The Mysterious Creative Unknown - a meandering...

Recently I watched a series called "Creative Energy Levels on
video by Donna Iona Drozda - artist/writer, and fellow blogger.
I watched the Intro and "0" (zero) videos, (there are 9 levels).
During the "0" video she talked of the zero being a symbol of
wholeness.  That was my Aha moment, and wrote in my journal -
"I need to come back to wholeness, come back to my Authentic
Being-Self!  My Natural State of Being.  I need to reclaim my
wholeness again.  So I started engaging in creating vortexes
with CrayPas oils.

~

Twenty years ago I worked with an artist/"spiritual teacher"
of the Kashmir Shaivism tradition who had a studio called:
"Art Iza Way."  He used creativity/art as a way of remembering
your True Self.  Now, I'm not an "artist", but I started drawing/
painting "vortexes" (top down) back then on pieces of poster
board with CrayPas oil sticks.  During sessions he would show
me how oftentimes figures would unexpectedly emerge in and
through the"art", depending on how you *looked* at it -
The Mysterious Creative Unknown.

He showed me how to *look* at art (life) from different angles,
turning it, or looking sideways at it, etc., and see what revealed
itself.  Interestingly my earlier vortexes didn't reveal anything
"mystical" :)  He was trying to show me through art, that
everything is a matter of perspective, which of course depends
on how you *see*, and from *where* you see. He would say:
"life is a play of perspectives."

He has since moved his studio, and calls it "Self Discovery Studio,"
and no longer offers "art" as part of his sessions, but uses
different styles of Self-inquiry through relaxed conversation, as
well as meditation, and sometimes chanting.

~

One night after listening to the "0" video in the Creative Energy
Levels series with Donna Iona Drozda, I decided I wanted to
revive doing vortexes.  So pulled some poster board from under
the bed, cut out an 11x11 piece, got the CrayPas oil sticks, picked 
the colors I was drawn to (usually 2 complimentary colors), used a
large piece of cardboard, which just happened to under the bed as
well, and just started rubbing the oil sticks in circles, one by one,
on a piece of poster board.  I worked on the floor on the piece of
cardboard.  It was 11:30pm.

It was exhilarating and calming at the same time - freeing, just going
round and round, creating circles with my fingers and thumb.  Then
I started blending the oils on the poster board with fingers and thumb,

also going in a circular motion.  The corrugated cardboard made
imprints as well, as I worked the oils together.

Working in this way there really was no intention.  There was no
expectation of what it will look like, other than a vortex, but
sometimes it surprised me.  It is the Creative Unknown that sometimes
emerges.  In the photo above a "figure" emerged.  It appeared to be a
hooded figure at first, then it seemed to be a cap with possibly a long
beard. I clearly saw a face with two eyes looking out at me.  I gasped,
and was excited.  I get excited when there is movement from
within; when "The Mystery" reveals Itself in some way, whether
through art, poems, or life itself...

The "far away" view here in the photo gives the overall look of this
mysterious figure.  In closer views the figure got lost, blended back
into the vortex.  It is seen better in person than what the camera can
capture, and you may not see anything at all, or you may see
something different.

It'z magical :)

Creativity can bring a new sense of wholeness and balance back into
life again;  and can "reconnect" me with my "Inner Life" - my Inner
Beingness - waiting to reveal Itself...

Mystic Meandering
Feb. 11, 2024

~

Art - Mystic Meandering
Vortex Art
Red Vortex with Figure
Feb 2024

 

Our True Nature - A Buddhist Perspective

Remember the clear light, the pure white light from which
everything in the universe comes, to which everything in the
universe returns; the original nature of your own mind.
The natural state of the universe unmanifest.

Let go into the clear light,
trust it, merge with it.
It is your own true nature,
it is home.

[.....]

No matter where or how far you wander, the light is only
a split second, a half breath away.  It is never too late to
recognize the clear light.

From the Tibetan Book of the Dead

Adapted and translated by W.Y. Evans-Wentz,
edited by Jack Kornfield

with thanks to The Beauty We Love

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

Fleeting Whispers...

Her past fades away -
mere images in a dreamland -
forgotten...

Her world fades away - unbelonging now -
a foreigner on a strange planet
whirling through space.
Kabuki theater...

Her mind fades - not remembering
the things she needs to remember -
unable to articulate what she has forgotten...

Her body fades - unable to do the things she used to do - 

challenged keeping pace with life -
frustration...

Her life, paper thin, fades to a shadowy form
unable to hold its color -
losing its luster...

We are impermanent, fleeting whispers of spirit
on a temporary journey -
this life experience...

And sometimes that story doesn't go the way
we have in mind...

It all fades away - eventually...

That is the natural state of things...

