Spiritual Gender

 

Think about it... 

Light of the World

Episcopal Church & Visual Arts (ECVA) has published online its Advent Exhibition, Light of the World, which opens with my favorite Christmas scripture: 

"When peaceful silence lay over all,
and the night had run half of her swift course,
your all powerful word, O Lord, leapt down from heaven,
from the royal throne." Wisdom 18:14,15

Curator, Peggy Parker, selected the work of 30 artists who work in multiple disciplines, each addressing the theme of the coming of Christ as the light of the world.  My work above included in the exhibition, Dominus Illuminatio Mea, is an image of bracelets introduced into our church by a former member.  It was a nice idea, but I have yet to see that illumination happen in that venue.  

But we keep on wearing our bracelets and keep on asking. 

Digitext Designs

Here I invite you to imagine a digital design calling card and the world in which it might reside in your imagination.  Does a distant memory form or a desire for some thing more surface?  Can we still imagine like children?  Do we have dreams of beauty flicker in our eyes like the eyes of babies mesmorized by stained glass windows and symmetrical faces?  Can we dream our dreams like no one else's?  Tell me your dream, take me to your secret garden, and I'll share mine with you.  Doesn't creation encourage creation?

Digitext Designs Detail

I grow weary with the snobbery of artists who do not understand the potential of digital art, particularly digital text. Design is design, with or without the smell of paint permeating the creative process. Art offers an invitation to the viewer to come close and examine, to feel something one might otherwise fail to feel, to imagine a concept or subject matter that stimulates the senses and makes some slight imprint on the emotions.Whether the viewer is aware of it or not,when the design invitation is accepted, unformed stories flicker in the imagination like an almost remembered dream.  Have you had a dream lately that is worth struggling to remember? 

Tears in the Sand

This image was inspired by the Persian myth of a man named Ferhad who went into the desert to die because he was rejected by the woman he loved.  As his tears fell to the ground, tulips sprang from the sand.  The myth reminds me of the Southern American myth of the Cherokee Rose, the State flower of Georgia, produced by the tears of Indians along the Trail of Tears.  Interesting, isn't it, how themes of myths are repeated across cultures and centuries, often speaking to forms of resurrection, good prevailing over evil, joy produced from pain, blessings found in places of complete defeat with no escape.

There is an energy in pain.  When it is born, endured and reorganized, this energy has the potential for forming the greatest gift of beauty.  Frehad could have engaged in many destructive responses to the betrayal he experienced, even including taking his own life.  But by enduring the pain and engaging in the brutal honesty of tears in his powerlessness, he was the first person to see the magnificent beauty of the tulip.  At that startling moment of resurrection blessing I suspect Ferhad could not so much as remember the name of his betrayer. 

Kindness

"Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind." ~ Henry James

Having Eyes to See

The prayer for guidance found at page 832 of the Book of Comman Prayer reads:

O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgment, and light riseth up in darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what thou wouldest have us to do, that the Spirit of wisdom may save us from all false choices, and that in thy light we may see light, and in thy straight path may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Isn't it interesting that the entire objective of the prayer for guidance is to have the Spirit of wisdom save us from all false choices - a prayer to counter our self delusions.  I should have paid more attention to this prayer's ultimate objective more than its seductive images of light a long time ago.  Had I done so, I would have placed substance over form.  We live; we learn; and hopefully light will continue to rise up in darkness for me so long as I am meek enough to know why it rises and for whom it rises.  Funny how you can miss what is right before your nose.

Wall Flowers

Water Seeking It's Own Level

In one of my favorite new blogs, Getting Past Your Past, psychologist/lawyer/certified grief counselor Susan J. Elliot offers these words of wisdom in a post entitled Finishing Unfinished Business:

"As I said in the 'Putting the Inventories to Work' post, the key truth to relationships is that water seeks its own level. If we want to know what is missing in us, what is lacking in us, what unfinished business we have, what our inner struggles are, we need not look further than the person we are involved with. If we listen carefully and look closely, usually our choice of mates will tell us what we need to know about ourselves and the work we need to do. As we grow and change, our choice of mate continues to reflect what we still need to work on. By looking at the partners we have been choosing, we can see what in ourselves need work."

Is this what Mama meant by "birds or a feather flock together"?  I don't know, but it reminds me of something said in AA about water seeking its own level and how addicts sink lower and lower and so does the quality of their friends and acquaintences.  The delusional guy on the next bar stool becomes a sage because he approves of my drinking, laughs at my jokes and never suggests that I should go home and take responsibility.  In fact, he agrees that the whole world is to blame for this mess of a life I have made.  But despite all his brilliance, he doesn't break the fall when I slide off my stool.

One of the best posts at Elliot's blog is Want Real Love?  Ten Things To Think About.  This should be printed, kept on your/my body and read daily by everyone (especially me).  Why everyone?  Because I don't think one percent of the population gets what real love is, and that has included me for most of my life.  Despite all the needy crap we call love, it really isn't in style.  This blog entry begins with the following quotation:

"My God, these folks don’t know how to love - that’s why they love so easily" by David Herbert Lawrence.  The post ends with Elliot's admonition: 

"If people understood what real love entailed they would be less inclined to go in and out of relationships where they will experience anything but..."

I can't wait until Elliot's book (Getting Past Your Breakup: How to Turn a Devastating Loss into the Best Thing That Ever Happened to You) is published!  Love may not be in style, but plain old meanness is.  Any way to overcome the latest meanness given or received ought to be a rocking good read. 

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