Tag Archives: love art

Completion

This is post 365 which means that I have successfully completed the post a day for a year challenge.  

This year has been transformational to say the least.  It has been a year of getting myself back.  I won’t get into all of the details but my life was basically turned upside down for a while.  It was necessary though. For years I had been struggling with an issue that I wasn’t enough.  I was somehow lacking as a human and had to prove my self to the world.  I cared so much about what everyone else thought that this became my identity.  I wasn’t happy.  Change needed to happen.

Over the past year, I have let go of a lot.  That psychological nonsense still tries to creep in but I’ve hired guards.  In letting go of everything, the irony is that I gained so much more than I let go of.  One of the traits that I required to succeed was discipline.  My dad often spoke about a bunch of ideas that he never did anything with, so I was determined to make something, anything happen.  I started this blog.  Honestly, it probably would have just become another fucking project that I start and don’t finish if it wasn’t for the challenge that I imposed upon myself.  This has been a lesson in discipline, self-control, creativity and finishing.  Remember this:  The point of starting anything, is to finish.  Otherwise don’t.  You will end up drowning in incomplete projects that inevitably leave you with the sense that it is YOU who is not complete.

I almost gave up twice.  That is it.  One was out of pure laziness and the other was because I was struggling with being on Earth, so the whole blog thing didn’t seem that important.  Regardless, I persisted.  You can actually read the points in my life last year where I was struggling with myself or some circumstance.  This blog has been like a reflecting pond for me that others get to gaze into and post comments on or ‘like’.

Many people have been so supportive during this time.  In no particular order:

Reid:  It was you who inspired me to do this.  I believe you called it blog therapy.  Indeed it proved positive.  Your friendship means the world to me.  We are spiritual allies and we both found our audience.

Megan:  Your constant encouragement has reminded me of something so important. Love, above all else is what matters and without honest communication we are all lost.  Thank you.  Life without you would seem pointless.

Dave:  My brain functions better while interacting with your brain.  You have shown me what discipline is and have offered a shining example of what it takes to step up as a man and a father.  Oscar is one lucky kid.

Mom:  You are the reason that I love so much.  Thank for everything (including putting up with my shit and me posting about your shit).  Unconditional love is my inheritance.  You showed me that love is not something to be earned.  Love is a gift.

Something very cool happened this year that I wasn’t really expecting.  To date I have 74 subscribers and average over 100 hits per day.  That may not be a big deal in the larger scheme of things but it means a lot to me.  I now have ‘virtual’ friends in India, England, the States, Europe and the Philippines.  I sincerely appreciate every one of you.  Your comments, emails and encouragement reminds me that there are many of us all over the world that see through the pop media’s perpetual death chant and get what life is about.

Love.  Perspective.  Communication.  Experience.  Laughter.

I will continue to write.  It is just that the self induced pressure is off now.

Thank you for accompanying me on this journey!

With Love,

Chris:)


The Love in love, art & fear

Our natural state is joy.  Anything less is an indication of resistance to love.

This post is about the ‘Love’ in love, art & fear.  Sometimes it is easier to write about what love is not rather that what love is.  I’m human and get caught up in romance, fantasy and delusion.  In this place I’m not myself.  I’m insecure because I’m forgetting the most important thing on Earth…

I AM LOVE.

Love is not something I do, it is what I fundamentally identify myself with and from this outflows my entire life.  Infinite Love is our true foundational identity.  If we are experiencing anything less, it is because we are falsely identifying with something less than that truth.  ”I’m only human” is a bullshit excuse.  You are love.  Simple.  If you do something stupid or act in a nasty way, it is because you have forgotten that you are love.

Fear cannot stand in the place of love.

At our very core is the truth of who we are.  This is pure love and joy.  The challenge is in getting past the pain that has encrusted over that love through experience (disappointment and despair).  Most people stop at the pain layer and live a life of quiet misery.  Don’t do that.  You are worth so much more.

Break through the pain layer.

Overcome.

Be the love that you are.


The Art in love, art & fear

Life has always been an inter-active co-creative event.  At times, experience is like a choose your own adventure novel.  Other times, it seems like shit upon shit is being thrown at us.  Like dodge ball (except with shit).  Every single time we have two choices:  React or Respond.  Either way, we will create with life.

