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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 Infinite Gaze Photo of the Day
January 22, 2017

The Infinite Gaze

If the divine were to blink, would the world simply cease to be? We spend our lives constructing monuments to the eternal, carving stone and painting symbols in the desperate hope that something of us might outlast the decay of our own skin. We believe that by tending to these icons, we are preserving the […]
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The Weight of a Gesture Photo of the Day
January 21, 2017

The Weight of a Gesture

Can we ever truly know the history held within the curve of a finger or the tilt of a chin? We often assume that identity is something carved in stone, a permanent monument to who we have been. Yet, when we stand before another, we are merely witnessing a single, fragile vibration in the long […]
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The Weight of Small Things Photo of the Day
December 25, 2016

The Weight of Small Things

If the universe is composed of vast, ungraspable distances, why does the heart so often anchor itself to the smallest of movements? We spend our lives looking for grand revelations, yet the most profound truths are often hidden in the quietest corners of the forest. There is a peculiar dignity in a creature that spends […]
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The Threshold of Silence Photo of the Day
December 24, 2016

The Threshold of Silence

Why do we feel the need to look through a frame to understand the world outside? We spend our lives constructing barriers—walls of stone, curtains of fabric, boundaries of thought—all in the hope of defining what is ours and what belongs to the infinite. Yet, the barrier is never truly a divider; it is merely […]
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The Weight of a Wingbeat Photo of the Day
December 19, 2016

The Weight of a Wingbeat

How much of our existence is defined by the things we cannot hold? We spend our lives building structures of stone and habit, convinced that permanence is the only measure of a life well-lived. Yet, the most profound truths often arrive in the blink of an eye, existing only for the duration of a breath […]
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The Architecture of Becoming Photo of the Day
December 18, 2016

The Architecture of Becoming

Why do we assume that the face of a thing is its only truth? We spend our lives observing the world from the height of our own eyes, convinced that the surface is the entirety of the story. Yet, there is a hidden architecture to existence—a structure that supports the bloom but remains unseen by […]
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The Echo of Unseen Steps Photo of the Day
December 6, 2016

The Echo of Unseen Steps

Why do we feel most alive when the world around us is dissolving into a blur? We spend our lives building structures of certainty, yet we are perpetually drawn to the moments when the ground beneath us turns into a mirror, reflecting a reality that is fractured and fluid. Perhaps it is because we recognize […]
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The Weight of Inheritance Photo of the Day
November 25, 2016

The Weight of Inheritance

How much of our own shadow is actually our own? We walk through the corridors of history, stepping into the footprints of those who came before us, often unaware that we are merely repeating the rhythms of a song we did not compose. We carry the weight of our ancestors in the way we hold […]
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The Table of Memory Photo of the Day
November 23, 2016

The Table of Memory

Why do we taste the past more clearly than we remember the events of yesterday? There is a strange alchemy in the act of eating, a bridge between the physical world and the ghosts of our own history. We sit at tables that have held generations, consuming flavors that were perfected by hands long gone, […]
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The Weight of the Lead Photo of the Day
October 26, 2016

The Weight of the Lead

Does the path choose the traveler, or does the traveler simply surrender to the pull of the road? We often mistake our own momentum for free will, believing we are the architects of our direction. Yet, there is a primal, silent language that dictates movement—a tether between the one who leads and those who follow. […]
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The Weight of the Unspoken Photo of the Day
October 26, 2016

The Weight of the Unspoken

Can we ever truly know the weight of a life lived in the silence of the wild? We often measure existence by the noise we make, the marks we leave upon the earth, and the structures we build to keep the elements at bay. Yet, there are those who exist in a quiet rhythm, where […]
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The Architecture of a Shadow Photo of the Day
October 24, 2016

The Architecture of a Shadow

How much of a person is defined by what we cannot see? We spend our lives trying to illuminate the entirety of those we love, believing that if we could only cast enough light, we would finally understand the map of their soul. Yet, there is a profound honesty in the shadows. When the edges […]
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