All Paths Lead "hOMe"...

“…our lives only make sense when understood as a sacred quest for the True Self.”

“…all human beings are born with the seed of Awake, Conscious mind.

“…this inborn seed of Consciousness will call to us, and, finally will
compel us on our pilgrimage to Awakening…”
”…the True Self for which we are searching
is also searching for us.”

Stephen Cope
Yoga and the Quest for the True Self
(caps are mine)
See an excerpt from his book here…

“The Self is like a powerful magnet within us.
It draws us gradually to ItSelf…
It is the [Divine] magnet
that is pulling us towards ItSelf.
Thus the process of finding the Self
is a form of Divine Magnetism.”

Ramana Maharshi

~*~ 

Contemplative Art:

All Paths Lead “hOMe”

(Unfortunately the photo
is not a good representation.
It flattens the textured look.)

I woke up Monday morning knowing I wanted to get back to painting again, not just the mandala art, but painting on canvas. I pulled out an old canvas that I had been working on last Fall, that I could not redeem.  It had the most awful bright orange color right in the middle of it (wish I had gotten a photo J) – you can still see specks.  WHAT was I thinking! Lol…   So I painted over everything with Green and Cobalt Turqoise – the orginal base colors.  The only form remaining was this cross-like form in the middle (formerly painted orange J).  My painting experience tends to be very visceral. So for whatever reason I started using my finger nail on the layer that I had just painted after it was partially dry, scratching at areas of paint, revealing an almost black layer below – giving the painting a textured, worn Patina-like look. (The top photo gives it more of a blue look, and doesn't really show the detail.) You can see it better in the close-up below.  I then painted the Gold OM/Aum in the middle - ancient symbol of the Infinite - as to what we are constantly being drawn to.

In contemplating this piece, it reminds me that we’re all oxidizing, we’re all returning to our original state of Being, not only physically, but even our sense of self/me is oxidizing - if we are on a path of "awakening."  The sense of "me" gradually wears away as we move into a greater awareness of Being.  No matter how many paths we’ve taken, or how well-worn our path may be, all paths still lead “hOMe” – to the Awakened Self, the Divine within that draws us to ItSelf…