Sunday Musings
Goodness. The first week of 2018 has been a bitter cold one for many in the United States, but especially for those on the East Coast. Some of us even learned a new weather term, Bomb Cyclone. Who knew! At any rate, it was good for us humans to be reminded that we are not in charge. At the same time we are reminded we do affect how Mother Earth and the rest of the universe(s) function. Certainly, all the parts which make up the Universe are more powerful than this one old man. At the same time the exponential nature of love and disconnection is enormously powerful. Yesterday I attended a showing of the film “Exhibition on Screen: I, Claude Monet” and was again reminded of the exponential nature of beauty. Whether it was water lilies, other flowers, the London Bridge, the sea, grand Cathedrals,, or people, Monet, often, while begging for money to pay his rent, buy medicine or food for his family or to purchase art supplies, allowed himself to be present to beauty – to see a unique level of beauty – and then to create yet another level of beauty which has then gone on to continue to draw out the beauty in each of us who is fortunate enough to witness some of his paintings. Now with enhanced photography/film techniques we can see many of his works on the big screen. We have also been able for some time to sit in our living room and spend house at museums in many countries just absorbing the beauty and, often the challenges, to which we are invited to partake. Whether it is being confronted with our capacity for anger (imagine a de Kooning painting), the power of the Mother Nature as the force of the sea and the wind are depicted, or the depth of beauty erupting in the rich colors and forms of a Monet painting we are invited to stretch beyond our comfort zone. A tightness in my chest, a opening of my heart, a widening of a smile, or the eruption of the pain which burst into tears force me to go beyond my usual comfort zone.
All this first week of 2018 I have been invited to stretch myself emotionally and spiritually. For this I am enormously grateful even though at times I wanted to run to my bedroom and shut out the world by pulling the down comforter over my head thus, pretending to block those parts of myself which are drawn out or reflected in an experience of a larger world.
Even without the invitation of Monet I merely have to move about my small home whose walls are filled with the challenges contained in the art of friends and acquaintances. Obviously, I choose to be surrounded by these invitations just as I choose to experience the Monet film yesterday.
Much else has taken place this week, but it is the energy which is release by art – paintings, music, dance, song, sculpture (whether contained in a cup, a garment, a large object in a museum or a public place) or even, at times, in the likes of the architecture of a Frank Lloyd Wright building – which will open the best in us to embrace each challenge –those delivered by Mother nature and those created by us.
Welcome 2018.
Written January 7, 2018
Goodness. The first week of 2018 has been a bitter cold one for many in the United States, but especially for those on the East Coast. Some of us even learned a new weather term, Bomb Cyclone. Who knew! At any rate, it was good for us humans to be reminded that we are not in charge. At the same time we are reminded we do affect how Mother Earth and the rest of the universe(s) function. Certainly, all the parts which make up the Universe are more powerful than this one old man. At the same time the exponential nature of love and disconnection is enormously powerful. Yesterday I attended a showing of the film “Exhibition on Screen: I, Claude Monet” and was again reminded of the exponential nature of beauty. Whether it was water lilies, other flowers, the London Bridge, the sea, grand Cathedrals,, or people, Monet, often, while begging for money to pay his rent, buy medicine or food for his family or to purchase art supplies, allowed himself to be present to beauty – to see a unique level of beauty – and then to create yet another level of beauty which has then gone on to continue to draw out the beauty in each of us who is fortunate enough to witness some of his paintings. Now with enhanced photography/film techniques we can see many of his works on the big screen. We have also been able for some time to sit in our living room and spend house at museums in many countries just absorbing the beauty and, often the challenges, to which we are invited to partake. Whether it is being confronted with our capacity for anger (imagine a de Kooning painting), the power of the Mother Nature as the force of the sea and the wind are depicted, or the depth of beauty erupting in the rich colors and forms of a Monet painting we are invited to stretch beyond our comfort zone. A tightness in my chest, a opening of my heart, a widening of a smile, or the eruption of the pain which burst into tears force me to go beyond my usual comfort zone.
All this first week of 2018 I have been invited to stretch myself emotionally and spiritually. For this I am enormously grateful even though at times I wanted to run to my bedroom and shut out the world by pulling the down comforter over my head thus, pretending to block those parts of myself which are drawn out or reflected in an experience of a larger world.
Even without the invitation of Monet I merely have to move about my small home whose walls are filled with the challenges contained in the art of friends and acquaintances. Obviously, I choose to be surrounded by these invitations just as I choose to experience the Monet film yesterday.
Much else has taken place this week, but it is the energy which is release by art – paintings, music, dance, song, sculpture (whether contained in a cup, a garment, a large object in a museum or a public place) or even, at times, in the likes of the architecture of a Frank Lloyd Wright building – which will open the best in us to embrace each challenge –those delivered by Mother nature and those created by us.
Welcome 2018.
Written January 7, 2018
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