So she turns her inner compass
toward "Home" - toward Source -
that lies within her...

Mystic Meandering
Nov. 26, 2023

 

The Natural State - U G Krishnamurti

 The natural state is not the state of a self-realized God-realized 
man. It is not a thing to be achieved or attained, it is not a thing
to be willed into existence; it is there - it is the living state.
This state is just the functional activity of life.  By 'life' I do not
mean something abstract; it is the life of the senses, functioning
naturally without the interference of thought.

This state is a state of not knowing; you really don't know what
you are looking at.  I may look at the clock on the wall for half
an hour - still I do not read the time.  I don't know it is a clock.
All there is inside is wonderment.  The whole of my being is
like a single, big question mark.  It is a state of wonder, of
wondering, because I just do not know...  The knowledge of it -
all I have learned - is held in the background...

You can never understand the tremendous peace that is always
there within you, that is your natural state.  Your trying to
create a peaceful state of mind is in fact creating disturbance
within you.  You can only talk of peace, create a state of mind
and say to yourself that you are very peaceful - but that is not
peace.  So there is no use in practicing peace, there is no reason
to practice silence.  Real silence is not a dead state of mind that
spiritual seekers think. Silence is bubbling all the time - the 
energy, the life - that is its quality.  You may ask how I know.
I don't know.  Life is aware of itself, if we can put it that way -
it is conscious of itself...

UG Krishnamurti

with thanks to No Mind's Land

~

Our  Luminous Essence
is,just waiting to be discovered...

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

Children of "The Mystery"...

 As children of "The Mystery"
we wander - sometimes from refuge to refuge,
belief to belief,
trying to find what we originally are -
our Original Face,
our Indigenous Nature - beyond tribe;
not of place or time - but
before beliefs, concepts, dogma and doctrine.
We search until we recognize that
Inherent Nature within again and again;
until we have a felt sense of that which
animates our very being; until that
Intrinsic Fundamental Nature
shines through;
until we feel it as that
which we Are - "The Mystery" - in form -
embodied...

Not unknowable, but viscerally tangible...
the intuitive "knowing" of what we Innately Are -
our Living Naturalness...

And our being delights in the recognition -
as "The Mystery" responds with delight in us!
with playfulness and song!
- at being recognized...

Liberated!

Mystic Meandering
Oct. 20, 2020

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering
I was sitting across the room from the window one morning
with the window open, and saw this "Spirit Face" looking in...
the play of light and shadow on the bushes outside the window.
Hope you can see her.  I sat in awe and wonder as "she" peered
through the window with shadowy eyes, looking downward
to the left...

~

What I call "The Mystery" in this poem has many names.
Sometimes I have called it Eternal Being, True Self, True
Nature, Source, The Silence, The Universe, Core Being,
our Essence, The Beloved, and so on...

The Sandbox of Life - Joan Ruvinsky

 "Embodied liberation" means fully experiencing life as it
passes through us: Celebrations, catastrophes and all the
boring bits in between.  "This"- the Unspeakable - is
wholly present throughout the ups and downs, joys and
tribulations, work life, love life, whether monk or householder.

Thoughts do not have to cease, likes and dislikes do not
have to disappear, dress code, name and personality do not
have to change.  There is no particular image to which the one
who is "liberated' need conform.  Cultural trappings are not
necessary.  The West has often been impressed by the outward
image or appearance  of the co-called "enlightened being",
but had often judged its homegrown saints by false criteria.
Jeans and sneakers are fine.  Orange robes are fine. A business
suit is fine.  Who is to judge?  Who is to compare?  Even
saints eat ice cream.

The behavior of someone who is "liberated" in this lifetime 
is often unpredictable.  Consciousness, of her own inherent
spontaneity, manifests variously.  Personality characteristics
such as joy, warmth, compassion, and sympathy are not
necessarily foolproof markers of "enlightenment."

This bliss/joy of Consciousness is simply resting in what is.
It may not be obvious to an onlooker, as it is at a vibrational
level far above the ordinary perception through the five senses.
This bliss/joy abides regardless of what we are doing or
thinking...  It is unconditioned and ever-present.

We can play all we want in the sandbox [of life], but we
always know where home is.  Even at play, we are at home.

Joan Ruvinsky
From: The Recognition of Our Own Heart

~

Personal Note:  In my new found sense of  playful "freedom"
I do not feel "liberated" from anything, in the traditional
sense of the word, nor was it a goal that I was trying to 
achieve.  It just happened spontaneously, uncontrived, when
I started tapping into my Child-like Nature, aka our Natural State,
 - internally feeling "liberated" from the inner struggle
 to "figure it all out" - this "spiritual" thing that I've been
 doing for the past 37 years or more...

