My path in a few words…
For as long as I could stand on my feet, I have felt attracted by the beauty of nature, and by the wildlife. I was lucky to grow up in a kind of island clinging to the shores of Lake Geneva, this lake set like a jewel between the Alps and the Jura. Lulled by our mother's readings from books such as the narratives of naturalist Gerald Durrell, and soon by my own readings of adventure stories, I was watching the comings and goings of water birds, anticipating my own explorations of a fabulous world which obviously was waiting for my endeavours beyond the mountains that formed my horizon. ... Yes, this place where I grew up resembled too much a forgotten patch of paradise to let me get away unscathed. Photographing soon became a privileged way to retain some of an elusive grace, which caught in the whirlwind of time, faints as soon as it appears, perhaps with the hope of discovering in it some clues about my own identity, an identity still torn between the wishful thinking of some, and my unexpressed desires.
The world is an enigma ... Some wondrous trips have only increased my thirst for discovery, but also my perplexity! Nature can be fascinating, and the world is a quarry whose resources seemed inexhaustible at that time. To take and withdraw is one thing, but to find out how we could harmoniously fit into this creation in order to bring our contribution is another. The Bible teaches us that we harbour an "old man", a man of a disconcerting nature. My famous namesake once said: "I do not do what I want, and what I hate, I do". This man, drawn from the dust of the earth - let's call him "Cain's child" - is the sum of centuries of "free-lance" humanity since it once cut off bridges with the Father and nowadays it leads its own existence of struggles and hazards. ... The very purpose of civilization is to civilize this old man so that we do not kill each other wholeheartedly. Many even manage to take him to church.
I was myself brought in a traditional Christian home, at a time - in the sixties - where the trend was at questioning everything. Thus the books on Darwinism and those on astrology and oriental philosophies coexisted on the living room table. The large Catholic Bible watched them with circumspection from the top of the shelves that she never left. Unconvinced by this religion of rites and traditions and finding that I did not hurt worse if I escaped the Sunday assignments, I soon relegated the question of the existence of God to oblivion to pay attention to things more palpable, like animals and nature in general and what young people are after. About nature, the Bible says that it is an open book. Still, one needs to know how to decipher it. At the time, the Darwinist explanation suited me and I considered myself a proud product of this evolution. However, as I entered adult life, a few disappointments about my ability to integrate reminded me of this crucial question: "Who am I?" After long dithering, I finally pulled the big Bible out of its shelves and, for the first time, read the Gospels and the "Acts of the Apostles", or as some would like to call it: "The Acts of the Spirit of Jesus in the life of ordinary people ". Something shattering that I did not dare to tell anyone was happening to me as I read the words of Jesus, as if the breath that inspired the life of Jesus approached me to reveal the existence of a sacred aspect to my interiority. I was amazed. But I was also indignant, because I understood that I had almost missed the most important thing in the universe because of what religion had shown me. And then one day came an invitation to go to a meeting. There, without me asking anything from anyone, the Spirit of Jesus inspired a word to the preacher. It was a word for me, so personal that it touched my heart. I had been prevented from pursuing my dream of traveling and photography on the other side of the world with a back injury that was causing me constant pain. And when, with the words, an invisible hand rested on the painful place, I was miraculously healed from the wound that invalidated me. God had challenged me through the book, and now he confirmed the veracity of the words by this tangible and personal act of a pure and free love ...
But I had to learn it: our greatest enemy is not the devil but it is this old man who lives in us. Although I had at that time received the seed of a new and immortal life, the years that followed were not very glorious. No doubt they were in the image of a Christendom who, in her fascination with beautiful things, lives for herself by seeking to blend into the world's landscape, instead of transforming the world by the One she calls her Lord and Master. This is the reason why the old religious man is doing well, dominating the world, and the new man can not be born. But in Acts 3, God promises times of refreshment when He sends His Messiah, spreading His Spirit upon all men. Then comes the apotheosis when he comes back in person. His feet shall soon rest on the Hill of Jerusalem. This event will mark the dawn of a new era for the Earth. In Revelation 21: 5, Jesus tells us the colour of his election program: "Behold, I do all things new." Jesus promises nothing less! These new things are the marvellous things which we have a foretaste in the Gospels but which we have not believed and those spoken of throughout the Bible. Some are so extraordinary that even “their thought did not rise to the heart of man”. Do we only consider that the upheavals that take place on earth, and at some point will cause fear for the survival of humanity, are in fact the signs of a supernatural restoration of the world in its original Edenic state? The upheavals that we will go through will be the last convulsions of the old man and his reign of terror, and will be succeeded by the advent of a new man and the reign of love of Jesus the Messiah, and the establishment of an unshakeable peace. This, is the universal perspective of the Bible which has shaken all empires since ancient times. It is far more exciting than that of a world government with a syncretic and totalitarian religion, or the threat of the annihilation of a large part of humanity by obscure political powers. I would like to encourage you to take an interest in it. The link below offers some resources, some of which, I wish, will be valuable to you.
“Without homily and without speech but through the ephemeral beauty, nature bears wittness to an existing invisible reality. Nature expresses the creative breath of a universe where every intake brings life, and where every exhalation is a reminder of a primeval dust. For it should be reminded that, if it offers some wonderful sights, life is first and foremost a constant miracle”.