The Sacred Ordinary
Nothing is ordinary...
...All is Sacred
While researching for the meaning of the Hindu word "Namaste", I found almost as many interpretations as there were articles...the one I had heard years ago, that I liked the most was, "The Divine (or God) in me recognizes the Divine (or God) in you".
"Spiritual Significance of Namaste: The reason why we do namaste has a deeper spiritual significance. It recognizes the belief that the life force, the divinity, the (higher) Self or the God in me is the same in all. Acknowledging this oneness with the meeting of the palms, we honor the god in the person we meet."*
This approach by humans towards one another codifies the belief that we carry within us, innately, some form of, aspect of, piece of, radiance of... Godliness... and to take it one step further it can be stated that according to this pantheistic Hindu belief, "everything in existence, living or non- living comes from it. Therefore, Hindus regard all things as sacred...."* *quotes taken from Hinduism.about.com
This speaks to my spiritual approach to the world around me very clearly.... and it builds upon a care free, child-like, open approach to my creativity which can be easily over powered by my adult experiences... There is supposed to be a lot freedom in being creative... and with that freedom comes "my voice".... my song of life so to speak... to which we all dance the dance of Life... but those adult experiences can sometimes crash like thunder in my mind, instead of developing into an intelligent, loving, peaceful, compassionate sound to enliven the spirit towards transformation with the physical body... the vessel... the home... the place of safety... the sanctuary in which the spirit inhabits... and manifests itself here on earth....
So, why would you want to have a spiritual transformative experience anyway.... you might ask... Well, why do we want to laugh?... you know... only humans have a sense of humor... along with opposable thumbs and few other things... like developed language skills and communication ability... ability to control our fear ( which allowed us to utilize fire)... we appear to be the only known creature to be "self-aware"... have a developed artistic ability which could also be associated with communication skills or control of fear... we have compassion for others and a historical collective learning experience (written language skills and libraries full of books)... and we have a free will to discern what we like from what we dislike and right from wrong... together these separate us from other life forms in the evolutionary spiral chain.... but to answer the question of spiritual transformation.... like humor and laughter... the kind of spiritual transformation I'm describing can bring us closer to our own personal Godliness or "higher self" which communes with an even greater creative life force.... a relationship... a "oneness" that I’ve come to understand as "the Secret" or "Mystery"... Something like what is alluded to in the film "The Secret" you may have been exposed to in books and films recently... but one that goes back many centuries further... What Sufi mystics call "Sirr" (the third Chamber of the Heart)... a mysterious connection with God from which all aspects of spiritual power comes... by bowing down and relinquishing the ego's control to our higher self, our spirit, our personal relationship with Godliness... a relationship that only we ourselves can experience directly... It's a mystery as to why it is hidden from us... how it can be revealed to us... and how exactly it can make our lives on the physical level better... for each and every individual it is a unique experience... something that cannot be shared... but through that individual experience comes a transformation... the capability for each of us to become demonstratively better... to help others... to expand love toward one another... to feed the children before we feed ourselves... to protect our home, our family... to find peace by peaceful methods... and together find ways to advance towards a modern, supportive society which can fortify our pursuit of happiness in a turbulent... sometimes hostel world... a world where even hardships can be viewed as blessings of opportunity... to find joy in seeing something ordinary as something remarkable... even sacred... Like an umbrella.
Why an Umbrella....?
As the story goes... when Siddhartha achieved enlightenment... awakened as a Buddha... he did so under the now famous Bodhi tree... for me... and my little story... herein lies my symbolism... For eighteen years I felt blocked creatively... I did some work... sold a few things... photographed a lot... felt greatly inspired... but I didn't create daily the way I used to years before... I lost my focus and I lost my strong, natural ability to make and stay connected to my art... my energetic creative process... I let too many storms of life enter my world... and it became a comfortably troubled place... a place that I thought artists like myself belonged... until one day... that world... which had no sustainable gravity or solid core... would not allow my creativity to prosper without any conviction at all... and so it began... and like so many artists....if you are truly determined to express something of yourself... you start over... for me... it was with what little I knew... with what was most familiar... a pencil and new drawing book... and on a beach in Mexico there were a lot of things about the shape and form of an umbrella which reminded me of my last series of work from 20 years ago... when my inspiration then came from the geometry of naturally formed semi precious gems and crystals... The day after New Year's Day, in January of 2008, I approached this new subject in much the same way... simply by drawing it... it's sharp angles, very flat, two dimensional and decidedly abstract... but over the next few months even this approach would change... my last few comfort zones were about to erode... all that was familiar to me was about to become unfitting....
