We spend our lives chasing vibrant colors, convinced that meaning is found only in the loudest hues of joy or the deepest crimsons of grief. Yet, there is a profound, unhurried wisdom in the […]
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The Weight of Stillness Photo of the Day
May 22, 2024

The Weight of Stillness

Why do we mistake silence for an absence of life? We are conditioned to believe that existence is measured by the noise we make, the paths we carve, and the speed at which we cross the terrain of our days. Yet, there is a profound, ancient intelligence in the act of waiting. To remain perfectly […]
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The Weight of a Watchful Eye Photo of the Day
May 13, 2024

The Weight of a Watchful Eye

Can we ever truly witness a life that does not belong to our own, or are we merely projecting our own hunger for stillness onto the wild? We walk through the world with a frantic rhythm, convinced that our presence is the center of the narrative, yet there are creatures who exist in a state […]
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