Art in Awareness

image by MBPblue (FB and instagram)

It "appears" a sequence of spontaneous events occurred this week that opened a door to my discovering a website which features inspiring content for people interested in art and awareness. OMG! I was immediately absorbed into a new world, meeting like-minded friends, and reading insights that brought me to tears.

As an artist my journey has been one of a spontaneous awakening in 2002, followed by a prolific outpouring of an intituitve body of work, only to fall into the conceptual world of art school, emerging  lost in identity and expression as an artist. So it was a heartfelt connection when I found the words of fellow artist, Miriam Louisa Simons, on her website 'the awakened eye':

When creating is happening I seem to disappear. This has always been a mystery for me.

In the beginning, as a child, there was simply the delight of making things. Pure play. Innocent wonder. Then, during the years of my education, the criteria invented by those who knew what 'art' was all about crowded in and I attempted to make my 'things' fit those criteria. I began to explore the intellectual arena called aesthetics. And the mystery faded, quietly, almost without notice.

For over twenty years I made my living creating wearable art. The magic of creativity was there, but it was increasingly elusive and erratic. Since its presence brought a profound and inexpressible sense of wonder and rightness, a sense of utter blessing which never occurred elsewhere in my experience, I began to stalk it. As I did so, it led me away from concerns with financial success, with exhibiting, and even with peer acceptance. It took me into the selva oscura, into exile.

The inquiry into creativity had become my teacher, my guru. It took me to places all over the world where I would be involved in creative education, where I would meet others whose over-riding passion was the mystery of creation. It kept me on the road for decades practicing, teaching, inquiring. It ensured I'd never become locked into making a certain type of art product; if I fell into habit or repetition it simply disappeared. It was replaced by tedium.

website: http://www.theawakenedeye.com

This is just one of the many fabulous quotes from modern artists featured on this website, who's art and/or process points us towards awareness... the greatest gift Art can offer! Mx

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Natural Awareness

A few months ago I was introduced to the world of Instagram. At first I couldn't see why my friends were so enthusiastic about it. However, as I started to take more photos with my iPhone and see how they could be enhanced using apps, together with meeting other creatives and seeing their amazing images from all around the world... I too became hooked! It's now a daily experience that I very much enjoy as an artist. My approach to taking a photo is pretty simple. I carry my phone with me just about everywhere and when something catches my eye I take the shot. This way it feels like it's those spontaneous mindless prompts from within that capture the best shots. Having taken and posted over 400 images now on Instagram and Facebook, I'm seeing that those little prompts are mostly towards images of Nature... seascapes, cloudscapes, landscapes, flowers, shells, rocks, animals etc. Pretty much anything that is of itself in it's natural state. I heard Rupert Spira speak recently on a video about Art and he explained how the human being is naturally drawn towards Nature as a reflection of his/her own natural state or awareness. I thought I would share a few of my favourites with you today. I hope you enjoy them.

Cheers Mx

Rainy day collage etc

It's certainly been awhile since I posted to this blog. I've been waiting for something to move me or inspire me to write! Nothing has come, or if it did, it fell away faster than I was able to gather the thoughts and pound the keys to express it. What has happened however, is I've started a daily artistic expression and am loving this. You see, where I live has been deluged by constant rain over the past month, including a cyclone and I've been flooded in. So lots of time to sit, be, and watch in which I've started to listen to some videos from Rupert Spira. This helps me move into a mindless space, and it's from here I pick up the blank page, pencils, scrap paper and images and start to play. Somewhere along the way something Rupert says drops in and that becomes the name of the piece I've created. Sometimes there seems to be a noticeable coherence between the title and the piece... sometimes not. What I'm loving is the feeling of freedom in my artistic expression that it doesn't matter. I thought I'd share a few with you. Mx

giving this understanding back to you

the mind is not party to this

would you have any knowledge of a foot or a floor?

the Universe will find ways of letting you know that you are treating it in a way that is in line with reality

it felt like a distraction for whom?

like death there is nothing to grab onto (Suzuki Roshi)

how are you relating to this?

the transposition to what we understand

To teacher or to non teacher?

Image by MBPblue

 Do I need a non duality teacher? That's been the question of late...and it seems for others too. I opened a post today from Non Duality America  - Q&A with Dr Robert Saltzman #2 on this very subject... but first I'd like to to go back a bit...

Like many of you, over the years I have thrown myself into various spiritual beliefs and had a few teachers along the way. Well kind of. My first experience of a spritual teacher, to whom I totally surrendered my life much to my family's concern, ended up having a nervous breakdown and me running for the hills. After that I became aware of the word 'cult' and was a little reluctant to place so much faith in any one person. So what did I do? I joined the Catholic Church. Why? Safety in history and numbers me thinks! Well... it just seemed like a good idea at the time.

Yep... the church became my next teacher... which didn't last long due to the amazingly obvious outdated beliefs, a very arrogant priest denying me absolution of my sins as I was living with my 'to be' husband (it was 1997)... and too many incredibly boring sermons on Sundays.  I did like the singing and candles bit... and Jesus of course... he was a bit of a spunk.  So I left and took my Jesus into New Ageism and Christ Consciousness,  only to find a man that apparently channelled Jesus himself. Wow!... this was much more entertaining. Unfortunately this guy turned out to be low on the integrity scales and after a rather messy sex scandal with some of the 'ashram' members, I found myself in a clueless, cultless, and teacherless de-sha-vue... vowing never do it again.

Ahh yes...."how soon we forget".... is the seeker's mantra!

It wasn't long and I found another bloke that was sprouting forth about 'non authority' as a way to live life... which sounded great except for the problem of him wanting a lot of say over my choices in life. It was at this point that I really decided to step out of the spiritual seeking merry-go-round, be they individuals or groups, and go it alone.