"Sometimes... the best way to start... is just by starting over" ~John Lennon
During the following six months, I worked quietly in the middle of night mostly... it was evening... when the night was quiet and my mind could settle into the silence... and I began to relive almost all the joys, fears, hatred, anger and frustrations, lessons and experiences of my early artistic life... even childhood memories of painting and drawing came back to me... I battled old battles... conflict after conflict... regret after regret... but I kept experimenting and most of all remembering, recalling, nearly reliving moments of creativity... successes and failures... until the good ones became questionable... and nearly all the bad thoughts began to reveal something good... a new comfort zone in my head was emerging... filling it with questions and acts of experimentation... it was nothing short of a fight to rebuild my creative life... before too long, I was able to stop fighting dragons as soon as I realized that some of them were my best friends... but the most remarkable thing I learned was that I wasn't alone... this time... when I hit a brick wall... I wasn't afraid of it... it became my ground of being... a place to erase... to smear... to wipe away... to chip away... to remove... and in that reduction process an interaction happened that couldn't be appreciated before... hindrances became an opportunity to ask for a miracle... for small blessings... blessings from another collaborator at work... one that took over when I simply let go and let it... and oddly enough in that process the pictures... over time... became more realistic, clearer... determined... inspired from a light that came from not from my observations of the external world... but a light that I began to tap into... within me... a newly creative ground of being that was decidedly more spiritual... by spring time I switched from graphite over to painting with gouache and using color to create form and shape, even line... but still starting with pencil to guide me in the compositional scheme... I left traces of pencil deliberately unconcerned about revealing my process... as my own "pentimento"... There was nothing in the process I need to be ashamed of... or felt I had to hide....
In a years time, the act of painting pictures and the pictures themselves started to become more genuine for me... not the way I thought a picture should be painted... but the way I thought I could allow myself to paint them... the only way opened for me... without apologies... simple pictures... raw emotions... fearless... shameless... simple ideas without being simple minded... Mindful... I was living on the edge of my nerves... Paint happens to be a fluid... So, for me, painting pictures requires very fluid actions... and these pictures seem to flow through me... one thing was certain... the process of painting finally began to have a truer life of its own... more fully integrated within me... and for this I am eternally grateful to all those long, dark, sleepless nights....
During that first year I did nearly 80 paintings... more work than I had ever done in a year's time.... not all the best... not all the biggest... or brightest... but my energy level never slowed till about the end of that year in 2008... a new stage of trouble times began brewing... thunder clouds were building in my life again.... but the work has continued... more mindfully... and for me has become a deeply passionate experience....with Spirit....
-R. L.
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
"Spiritual Significance of Namaste: The reason why we do namaste has a deeper spiritual significance. It recognizes the belief that the life force, the divinity, the (higher) Self or the God in me is the same in all. Acknowledging this oneness with the meeting of the palms, we honor the god in the person we meet."*
This approach by humans towards one another codifies the belief that we carry within us, innately, some form of, aspect of, piece of, radiance of... Godliness... and to take it one step further it can be stated that according to this pantheistic Hindu belief, "everything in existence, living or non- living comes from it. Therefore, Hindus regard all things as sacred...."* *quotes taken from Hinduism.about.com
This speaks to my spiritual approach to the world around me very clearly.... and it builds upon a care free, child-like, open approach to my creativity which can be easily over powered by my adult experiences... There is supposed to be a lot freedom in being creative... and with that freedom comes "my voice".... my song of life so to speak... to which we all dance the dance of Life... but those adult experiences can sometimes crash like thunder in my mind, instead of developing into an intelligent, loving, peaceful, compassionate sound to enliven the spirit towards transformation with the physical body... the vessel... the home... the place of safety... the sanctuary in which the spirit inhabits... and manifests itself here on earth....
So, why would you want to have a spiritual transformative experience anyway.... you might ask... Well, why do we want to laugh?... you know... only humans have a sense of humor... along with opposable thumbs and few other things... like developed language skills and communication ability... ability to control our fear ( which allowed us to utilize fire)... we appear to be the only known creature to be "self-aware"... have a developed artistic ability which could also be associated with communication skills or control of fear... we have compassion for others and a historical collective learning experience (written language skills and libraries full of books)... and we have a free will to discern what we like from what we dislike and right from wrong... together these separate us from other life forms in the evolutionary spiral chain.... but to answer the question of spiritual transformation.... like humor and laughter... the kind of spiritual transformation I'm describing can bring us closer to our own personal Godliness or "higher self" which communes with an even greater creative life force.... a relationship... a "oneness" that I’ve come to understand as "the Secret" or "Mystery"... Something like what is alluded to in the film "The Secret" you may have been exposed to in books and films recently... but one that goes back many centuries further... What Sufi mystics call "Sirr" (the third Chamber of the Heart)... a mysterious connection with God from which all aspects of spiritual power comes... by bowing down and relinquishing the ego's control to our higher self, our spirit, our personal relationship with Godliness... a relationship that only we ourselves can experience directly... It's a mystery as to why it is hidden from us... how it can be revealed to us... and how exactly it can make our lives on the physical level better... for each and every individual it is a unique experience... something that cannot be shared... but through that individual experience comes a transformation... the capability for each of us to become demonstratively better... to help others... to expand love toward one another... to feed the children before we feed ourselves... to protect our home, our family... to find peace by peaceful methods... and together find ways to advance towards a modern, supportive society which can fortify our pursuit of happiness in a turbulent... sometimes hostel world... a world where even hardships can be viewed as blessings of opportunity... to find joy in seeing something ordinary as something remarkable... even sacred... Like an umbrella.
