If you would like to explore this inquiry with myself and others in a supportive online group, I invite you to join the Art As Access yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/artasaccess/
Beyond our ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing
Rumi wrote:
Beyond our ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing,
there is a field. I’ll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase ‘each other’
doesn’t make sense any more.
This piece of prose has been working me for years now and still touches my heart and peaks my curiosity. My ego cannot make sense of it and my soul already knows the deep truth of it. I long for the freedom of an open heart, the spaciousness of being and the place beyond my ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing.
This month’s inquiry is “beyond our ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing”. This month notice both your ideas of right-doing and wrong-doing especially in regards to yourself, your experience, feelings, thoughts, and actions. Also notice the moments without judgments and expectations where it may feel empty, quiet and expansive.
Art-Making Inquiry
I am currently reading the book “Soul Without Shame: A Guide to Liberating Yourself from the Judge Within” by Byron Brown. I highly recommend it. It has been very helpful in understanding what I have been noticing in my experience, judgments of myself and others, feelings of helplessness when I am being attacked by my inner judge, a sense of power when I take the judging role and criticize someone else, and the pain my heart feels to watch it all play out over and over again.
I would like to offer an exercise from the book and a couple of art processes to support the inquiry.
Exercise: Observing Judgments/Attacks
During the next week, make a list of all the attacks you are aware of – if possible, as soon as you become aware of them. Notice how each attack affects your energy, your awareness, and the physical experience of your body. Also, note how the attack affects your emotional state.
step 1: Write a phrase or brief sentence that describes the incident.
step 2: State each judgment in the second person, using “you” instead of “I”. “You are stupid” not “I am stupid”.
step 3: Write down what you observe about your bodily and energetic response to the attack. What sensations do you feel in your body? How has your relationship to the things and people in your environment shifted? How are your alertness and ability to respond to situations affected?
step 4: In as simple terms as you can, note your emotional state. What kinds of feelings are provoked? How is your sense of yourself altered?
Art-Making:the Emotional State
Create an image that expresses the emotional state. Notice your thoughts, feelings, body sensations as you create. Make note of any insights that arise for you.
Art-Making: the Place Beyond the Right-Doing and Wrong-Doing
Choose a small object that has a neutral affect on you when you look at it. There isn’t a sense of needing to hold onto it or throw it away, neither aversion nor greed – neutral. Good test is “is it something you could give away to someone?”
While looking at the object, create an image in response to it. Notice your thoughts, feelings, body sensations as you look at the object and create an image. Is there a sense of spaciousness without the pull towards it or the push away? What’s your experience through the process? Any insights arise?
Have a great month and enjoy the process.
My Art Work as Inspiration for Your Art Work
I share my artwork here to inspire you to create your artwork. It is through your art-making that you will discover more about who you are.
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| untitled watercolor on paper, 2009, 5″ x 8″ |
untitled watercolor on paper, 2009, 5″ x 8″ |
untitled watercolor & ink on paper, 2009, 5″ x 8″ |
You can click on an image or its title to see a larger version within the online
gallery.
I always welcome a connection with you. If you would like to share about
the inquiry, art-making or other things happening in life, please feel
free to contact me.
If you would like to work on the inquiry with myself and others in a supportive online group, I invite you to join the Art As Access yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/artasaccess/
Have a great month and live in the remembrance that in all of time, there will only be one you. Your greatest gift to yourself and the world is the expression of your authentic self.
-Ryl
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