This brings me to the ‘Art’ in love, art & fear.  On one side of us is fear.  The other, love.  Here we are in the center of everywhere with a choice to make, conscious or not.

For years I have identified myself with being an artist and it has kept me in a box.  While we are artists because we create every day, this idea can be yet another limit that we place upon ourself.  I am so much more than just an artist.  So are you.  You make a difference in this world.  Maybe you don’t realize what an impact you have on those around you but I’m sure if you had the opportunity to see how effective you are, you’d be surprised.  Assholes have an impact too but I’ll assume that you’re not an asshole because assholes do not read this blog.

My point, if I have one is that we don’t need to call ourselves ‘artists’ because that is an inherent part of our function as beings.  Try creating a dance to express stillness.  Using words to describe silence won’t work either.  All words can do is point to it.  The same is true for us as creative beings.  Our life points to something.  At the end of our experience, our entire life will stand up, point and say “There.  Look.  It is what it is.”

This is our painting.

Our life says something to the universe.  Are we creating life as we want to be remembered by?  Are you saying what you want to say?

***

… but is it art?

It is all art.  Look around and find something that was not created.  Every single inter-action we have on a daily moment to moment basis is creative.  Calling myself an artist or doctor keeps me limited.  It is as fulfilling as it is meaningless.  What I mean is that it is neutral.  Each day is a blank canvass.  The power to create is not in talent, degrees or end results…

The power is in the blankness of the canvass and our willingness to engage creativity.  That is where potential lives.  That is where mystery abounds.


My five gems

My new working situation is proving quite interesting.  We sit in academics with students and work in unison with them.  One of today’s tasks was to read two “life lesson” stories and then write down five pieces of wisdom that you would pass on to those after you.  I began wondering if I was actually one of the students because these assignments seem relevant to everyone.  Life is school, no?

By February 16th of 2011 there were more than 156 million public blogs on the internet.  I’m not expecting to change the world.  This blog has been a lesson in self-discipline.  I could have called it http://www.mytwocents.com but some ass-wipe had already turned that awesome domain name into yet another useless portal site that does nothing but take up space while holding a great name hostage.  Uncreative assholes do that.  That is not bitterness, that is fact.  If you are one of those people then shame on you.  You are better than that!!!

Here are the five gems that I leave behind for anyone stumbling upon this blog.

1.  Love, above all, is the most important.

2.  Always make communication a priority.

3.  Focus on one thing.  Too many directions will divide your power and nothing will happen.  Coffee and drugs may make it seem like you are doing something but all you are really doing is coffee and drugs. 

4.  Surround yourself with people smarter than you.  People who uplift you, rather than drag you down.  

5.  Life is change, so make growth your aim.  The world’s job is adversarial in nature, so stand up to the challenge and overcome it.  Greater things await you on the other side. 


Worry

I was afraid of a lot of things that never happened.

Worry is good for a few things I suppose:  Creating physical stress in the body, shitting our pants on the bus by accident or making ourself feel like we have some sort of magic power over uncontrollable circumstances.

Worry is fear.

Worry accomplishes nothing but can make us feel like some sort of progress is happening.  It is a form of negative prayer and can actually impact a situation in an undesirable way.  The field is neutral and we can charge it with any kind of electricity that we choose.

What if, the world was exactly the way it was supposed to be and that everything was running smoothly?  What if, this was true despite chaos, corruption and strife?

Could you accept this?  Why not?

Would you rather have worry or peace?

Choosing peace is a big responsibility.  We have to be diligent.  It means that we do everything that we can to accept the world, make it a better place and help ease each others burdens.  After that comes one of my favorite sayings:  Let go and let God.

Ask yourself this:  What has worrying ever accomplished in my life?  The answer is simple and astounding.

For the record, I hope no one intentionally shits their pants on the bus.


New life

Freedom woke up in the hospital.  Miraculously, she suffered no damage.  The doctors said that she must have been completely relaxed at the time of the accident.  Although she was free, the doctors said they wanted to keep her in care three days for observations.

Freedom’s parents, Love and Joy arrived at the hospital an hour after she awoke.  Together they laughed and shared many moments in appreciation for what they have.  Life, and new life.  When Love and Joy heard the news they were calm.  They knew that it wasn’t their daughters time to die.

