I can't shake that feeling that something new is coming. I don't know if it's pie-in-the-sky dreaming.
It seems to me that all the very, very best things that make life worth living - love, and beauty, and art, and visioning - are seen as side issues and peripheries in the current paradigm we live in. We can live believing that the way we live now is just simply how it has evolved. I do not believe it. I believe that the way we live now serves not us, but those at the top of the pyramid.
We are both more in chains but freer than we could possibly imagine. It makes you mourn to see the extent of your chains, but then, after that, it makes you more able to throw them off. They are invisible chains, and you must know they are there before you can begin imagining that the small hopes and fancies that seem childish and naive to have are actually the heartbursting centre of something else, another way to be. What seems almost too good to be true is perhaps just simply the tip of a rather large iceberg.
I envision a day when those peripheries of love, and beauty, and art, and visioning, and time and space and energy to do work in creative ways that buzzes with meaning, feels more than slog, is more than feeding the system ~ I envision a day when those things will be the centres.
That swells me 'eart.
So may it be.
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| Vista Costera by Cristina Centenaro (CC) |
When we wake up to the chains, they lose their power. They are humanity's self-imposed chains, slowly accumulated ever since we were capable of independent thought. Humanity 2.0 is emerging from the cocoon of conditioning, a true resurrection, Let's keep drying those wings in the sun:)
ReplyDeleteIf ever there was a dream worth dreaming... I remember having a lively discussion with a cab driver when they were building an art gallery and a theatre in the town where I live. He thought it was a complete waste of taxpayer's money. I thought then and still do that as you say, creativity activities are not peripheral, they are fundamental to our humanity.
ReplyDeleteOh oh oh, there is so much I could say about this provocative and spot-on post. I wish we could just sit down and have coffee (or tea, or whatever). Harry Riley's comment below is great. I also just want to say that I'm blessed to live in a place that's a bit ahead of the game in many ways. Things do more or less revolve around art here in Taos, and spiritual orientation. And taking steps toward greater sustainability. Most of us who live here feel very grateful to do so, as we are refugees from the mainstream paradigm. You should come visit!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing how deep our seeing goes sometimes. You've got your everyday sort of seeing, and then you've got the far sight that develops when you've seen chains you couldn't see before. It's an amazing thing. Here's to 2.0.
ReplyDeleteI can understand how some people only see art and creativity as peripheral. But they really don't know what they're missing :)
ReplyDeleteThat coffee would be cool. Taos sounds like such a wonderful place. I am amazed at how different America is. Just so wildly, wildly different depending on which part of the country you're in.
ReplyDeleteHi Sue, I tried to post yesterday, but got a "CAPTCHA" question from Discus and couldn't figure it out, clicking on the button for a new set of letters closed the window. So I figured fate wanted me to wait a day and I have. What comes home to me is the painting, maybe because you are asking us to focus on the arts and center more creatively in our way of life, and I agree wholeheartedly with your vision. I did a search on Cristina Centenaro and found some other wonderful views of this same scene. it seems to be a regular haunt for her inspiration. This season appears to be spring and the other pictures painted in winter, also with similar bicycles, but no people.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.artelista.com/en/artwork/2699228690928498-tres-bicicletas-y-arboles.html
What does the lone bicycle symbolize in this painting? In NYC I have often photographed bikes tied to street signs, gates, and fences. A single empty boat in Japanese poetry symbolizes detachment or the lack of ego, or selflessness. But the lone bike in your painting feels more like self-reliance. I don't think it belongs to the fishermen, because it is located on a separate wharf. The biker is out walking round the lake (or river) perhaps and will return?
Oooh, I so love what you say here. Honestly, I have the bestest comments on this blog, I feel edified that you and The Pollinatrix and Erin and Kel and Tess and Harry and everyone else who comments shares such thoughtful views. Thanks, everyone!!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think it is about self-reliance. But also what it speaks to me too is about the slow-down version of community, where you are immersed in your surroundings on a bike or walking in the way you cannot be in a car. It reminds me of how I really want to travel to certain European countries like France and Italy, but then to not take in everything I can, but to bite of a chunk of a particular country and travel via a riding tour, or a walking tour, even :)
It's such a beautiful painting, isn't it? I really love her style.