March 13, 2013

Forwards, Backwards, and Sideways, and Away we go. 

How to begin what may be a lengthy journey into times past and weaving them into the present?  And more importantly, how to make them compelling and have them resonate with you, who are not...me?

Since I am not a left brain sort of human, my instinct says free-fall into the void, and trust that unexpected doorways will open onto remembered and invented backyards and alleys, and out into deep space, and down into subatomic universes. 

Here goes....

But first a few details of how I have prepared for this virtual dance.
By 3pm today I shall have scanned several thousand slides, the oldest of which date back the 1940's. Organizing and editing them will be an ongoing, daunting project.

My Goals are: To inspire, amuse, surprise, provoke

Disclaimer:  This is likely to be a messy process, but then again, living this life is, for all of us, a messy experience. All our attempts to tame the wild elephant are futile.  Observing and eventually revering the wild elephant leads to less frustration, and occasionally equanimity.

The Approach:  Merging images and words, finding unlikely juxtapositions, stimulating the creator and the observer to enter the wordless, imageless place, the dynamic void, the ground of becoming, from which IT ALL emerges. 

What inspired the impulse to start a blog?

When I was in my twenties and living in Paris, I became friends with Carlo Suares. He was in his mid eighties, had been a painter for more than fifty years, and was a close friend of Krishnamurti's. He had translated Khrishnamurti's writings into French. At the time I met him, he seemed to live in a perpetual state of awe that anything should exist at all. His child-like delight in whatever occurred left a lasting impression on me. 

Meeting and befriending Khrishnamurti and Carlo Surares eased me onto a path of deep questioning, meditation, yoga....and often more confusion. From both of them I learned that what we are taught to believe, who we think we are, is not at all related to truth. 

Perhaps this is the moment to share what I have observed, what I feel compelled to make, a look into my topsy-turvy world, in hopes that you will find something worth finding in it.


Let's just start somewhere early on, ok?  Thanks.

Here's a photo of me and my dog Wendy. She taught me about unconditional love. The Atlantic Ocean and the Fire Island dunes taught me to appreciate the most elemental forces. It was on Fire Island, without electricity or cars, that I was as happy as I have ever been. The music of the waves, the warmth of the soft sand under my bare feet, the feeling that all was almost as right as it could be in this unpredictable world. 


It is on Fire Island that I discovered that I was an artist. I endlessly collected and arranged shells and twigs and embedded them in the wet sand, and watched them be rearranged and destroyed by the the invading tides.

Sand castles with moats of course.
First  Important Lesson in Impermanence

Hugs,
Jason