Ruminations of the day .

  
Why do I call this ruminations? Because these are the mulling of my thoughts upon certain topics that are important to myself and ideas that I like to share, also a certain clarification of concepts for myself.
             The other day, a word came to me that seemed to describe certain feelings that I felt about, let's say- being in the world. , The word was "cultural"- of course, the word has many meanings, from agriculture to general learning and of course culture. Yet the word includes more or less, everything we do in life, From our lifestyle our forms of entertainment hobbies we take it for granted that this is our life and of course it is! And a very enriching aspect this is. However, ( and this is where the word took on meaning for me)we never seem to consider the non- cultural! What do I mean by this? Well, to tell the truth, I don't really know! And yet I feel that it is very important just as important as deep sleep is in our life. And there is also another aspect to this, and that is the experiencing of the five senses-why is this? (Now this is absolutely not a moralistic statement!)However we seem to spend without rest, our whole lives in these domains, do we need to spend time in some weird retreat? No! But maybe we should give more time to the non-cultural and the nonsensual and perhaps the non-experiential because" experience" plays such an important role in our lives. How to do that? Well, I think that it's the big challenge to find out for ourselves, well let's say that it's my challenge! However, I will say that spending some relaxed time in the natural world is certainly a step in the right direction.

Nicholas Poussin the. great French classical painter of the seventeenth century.The painting is called the inspiration of the epic poet.Apollo is seated beneath a laurel and dictates to a young poet,Calliope,muse of epic poetry stands to the left.In the foreground there are three books,the Illiad the Odyssey and the Aeneid,great epics of antiquity.Poussin in my opinion,is a painter of sublime stature,he seems to me to be both classical and very naturalistic in the way that his figures echo the classical Greek and Roman periods but are at the same time very much figures painted from a great understandingof the human form.I have brought in the painting to illustrate how the Greeks understood the process of creativity ,from the muse!Please look at my thoughts of the day below.Actually the idea is closer to Shri Aurobindos concept of the superconciousnessNote the concentrated look of Apollo and the almost absent minded trance like state of the Poet !Calliope stands in a beautifull relaxed way as the sublime observer.she seems to be waiting also for something beautiful to be born .Note the rather poetic hint of a landscape behind the figures ..

Thoughts of the day-

        Today I was thinking about the whole idea of The subconscious  !!! The ideas and concepts of Mr. Freud, and Mr. Jung. And indeed how much influence this has had on our lives! Especially about our ideas about art ,that we can see in surrealism and the movement of abstract expressionism but also the influence upon our lives!In the Christian culture, we are born into original sin - in the Buddhist way we are born into samsara (ignorance ) However both the Buddhists and the Hindus see in the deepest aspect of our being,  the possibility goodness and Godliness and not the dark aspects of life that we learn from psychology. Also in the more esoteric and less known aspects of Christianity. And of course, the big question is- what does lie in the depths of our consciousness?

As below

Statue made in my student years which has found its home in my sisters garden.As my sister commented she has found a place with modesty and dignity!

portrait of a composer musician Heks July 2018

Portrait of a musician composer

Thoughts of the day -

    One has to be flexible -to be a strong listener  but also someone that takes in the whole picture -One has to be an open reader -but also a strong reader -someone that doesn't succumb to authority- to believe in one's own intelligence, ones own authority- I call, this abiding in the center.                                                                                         One should be able to read everything and listen to everything, and yet be able to say -No- the reader, the one that listens, does not agree - and this is our essential FREEDOM !                                                                                                                                                                                                        



 

Images of Brecon -mono prints on rice paper

Brecon images mono prints on rice paper.