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The last weeks have been a bit of a whirl wind. My friend stosh likes to say that "No plan survices initial encounter. But it's good to have a plan". Think he is right. I had a plan for 2005, and it already crumbled in the face of events. All good, though, and I am excited to watch the year unfold further.
Last Sunday I saw a most excellent lecture at the Philosophical Research Society, which featured an author my partner in the Center for Conscious Creativity had discovered. Quite phenomenal. Finally helped me to understand the symetry of triangles and squares, and how the universe appears to be folding nicely into a sevenfold structure. But that's a long story and will be the topic of future exploitations ;-)
 I also met a most beautiful artist on Sunday. I had heard about his work several years ago from a friend, but never explored him further until recently. Alex Grey paints a new picture of humanity. He demystifies and remystifies with his art, showing the human body's anatomy, and at the same time pointing at the numinous energies that surround it.  It was such a harsh contrast to see the BodyWorld Exhibit at the California Scenter of Science. In itself, it was a brilliant display of anatomy, of real human bodies cut in slices and displayed. They among others showed the difference between a healthy lung and a smokers lung - the latter being black due to the equivalent of 5dl of liquid tar inhaled every year when smoking 20 cigarettes a day, which, of course, added yet another good reason for me to quite that habit. Nice to see was that nearly all the lungs in the exhibit were black, which shows that smokers are nice enough people to donate their bodies for science ;-)
The exhibit was none the less disappointing. Interesting as it was, it seemed to miss a large part of human existence. That mysterious part, the conscious part that makes those bodies be truly alive, and will not be found in a configuration or pattern of brain cells. That, you can see in Alex Grey's art. He shows both particle and wave, body and soul, and in that shows us a more complete picture of a human being than any plasticised corpse could ever do.
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I was invited to submit something to Profound Word Magazine on the topic "Make Love, Not War" and as I am beginning to explore writing more, I figured I might give it a shot. So here it is:
In order for Consciousness to experience itself, it needed to restrict
itself into lower and lower levels of probability, and finally into a
consciousness that would be separate, so that a self-referrential,
self-conditioning system could come to be that could then collapse
probability into actuality.
As such, our human consciousness is separate from the whole. Although
we are at all times part of the whole, we forget that and consequently
suffer. The separation is upheld by fear of otherness, and by desire.
Desire results from the misunderstanding that one is separate from
other separate entities, and that one needs to conquer them to be
whole again. Within the limitations of the ego the path to wholeness
leads to the attempt to conquer all. That has given us war: War is the
attempt to subjugate everything, consume and destroy if necessary. War
is the attempt to blow up the ego to the size of the whole.
This cannot be done. The ego is by definition separate from the whole
and can not become the whole. Thus, war is pointless and idiotic.
Surrendering the ego, understanding that one belongs to a whole and
that the separation is artificial, one can open up the path to
connecting to everything again through love. Love is the act of
consciously relating, connecting and uniting with the whole. Surrendering the ego, realizing that every living creature, every
plant, and even every pebble is as important as oneself, one can begin
to develop one's love.
First through overcoming dualism, through
realizing that there is not black and white, friend or foe, male and
female, light and dark, but that everything is light, and that
darkness is simply the failure to see it. Then, one can expand one's
love, can let it grow and flow to everything that is. If one succeeds
in willfully relating to all that is, love all purely, one reunites
with the whole in blissful harmony.
Make love, not war. |
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Happy New Year! Wishing you all you will for 2005!
 January, when it's cold outside, is always a good month to catch up on things. For my part, I had to interrupt my sabbatical in order to take care of some business. Just returned to LALAland to deal with INS, IRS, DDS a few days ago. Fun ;-)
Also have some even more fun events planned. A poetrysoup, a CCC event, some readings, art related meetings and more... and, of course, just plain catching up with people I haven't seen in a while.
Of course, I was hoping for sunshine and warmth, but am experiencing record rains. It's lovely, though; the plants seem to love it, and the air feels fresh and clear (always nice in LA). Tomorrow is supposed to be the last day after more than two weeks of pretty much continous downpour. At this point I am ready for it, although it was pretty romantic to sit in the studio with a fire going listening to the rain outside.
Since I got back, I have already gone through all the US food groups I have been missing: on top of the list Sushi, of course, then Indian, Thai, Mexican, Chinese, Fatburger, Domino's Pizza, and more... It is so amazing that there are all these cultures mingling in this country, and at the same time nobody seems to be getting along with the US. Strange, isn't it?