“Freedom was always a quiet child” said Love.  ”She was just content to play on her own.  Sure she’d often invite others to play, but they never seemed to be interested in what she had to offer.  She never complained.  Instead, she’d sing and dance.  Freedom takes after her mother that way”.

When asked about Hope and Despair, Joy answered.  ”We never knew them or their family, but our hearts go out to them at this time”.

After the three days in the hospital, Love and Joy thanked the staff for their attentiveness and embraced their daughter.  Freedom smiled and expressed her gratitude for them.

The Sun was setting and the clouds looked like they were shimmering with gold.

 


Form & Function

Life moves from basic to complex.  Along the way the process begins to simplify.  It started simple.  It will end simple.  We are in the progression.

Form is a result of a causal event.

Form must have function.  Function must have form.  The two go hand in hand.  How could they not?

The Phi ratio or The Golden Ratio can be found in musical intervals and the Human Body:

From the curling of our fingers or how we hear to the unfolding galaxy this form and function is.  It just is.  I do not really have a point to this post other than we as humans have form and therefore function.  It has something to do with how the inner co-creates the outer and vice versa.

What is our function?  Born, work and die?  Get and take?  Love and Create?  Live life on purpose?  Just experience?  Joy?  Misery?  Fortune and fame?  Modesty?

The answer is yes because life is an outpouring of our inner perception of who we think we are and what we believe we are capable of.


Diffuse

New Year.  New painting.

This one is called ‘Diffuse’.  Art is an outpouring of our inner process.  I have said before that this process has zero to do with paint on canvass.  As a Human Being, by default; you are an artist.

Each day we create with words, thoughts, intentions and actions.  We can never really control life or prevent bad things from occurring but we can change perception and what we do with the given circumstance.  For better or worse, we are here to create.  Life is our medium.


Flow chart

This is a flow chart that I came up with years ago.  There are many more contrasting elements but I decided to keep it simple…

PASSION

EXPRESS                                                                                                         REPRESS

           (CREATIVE)                                                                                                  (REACTIVE)

SPIRITUAL                                                                                                       RELIGIOUS PIETY
FAMILY/COMMUNITY                                                                                  ANTI-SOCIAL
ART                                                                                                                    POLITICAL
SCIENCE                                                                                                           STRIVING
PURPOSE                                                                                                          ILLNESS

The bridge between is is love and fear.  From these emotions we create.  Fear is the off switch and love is the on.  It is very possible to move from one side to the other by conscious choice.


Blocked

Again I find myself sitting here staring down the barrel of a blank page with no inspiration to write anything.  ”It has to be real and from the heart” my brain echos to itself.  I’ve looked up “blog topics” on the internet and have two articles in the draft folder that I currently think are shit.  What to do?

I’m taking my own advice.  Just start writing.  Don’t wait for some magic moment.  GO!!!!  So here I am writing about not being able to write.  I have always believed these posts to be some of the best because they are honest.  Not that my other posts are not but, there is something very honest about admitting that I get stuck and stumble.  We’re human after all.  What a strange sentiment; “I’m only human and I make mistakes”.  It’s like we have this built-in mechanism that establishes our rank to a God of perfection.  I wonder if animals every say “I’m only animal and I fling feces at others”?  What an interesting experience we humans are in.  Between Gods and Beasts.

What was I saying?  Oh yeah… I don’t have anything to write about.

Maybe it’s the pressure of the final stretch.  I’m just shy of 300 posts for my post a day for a year challenge and I’m starting to think in terms of quantity.  That’s a bad move because it shuts down my creativity and establishes my mental accountant.  Bean counters shouldn’t run the creative department.  I admit that I thought “oh, only 69 posts left til 365.  If I do 7 posts a day for the next 10 days and program them, I will be finished.”  How lame is that?  Definitely NOT inspiring.  That’s a production line.

I do believe that when it comes to creativity we have the ability to shut ourselves down.  ”I’m not a creative person”, “I can’t write”, “I’m going to get it over with by treating my creativity like a production line” are phrases that I have heard and the last one is what I thought.  After reading this, I’m reminded that this is us being creative.  By saying “I’m not creative” we are using our creativity to create and enforce that circumstance in our life.

I entitled this post “blocked” because that is how I felt today.  Then I remembered my rule…

Just write.  Just paint.  Just start.

… because the walls are not real.  They are perceived.


Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 86 other followers

%d bloggers like this: