For the Senses

Are you mindful of how you are moving through the world at any given moment? The senses connecting with all that you encounter. The sensuous world is alive. In The Spell of the Sensuous, David Abram writes: "Direct sensuous reality, in all its more-than-human mystery, remains the sole solid touchstone for an experiential world now inundated with electronically-generated vistas and engineered pleasures; only in regular contact with the tangible ground and sky can we learn how to orient and to navigate in the multiple dimensions that now claim us." Simply stated: stop and smell the roses today...and every day. Life is sweet and all too short. For me, today, beauty abounds in the summer garden and inspiration from the late Irish poet and mystic, John O'Donohue.

For the Senses

May the touch of your skin
Register the beauty
Of the otherness
That surrounds you

May your listening be attuned
To the deeper silence
Where sound is honed
To bring distance home.

May the fragrance
Of a breathing meadow
Refresh your heart
And remind you you are
A child of the earth.

And when you partake
Of food and drink,
May your taste quicken
To the gift and sweetness
That flows from the earth.

May your inner eye
See through the surfaces
And glean the real presence
Of everything that meets you

May your soul beautify
The desire of your eyes
That you might glimpse
The infinity that hides
In the simple sights
That seem worn
To your usual eyes.

John O'Donohue (1956-2008)

Beauty is the Reset Button

Courting the Sky from Daniel Dancer on Vimeo.

I have been reading Daniel Dancer's book "Desperate Prayers: A Quest for Sense in a Senseless Time." Sacred art in service to the healing of our beloved Earth, Pachamama. He writes: "We are at a point in human history where the entire world needs to get how beautiful it is...Beauty is the 'reset button' at this point in human history, BEAUTY is it." Kindred soul. Watch the video to learn more!

Communing with the Creation

Summer Greetings from my July Newsletter:  
Summer has finally arrived in the Pacific Northwest. While the rest of the country has been living under crushing heat waves, here in Oregon our rainy season lasted well into June. Given the level of drought not only in the U.S. but around the world, I bow with gratitude for the life-giving rain. But today, on this gorgeous Sunday morning, I'm thrilled to be sitting in my garden, sipping coffee and listening to the birdsong as I write this note to you. Jays, juncos, and spotted towhees make haste to the freshly-filled feeder while others splash about in the bath hanging from a Ponderosa Pine, waiting their turn.

In last months newsletter (see previous post), I shared how "art saves lives," and indeed saved my life twenty years ago. I also believe like many of us that the natural world can also heal our hearts and bring us peace during these challenging times--personally and collectively. All too often though with the advent of technology, demands of family, and the fast pace of our modern world, we don't take enough time to nurture our souls by communing with the earth. There is a common belief that one need be "out in nature," camping or hiking, etc. However, if we can remember that we are always "in the Creation" at any given moment even in the city, we have the opportunity throughout each day to connect to the beauty that is around us. We need only stop what we are doing and be present to that which is before us. To the air we're breathing. The trees we pass on the road. The food we eat. The water we drink. The bird in that tree...right over there.

From naturalist Terry Tempest Williams: "How to create time, how to create buffers around us so that we are doing nothing. I think that may be our biggest disease right now--the disease of busyness. With all these modern conveniences that are supposed to be time-savers, I think we've never had less time. So I think creating open space, time to do nothing, time to love, time to be, time to dream, to think, to walk, is its own act of civil disobedience."

For me, at this time of year, I take my contemplative practices outside. For example, I practice what I call "bird meditation." Here I use the word meditation loosely. Like one of my spiritual teachers, Adyashanti, I consider this practice a form of silent sitting. Most often the notion of meditation is tied to a rigorous practice utilizing breath and body with a desired outcome in mind. Typically "enlightenment" or freedom from some sort of emotional or mental anguish, or suffering, etc. For Adya this is another form of striving much like anything we undertake in our lives which only adds to our suffering. Here, the ego strives for control which ultimately leads to more feelings of failure and self-criticism. Instead, this silent sitting, or bird meditation in my example, allows for simply letting everything be as it is with no striving. You cannot "fail" with this practice. You are simply present to all that is around you, within and without including the Creation, the earth, which is holy and worthy of our reverence.   

In the morning, I spend forty-five minutes to an hour silently sitting which often begins with reading a sacred text such as poetry. In silence and stillness, being with what is in this present moment, grounds me before I begin my work day. You may not have an hour, but even fifteen minutes a day before you turn on your computer or phone, can make a difference and bring some inner peace into your world. Try it and let me know what you discover. 
 
For love of the EARTH!  
 Amy    
  
A Beauty Blessing
-John O'Donohue
 
As stillness in stone to silence is wed
May your heart be somewhere a God might dwell.
 
As a river flows in ideal sequence
May your soul discover time in presence.
 
As the moon absolves the dark of resistance
May thought-light console your mind with brightness.
 
As the breath of light awakens colour
May the dawn anoint your eyes with wonder.
 
As spring rain softens the earth with surprise
May your winter places be kissed by light.
 
As the ocean dreams to the joy of dance
May the grace of change bring you elegance.
 
As clay anchors a tree in light and wind
May your outer life grow from peace within.
 
As twilight fills night with bright horizons
May beauty await you at home beyond.

Looking at Art

“Looking at art can be as necessary, as nourishing as opening the window, as inspecting one’s soul through the eyes looking back in the mirror. Art offers a window that opens into self and other. Not a literal window as in a Matisse painting, but an opening that allows us to look outside ourselves, into ourselves. Art reflects and transmits light and dark, spirit and soul, awareness, the invigorating, refreshing challenge of a new vision.”

-J. Gendler from ‘Notes on the Need for Beauty’

Art Saves Lives

From Sacred Art Studio June newsletter:

Driving around town, I often see a bumper sticker that says, Art Saves Lives. And I say aloud to myself--to the universe, "oh yes." I believe in my heart that if it hadn't been for painting, I might not be alive today. Art saved my life and continues to...every day. I've often said this to people (and write of my story often here at my blog) though many may not know the extent of what that means for me. Twenty-two years ago, I was in the darkest period of my life in the wake of my brother's death from AIDS followed by the sudden death of my mother nine months later. Feeling alone in my grief, I began a rapid descent into the underworld, abusing alcohol and sex. I lost count of how many times I drove drunk and thank the gods that I didn't get thrown in jail or worse--kill someone. By this time, I was on collision course with my own premature death. Although I had studied fine art as an undergraduate, I was working long hours at my first design job out of college, so there wasn't much time for painting; although I always had my easel set up in the corner of my apartment. A canvas silently waiting for that one moment to arrive. I learned very quickly that our culture does not deal well (if at all) with death or grief and over time I became more and more isolated. One fortuitous, albeit drunken night, I picked up a brush and began to paint. For me, that painting (shown below) was the start of my healing journey.

Livingstone Daisy with Urn ©1991 Amy Livingstone

My work as evolved over the years and illustrates a slow emergence from the dark into the light to the sacred art that it is today. Out of my grief came deep compassion and a new worldview which has guided me over the years in serving the healing of our world. Art as sacred activism.

Painting (or sculpting) continues to ease my aching heart around the ecological crisis. When I'm feeling despair for the earth and her creatures, painting, creating beauty, is what sustains me. To quote author and environmentalist Terry Tempest Williams: "How do we find beauty in a broken world? By creating beauty in the world we find." The video for the "Lovers of Creation" is in process (coming soon) and am at work on a large "Interfaith World Tree" painting. Lately however, in the early hours of the day, I have been exploring small "Odes to Beauty" inspired by my garden. Art as meditation. (See more paintings at the Sacred Art Studio Facebook fan page.)

Ode to Beauty: Morning Glory

This practice as emerged out of suddenly becoming a caretaker for my elder father and his wife. Witnessing their suffering--both physically and psycho-spiritually--is heartbreaking and challenging. I believe that all the work that I have accomplished spiritually and professionally has led me to this place. I also know from my life's journey that my creative process will continue to be my saving grace as we travel this path together.

I share my story with you and encourage you to pick up a paint brush or a pen. A guitar. Dance. Sing. Imagine a world where art and creativity are valued above war, greed, and material 'success.' My new bumper sticker reads "Make Art. Make Love. Make a Difference."What does yours say?

For love of the EARTH!   

Hope and HeART

From the Sacred Art Studio May newsletter:
Welcome to all the new subscribers, many who signed up during Earth & Spirit Council's Earth Day Conference at PCC Sylvania. It was a sacred gathering of like-hearted beings that brought together our youth and elders to honor the Earth, learn from our indigenous teachers, and find hope and heart during this time of evolutionary transformation. I facilitated one of the many workshops that were presented throughout the day: "Opening the Heart through Art." Expressing our gratitude and/or grief for the living Earth through the creative process, we created personal heart mandalas.

One of the participants shared with us afterwards that during the visualization, she was feeling fear but through the process of creating her mandala she was able to move through it. For me, this once again affirms what I believe to be the power of art to heal our hearts and our world. This illustrates that it isn't about the denial of the fear (or grief, helplessness, anger, etc) but acknowledging it, allowing ourselves to feel it, transforming it through our creativity, and ultimately, inspiring us to action. 
 
When I arrived for the opening ceremony I wasn't feeling very hopeful (climate change, species extinction, political rhetoric...you name it) but by the end of the conference, I walked away inspired and believing that, yes, art matters more than ever now. That we indeed must harness all of our innate creativity in order to serve the healing of our world. Each of us a role to play and it is our job to claim that in whatever form it may take. To quote Buddha, "Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it." 
 
At the conference, when asked what can we as individuals can do, Grandmother Agnes Baker-Pilgrim, one of the Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, said, "Use what ya got. Keep your eyes and ears open. Then act on what you see and what you hear. Use your voice." Seems pretty straight forward to me! A friend just shared with me an example of this. Walking in a local nature preserve recently, she encountered a father and son carelessly walking through a bird-nesting area. She saw this, and out of deep love for the birds, pointed out the situation. They essential ridiculed her for this and a confrontation ensued, with the father shouting that she was insane. Bereft by their lack of concern, she continued to speak out and though it might not have changed their behavior, she is now in the process of working with local organizations to create some form of protection for these creatures whether through fencing or signage. A small act perhaps but as Mother Teresa said: "We can do no great things, only small things with great love."
 
What is your work? 
What can you give voice to today?
 
I'm currently having fun preparing for an Art as Sacred Journey workshop that I am facilitating at Unitarian Universalist church in Vancouver on May 5. An annual retreat day for the women of the congregation, the day will focus on reclaiming art as our sacred inheritance, exploring the awe and wonder of creation, opening the heart through sharing our concerns/pain for the earth, practicing art-as-meditation, and finding ways our creativity can serve our world. For more information on my workshops visit my web site here. I'm no longer offering day-long workshops at my studio due to space limitations, but I am available to come to your church, organization, or community. Contact me for more information.  
 
I am also excited to be in the process of filming my large scale painting "Lovers of Creation" or a short documentary/video currently titled, "Journey into the Creation." Thanks to filmmaker Deb Rodney for co-creating this vision with me. As many of you know who have been following the creation of this triptych (3-panels), it was inspired originally by my grief during the Gulf Oil spill. The painting brings together symbolism from both earth-based spirituality and the Garden of Eden narrative in order to illustrate our interconnectedness in the web of Creation, reclaim our indigenous roots, inspire us to be good stewards, and to raise awareness (and funds) around of the plight of endangered species. And for beauty which I believe can awaken us to new ways of being, new ways of seeing.  
 
"Humanity's materialistic worldview must transition to a sacred view of Oneness with the environment and cosmos or risk self-destruction due to continued abuse of the life-web. Great works in the creative arts call us to imagine our higher unity as humanity evolves toward a sustainable planetary civilization." -Alex Grey, spiritual artist.
 
As always, I welcome your thoughts.
 
For love of the EARTH!