Wishing you all a most peaceful 2005!
smiles
philip
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My brother picked me up last weekend and after a lovely wedding on Saturday (friends of the family in Morbio, who were absolutely sweet and fed me for lunch nearly every day while I was staying in Switzerland), I returned across the alps to Germany....
Driving across the alps was fun... snow storms and ice on the roads and getting to Germany was like driving into winterworld.... Had just recently complained about not having had white xmas in a while, but it looks like I might get lucky this year... This morning the thermometer was at 20 below Fahrenheit! Even after growing up here and the years I spent in Chicago, I am still not a big friend of the cold.... Soon to be in warm LA/Ticino again ;-)
Wishing you all a most blessed couple of holidays with whatever labels and ceremonies you enjoy!
smiles
philip
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  Yesterday I picked up the very first bronze sculptures I ever made. The creative process is truly amazing. I made sculptures from wax, and now, I hold them in my hands, 10 times heavier, and they are no longer wax, but metal, bronze. Really neat. Had always enjoyed the process of seeing something develop, whether a picture in a dark room, or a piece of stone waiting to set free a sculpture, or a canvas begging to be caressed with paint. But for the first time I created something, and had it cast. Feel like an architect, who drew plans and now sees the completed building for the first time. Really cool. Never had this particular creative sensation before (and of course I want more already). It is so exciting, how life keeps offering new opportunities to be creative.
Just this morning I was answering a client inquiry for liveartfully. A woman contacted me because she felt the need to be creative, she felt unhappy with the available templates on "how to be", and wanted to "do" something to feel alive. Alienated by television, popular music, the bar scene, she was looking to do something to feel more creative and had tried a variety of media to do so, but could not find a good valve to let off her creative steam. It seems that this is a common problem these days. We appear to be in the midst of a major cultural transition toward conscious creativity and more conscious living. Following is roughly what I wrote her back... |
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Words, words, words,... English words, German words, Italian words, French words, Spanish words, Latin words, Dutch words, Sanskrit words, words in languages I can't even name. It has been a delight to be in this hodgepodge of languages and see the effect it has had on my cognition. Just the other day I wrote an essay about the power of the word and how with our words we co-create this reality.
 Language plays a significant role in this. There is the example of a man who decided to call a table a glass, and a glass a bird, and so on, and was put into a mental health facility, because he could not communicate with the world around him any longer. But what if someone came up with a language, spoke and sang words that nobody else knew as such, but that everyone could still understand and relate to? Music is often considered a "universal language". My friend Janubia just came out with a new record and was sweet enough to send me a copy to Switzerland (that and a lovely letter from my friend Shaunti were my first two items of mail here - apart from a electricity bill). I had heard bits and pieces before but for the first time took a proper and full listening. Wow.... She did it ;-) She created her own language, and recorded most beautiful songs in it. Although I have no idea what she is singing about, I can feel it. Her music and her words somehow make sense. Music has always been like a drug for me. Different music induces different mental states. From bombastic Beethoven to mellow Marley, I have always enjoyed the variety of experience that music can provide.... and now this.... Janubia's music makes me want to dance, sing, hop around, laugh, all kinds of things - wonder if she is suggesting that in her lyrics... Definitely check it out, you will not regret!
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 Ahhhh..... the green fairy. Muse of many artists, poets, creatives of the past. She dances with you, tickles your brain; intoxicating, she lets the world be seen anew once again....
In case you are wondering... the green fairy refers to Absinth. Switzerland can be considered as the birthplace of Absinthe. In the Valley Val de Travers in the Swiss Jura the original Pernod distillery was located, and after the prohibition of Absinth, many bootleggers stayed around there. Now, almost 100 years after the prohibition, Switzerland is relegalizing Absinth as of the beginning of 2005 (most of Europe already did so a few years ago). I was lucky to have a little early taste of a genuine La Bleue (bootlegged, homemade, delicious) that a friend brought back from Val de Travers. It was utterly delightful and indeed created interesting cognitive phenomena. Yet again goes to show what an amazing neurological machine we have in our skulls. And again goes to show that nature was kind in providing in its many forms fuel for the machine...
To what end, though? Drunkenness? Inebriation? What's the difference we wonder...
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"Life must be lived and currosity kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his or her back on life."
-- Eleanor Roosevelt |
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