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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 Breath of the Unseen Photo of the Day
October 12, 2016

The Breath of the Unseen

How much of our existence is defined by the things we cannot hold? We spend our lives grasping for solid ground, for permanence, for the cold certainty of stone and steel. Yet, the most vital parts of our journey are often the most fleeting—the mist that rises from a warm body into the biting air, […]
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The Weight of a Glance Photo of the Day
October 1, 2016

The Weight of a Glance

How many times have we looked at another person and truly seen them, rather than merely seeing a reflection of our own expectations? We move through the world as if we are the protagonists of a singular, unfolding drama, treating the faces we pass as little more than scenery or static background noise. Yet, every […]
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The Architecture of In-Between Photo of the Day
October 1, 2016

The Architecture of In-Between

If we are always becoming, at what precise moment do we actually arrive? We spend our lives moving through doorways, crossing thresholds, and navigating the narrow passages that connect one version of our day to the next. We treat these spaces as mere utility—a means to get from the noise of the street to the […]
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Where Silence Finds Its Breath Photo of the Day
September 24, 2016

Where Silence Finds Its Breath

Why do we assume that stillness is the absence of movement? We often mistake the quiet for a void, a space where nothing happens, yet the most profound shifts in our lives occur in the spaces between breaths. We spend our days bracing against the winds of change, fearing the turbulence that threatens to uproot […]
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The Archive of Wonder Photo of the Day
September 15, 2016

The Archive of Wonder

How much of the world do we lose the moment we decide we have finished learning it? As children, we navigate by a compass of pure curiosity, where every texture of bark and every shift in the light is a revelation of a universe we are only just beginning to map. We look at things […]
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The Rhythm of the Thread Photo of the Day
September 3, 2016

The Rhythm of the Thread

If the hands are the architects of our survival, what are the tools but extensions of our own desperate need to create? We often view the objects we touch as mere instruments, cold and indifferent, yet they carry the imprint of every palm that has gripped them. There is a silent dialogue between the maker […]
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The Weight of a Shared Gaze Photo of the Day
September 3, 2016

The Weight of a Shared Gaze

Why do we feel the need to look in the same direction as those beside us? From the earliest days of our lives, we are taught to align our vision with the collective, to find comfort in the shared focus of a group. There is a profound, silent gravity in a row of eyes turned […]
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The Weight of Stillness Photo of the Day
August 18, 2016

The Weight of Stillness

Why do we feel the need to complicate the simple act of being? We spend our lives layering noise over silence, convinced that more is always better, that a louder voice or a busier hand brings us closer to the truth. Yet, there is a profound, quiet dignity in stripping away the excess until only […]
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The Weight of Being Seen Photo of the Day
August 16, 2016

The Weight of Being Seen

Why do we assume that to be observed is to be understood? We move through the world carrying our own private colors, our own internal rhythms, yet we are often reduced to the surface we present to the light. There is a profound solitude in being a creature of instinct, existing entirely within the present […]
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The Weight of Sustenance Photo of the Day
August 12, 2016

The Weight of Sustenance

Why do we feel the need to measure the worth of a life by the abundance set before us? We live in a cycle of consumption, constantly seeking to fill the hollow spaces within with the tangible fruits of the earth. There is a primal gravity to the act of eating, a quiet communion between […]
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The Ghost of What Remains Photo of the Day
August 7, 2016

The Ghost of What Remains

Why do we insist on carving our names into the bark of trees that will eventually fall? We move through cities built on the bones of older cities, walking over the echoes of voices that have long since dissolved into the hum of traffic. There is a peculiar ache in witnessing a place transform, a […]
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The Weight of Unspoken Years Photo of the Day
August 2, 2016

The Weight of Unspoken Years

How much of a person is visible when they are not speaking? We often mistake the surface for the whole, believing that the lines on a face or the way a garment hangs are merely physical facts. Yet, there is a quiet geography to our existence that remains hidden, a landscape of thoughts that never […]
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