Why an Umbrella....?
As the story goes... when Siddhartha achieved enlightenment... awakened as a Buddha... he did so under the now famous Bodhi tree... for me... and my little story... herein lies my symbolism... For eighteen years I felt blocked creatively... I did some work... sold a few things... photographed a lot... felt greatly inspired... but I didn't create daily the way I used to years before... I lost my focus and I lost my strong, natural ability to make and stay connected to my art... my energetic creative process... I let too many storms of life enter my world... and it became a comfortably troubled place... a place that I thought artists like myself belonged... until one day... that world... which had no sustainable gravity or solid core... would not allow my creativity to prosper without any conviction at all... and so it began... and like so many artists....if you are truly determined to express something of yourself... you start over... for me... it was with what little I knew... with what was most familiar... a pencil and new drawing book... and on a beach in Mexico there were a lot of things about the shape and form of an umbrella which reminded me of my last series of work from 20 years ago... when my inspiration then came from the geometry of naturally formed semi precious gems and crystals... The day after New Year's Day, in January of 2008, I approached this new subject in much the same way... simply by drawing it... it's sharp angles, very flat, two dimensional and decidedly abstract... but over the next few months even this approach would change... my last few comfort zones were about to erode... all that was familiar to me was about to become unfitting....
"Sometimes... the best way to start... is just by starting over" ~John Lennon
During the following six months, I worked quietly in the middle of night mostly... it was evening... when the night was quiet and my mind could settle into the silence... and I began to relive almost all the joys, fears, hatred, anger and frustrations, lessons and experiences of my early artistic life... even childhood memories of painting and drawing came back to me... I battled old battles... conflict after conflict... regret after regret... but I kept experimenting and most of all remembering, recalling, nearly reliving moments of creativity... successes and failures... until the good ones became questionable... and nearly all the bad thoughts began to reveal something good... a new comfort zone in my head was emerging... filling it with questions and acts of experimentation... it was nothing short of a fight to rebuild my creative life... before too long, I was able to stop fighting dragons as soon as I realized that some of them were my best friends... but the most remarkable thing I learned was that I wasn't alone... this time... when I hit a brick wall... I wasn't afraid of it... it became my ground of being... a place to erase... to smear... to wipe away... to chip away... to remove... and in that reduction process an interaction happened that couldn't be appreciated before... hindrances became an opportunity to ask for a miracle... for small blessings... blessings from another collaborator at work... one that took over when I simply let go and let it... and oddly enough in that process the pictures... over time... became more realistic, clearer... determined... inspired from a light that came from not from my observations of the external world... but a light that I began to tap into... within me... a newly creative ground of being that was decidedly more spiritual... by spring time I switched from graphite over to painting with gouache and using color to create form and shape, even line... but still starting with pencil to guide me in the compositional scheme... I left traces of pencil deliberately unconcerned about revealing my process... as my own "pentimento"... There was nothing in the process I need to be ashamed of... or felt I had to hide....
In a years time, the act of painting pictures and the pictures themselves started to become more genuine for me... not the way I thought a picture should be painted... but the way I thought I could allow myself to paint them... the only way opened for me... without apologies... simple pictures... raw emotions... fearless... shameless... simple ideas without being simple minded... Mindful... I was living on the edge of my nerves... Paint happens to be a fluid... So, for me, painting pictures requires very fluid actions... and these pictures seem to flow through me... one thing was certain... the process of painting finally began to have a truer life of its own... more fully integrated within me... and for this I am eternally grateful to all those long, dark, sleepless nights....
During that first year I did nearly 80 paintings... more work than I had ever done in a year's time.... not all the best... not all the biggest... or brightest... but my energy level never slowed till about the end of that year in 2008... a new stage of trouble times began brewing... thunder clouds were building in my life again.... but the work has continued... more mindfully... and for me has become a deeply passionate experience....with Spirit....
-R. L.
Ft. Lauderdale, FL