My path in a few words…
I have always been attracted by nature and by this wild life, so beautiful in its diversity. I had grown up on a sort of island clinging to the shores of Lake Geneva, this lake set like a jewel between the Alps and the Jura. Lulled by the pages of the stories of the naturalist Gerald Durell that our mother read to us, and soon by my own readings of adventure stories, I contemplated, during the days of fishing on the lake, the comings and goings of migratory birds, anticipating my own explorations: those of a fabulous world that clearly awaited me beyond the mountains that formed my horizon. I didn't know at that time that the blue waters and fish of my lake concealed a strange treasure: mercury, which an agrochemical plant located upstream was dumping by the hundreds of tons... In any case, the place where I grew up looked too much like a forgotten corner of paradise for me to have a chance of escaping unscathed. Photography quickly established itself as the preferred way to retain a little of this fleeting grace, which barely born is already mistreated, caught up in the whirlwind of time. Life always goes much too fast for a contemplative. Photography allowed me to have this second look at things, perhaps with the hope of discovering a few pieces of the puzzle of my own identity...
The world is an enigma. A few beautiful trips have only increased my wonder, but also my perplexity! Nature can be fascinating, and the world is a quarry whose resources seemed, not so long ago, to be inexhaustible. Wallowing in life is one thing. But discovering how we might fit harmoniously into this creation in order to make our contribution requires some effort. The Bible teaches us that we are home to an “old man.” A man drawn from the dust of the earth, with a sometimes disconcerting nature. My illustrious namesake already said: “I do not do what I want, and what I hate, that I do.” This man – let us call him “the child of Cain” – is the sum of centuries of a “freelance” humanity, since it once cut ties with the Father and now leads its own existence, made up of struggles and hazards. Civilization consists precisely in wanting to civilize this old man so that we do not kill each other with all our hearts. Many even manage to lead the old man to church. But is it enough?
I had grown up in a traditional Christian family, at a time – in the sixties – when it was fashionable to question everything. This is how books on Darwinism coexisted with those on astrology or Eastern philosophies on the living room table. The big Catholic Bible watched them warily from the top of the bookcase that it never left. Not convinced by this religion of rites and traditions and realizing that I was no worse off if I avoided Sunday assignments, I had quickly relegated the question of the existence of God to oblivion, to focus my attention on more tangible things, like animals and nature and on what occupies young people. … Concerning nature, the Bible affirms that it is an open book. You still have to know how to decipher it! At the time, brainwashing was working at full speed and the Darwinian explanation suited me perfectly. I considered myself a proud product of this evolution, even if to be honest, my contribution was non-existent. However, as I entered adult life, some disappointments about my integration skills reminded me of this crucial question: “Who am I?” After much procrastination, I finally took the big Bible off its shelf and, for the first time, read the Gospels as well as “The Acts of the Apostles,” a story that could just as well have been titled: “The Acts of the Spirit of Jesus in the Lives of Ordinary People.” Something overwhelming and that I dared not tell anyone happened in me when I read the words of Jesus. As if the breath that had inspired his life was approaching me to reveal the existence of a sacred aspect to my interiority. Let’s be frank: I had the impression that this book was also talking about me, and about a hidden destiny available to every man. I was amazed. But I was also indignant, realizing that I had nearly missed the most important thing in the universe because of what religion had shown me. Then one day an invitation came to a meeting. There, without my having asked anyone, the Spirit of Jesus inspired the preacher words He wanted to speak to me. It was 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 because of a back injury. It was heartache too, because I was separated from my soul mate. Those comforting words made me realize that nothing that had happened to me had escaped God's knowledge. The very moment I heard them, an invisible, warm hand, was placed on the painful spot, and I was miraculously healed of the wound that had been crippling me! God had spoken to me through the book, and now he confirmed the truth of the words through this tangible act of pure and free love…
I had to learn: our greatest enemy is not the devil, but it is this old "me" that lives within 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 Christianity that in its fascination with the things of this world, lives for itself, seeking to blend into the landscape, instead of taking charge each day of its mission in order to allow the Spirit of the One it calls its Lord and Master to touch hearts. The religious man with two faces prospers, and the new man cannot be born. But in Acts 3, God promises times of refreshing, when he will have poured out his Spirit on all men. Then will come the apotheosis, when at the end of a period of unprecedented trouble, the feet of the crucified will rest on the hill of Jerusalem. This event will mark the dawn of a new era for the Earth. Many people are suffering as they watch our world gradually lose its pristine beauty, its natural balances, and its rare species. In Revelation 21:5, Jesus announces the color of his electoral platform: “Behold, I make all things new.” Jesus promises nothing less! These new things are the wonderful things that the Bible and the Gospels speak of, but which we have not believed. Some will be so extraordinary “that the thought has not even entered the heart of man.” Do we even imagine that the upheavals taking place on earth, and which at a given moment will make us fear for the survival of humanity and that of the earth, are in reality the harbingers of a restoration of the world to this original Eden? The upheavals we are going to go through will be the last convulsions of the old man, rebellious to God, and of his reign of terror, which will soon be succeeded by the new man with the Advent of the reign of love of the Messiah and the establishment of an unshakable peace. This is the universal perspective of the Bible, the one that has made empires tremble since ancient times. It is much more exciting than that of a world government decked out in a syncretic and totalitarian religion, or even, of some unknown threat of an annihilation of humanity by obscure conspirators. My prayer is that God will reveal to you his formidable plan for your life, and the loss that any unfulfilled destiny represents for the Universe and for humanity. The link below offers some resources, some of which I hope will be valuable to you.
“Without homily and without speech but through the ephemeral beauty, nature bears witness to an 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”