It was a couple of years before I even let myself near any spritual teachings... or so I thought.  No!... this was different, this was practical, this was about getting my life together after years of floating about with my head in the clouds... this was Manifesting! Yes I joined the millions in the teachings of 'The Secret' and started my own group! Ahhh... no more teachers for me, I was the master of my own destiny now!

Of course, nothing really changed, and I became quite exhausted with these practices... enter Kathy and the non-duality teachings. Now as I've said before, it took me a couple of years to embrace, let alone start to understand these teachings, but over time I have listened to the words of Adyashanti, Jackie O'Keeffe, Scott Kiloby, Francis Lucille, Rupert Spira etc... and of course my friend Kathy.  Which leads me to the question that arose about a week ago... do I need a non-duality teacher?

Coincidently I was listening to a radio broadcast by Adyashanti last week, followed by a video on YouTube called Western Masters of Non Duality (highly recommended) featuring Francis Lucille, Rupert Spira, Greg Goode and Jeff Foster.  They all said a teacher was not necessary but can be helpful. So I took my question to Kathy... in a round-a-bout way. I asked her if she would call herself a 'teacher'? She said no. What I really wanted to ask was 'Would you be my teacher?', but somehow the words just wouldn't come out of my mouth.  She went onto say I didn't need one. I heard the clarity in this, together with a resonance in my body, and after a few days a peace within. So it was with great interest today, when I opened the Non Duality America post, to see that Dr Robert Saltzman calls himself a 'non teacher' and says...

At a certain point, advice and words from anyone—Nisargadatta, Ramana, or the man in the moon—cease to have meaning. Those words may have served as a pointer along the way, and that's fine, but sooner or later you will have to forget ALL those words and go it alone. This is why it is said that if you meet the Buddha in the road, kill him. If you do not kill the Buddha, you will remain forever a disciple and never actually find the ground of your OWN being... (continued here)

 I like that. Mx

The sound of water falling

Image by MBPblue

I came up from the wave and heard the water falling from my body. It was as if I had never heard this sound before. I mean... I swim in the ocean all year round and delight in diving under the waves to feel the cold water over my head, only to resurface amongst the bubbles of the backwash squealing in childish joy.  I tell myself I am swimming in champagne!

Then the mind steps in... I must know this sound of water falling from my body!... yet it's like I've never heard it before. The sound was so intense, magnified, and new. Then there was a noticing that every sound was somehow magnified and new. The waves, the birds, the wind, and the movement of my body was all in perfect chorus. I laughed in abandon ... a fleeting moment of experience... and the mind steps in... don't get attached Melinda!.

I had been aware for a few days prior of a building sense of quiet or calm. I even spent some time with Kathy and watched how my mind spun out afterwards exhausting me... and yet something else...  deeper, quiet, still was present. I wrote to Kathy asking if I could see her again and shared my recent experience in the ocean. I assured her I wasn't chasing anything but was feeling drawn to spend more time together. She replied:


You are just fine as it is. The noticing that you need to rest is just
that the mind hasn't been met with engaging. It doesn't know what to
do with it.

Stay with the tears and softness.

Wanting to see me again is also chasing an experience. This has
nothing to do with a 'me'. Watch the mind spin another story how
something other than 'now' will be of benifit to a 'Melinda'.

Don't do anything and sit with every feeling with disinterest. Nothing
more than that.

You are not experiencing more levels of presence. The 'you' thought is
not there when what you really are is Present.

Presence never comes and goes.

love,

Kathy


Thanks Kathy... it's always loving to hear truth. Mx

Drop to your knees

Image of woman kneeling  (source unknown)

Yesterday was weird... I felt weird all day... and couldn't seem to resolve why? I ended up at a friend's house watching a DVD on relationships... or rather how a woman can attract a man. Even this was weird because I no longer feel drawn to this type of information... but as I was in a weird space I found myself saying 'OK, let's watch it!' It wasn't very long and I was wishing I had never said 'OK'... which then led to a lot of judgement about the presenter and the information she was conveying, until finally I was rolling around laughing. She was demonstrating a process and saying:  'as women we need to feel our emotions and not deny them... so much so that when the feelings come, drop to your knees and let yourself feel them... letting yourself do this action wherever you are!' I started having Monty Python visions of women in all sorts of life scenarios falling to their knees and decided it was time for me to excuse myself and let the day's weirdness pass with the night's sleep.

Well today wasn't much different. Another weird day feeling out of sorts and not sure why. Being Sunday, I decided to give myself a break and just relax. I finished reading the book 'Three cups of tea' by Greg Mortenson who built over 100 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the last decade to educate children, especially girls. I found myself crying. I was aware of myself reading this book with tears running down my cheeks and wondering why?  It felt quite surreal. Then tonight I was watching a documentary on television about the migration of birds and again found myself crying, but this time I remembered last night's DVD and I did it.... I dropped to my knees. I let myself sob for no apparent reason. It didn't last long and I have no idea what triggered it. A series of images and thoughts from my past flashed through my awareness and the emotion seemed centred around a deep sense of loss and regret... none of which was hung onto... and then as quickly as it occured it was gone. I rose to my feet, found a tissue to dry my eyes and started doing the evenings dishes. Done... no story.

I was watching a great interview with Rupert Spira on You Tube this week. He spoke of awareness as  the nature of experience and was pointing the interviewer towards this by asking him to hold a cup and just gently enquire or feel into what is the experience. It was such a simple message and poweful pointer.

I am continually, every so gently and humbly reminded that 'I' am not doing the doing or having the experience, but rather being done... and being experience.

Mx