There is a new sense of "freedom" to just be myself in this new
found playful attitude with life; accepting myself as I am, 
as I express my Natural Nature; tapping into the "magic" or
"mystical" side of life through playfulness - spontaneously
navigating my way through life as it is...

~

The bliss/joy of our Natural State allows us to feel "liberated."

Mitch Rosacker
Self Discovery Studio

~

Life is a playground.....
We must play, retiring at night
empty-handed and tired...

Ari Hanarvar

From: Rumi's Gifts

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

Fixed Ideas - Zen Master Daehaeng

 Fixed ideas are like a wisp of cloud or smoke,
but nonetheless people find themselves blocked
or captured by these.

You would laugh if you saw someone tripped by
a cloud, or if someone claimed that they were
imprisoned by the air.  But, in fact, people are
endlessly being trapped by things no more
substantial than air or clouds.

They make a wall with their mind, and then it
imprisons them.  Inherently, there is no wall or
anything to trip over.  These things are mirages
they've created from thoughts they gave rise to.
Do not insist upon your own fixed ideas.

Your persistence is your own narrow mind.  If
your mind is broad, it can easily embrace the
entire world.  However, if your mind is narrow, 
even a needle cannot enter.  You have to keep
letting go of your stubbornness, and always
be deeply respectful of all life...

Learn to step out of your fixed ideas.

When we return to our Inherent Nature, which is
our most true and natural state, then the true
reality of everything is automatically revealed.

Letting go and resting - entrusting everything to your
underlying Essence/Natural State means returning
to our Fundamental Nature.

Zen Master Daehaeng
From - No River to Cross

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

Recognize Your Eternal Self - Mooji

The mind fears...
What is the message in fear?
Find the message in fear...

Fear empties itself as soon as there is revelation...

YOU (theTrue Self) are before the movement
of fear that arises...

Realize your Self that is before time,
before phenomenon...

Wake up to the recognition of your Eternal Self.
[That is] the Awareness in which fear occurs.

Just keep quiet...

Don't identify with the reactions and interactions,
just feel your Existence and let the fear burn off...

Identify with the Presence that sees,
and stay with this Presence,
and you'll come to a place of
complete [internal] Stillness...

There is Stillness in that space of fear...

When fear is met
what expands is a sense of spaciousness...

There is an intuitive sense that you and the
spaciousness of Stillness are one.

There is no separation...

In this place your mind of fear will not have
much power because you're in your Natural State
of Awareness.

Mooji

~

"On acquiring strength of vision she recognizes
the Universe as Her very own Self"

verse 15, The Pratyabhijnahrdayam

~

Photo - Mystic Meandering

Primordial Pool of Silence...

Days unfold like rushing waterfalls.
Nights I welcome the silence;
just sitting, just being,
allowing
the flow of the day to come to the edge
and gently fall away...

A smooth, sliding movement
finding its own rhythm empties out
the eddies of life...

Letting go of trying,
trying to make sense of life;
trying to make something happen.

Just deeply resting...

Just falling off the edge,
effortlessly,
into the still pool
of Primordial Silence...

Mentations slip away;
the mind finally resting...

Feeling the gentle, rhythmic
movement of Silence envelope my being,
I fall into its soft crevice,
into the folds of deep Stillness,
the softness of just Being...

The Natural State...

Mystic Meandering
2012

~

FunQi Art
2009

Vulnerability - David Whyte

Vulnerability is not a weakness, a passing indisposition, or
something we can arrange to do without.  Vulnerability is not a
choice, vulnerability is the underlying, ever present and abiding
undercurrent of our natural state.  To run from vulnerability is to
run from the essence of our nature.  The attempt to be invulnerable
is the vain attempt to become something we are not and most
especially, to close off our understanding of the grief of others.
More seriously, in refusing our vulnerability we refuse the help
needed at every turn of our existence.

To have a temporary, isolated sense of power over all events
and circumstances is a lovely illussionary privilege and perhaps
the prime and most beautifully constructed conceit of being human
and especially of being youthful human, but it is a privilege that
must be surrendered with that same youth, with ill health, with
loss of loved ones who do not share our untouchable powers;
powers eventually and most emphatically given up, as we
approach our last breath.

The only choice we have as we mature is how we inhabit our
vulnerability, how we become more courageous and more
compassionate through our intimacy with disappearance.
Our choice is to inhabit vulnerability as generous citizens of
 loss, robustly and fully, or conversely, as misers and complainers,
reluctant and fearful, always at the gates of existence, but never
walking fully through the door...


David Whyte

Excerpt from
Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying
Meaning of Everyday Words

Allow Everything Meditation - Adyashanti

In this form of meditation you are not leading the way,
you're not controlling.
It's almost like being a passenger in a car.

Instead of controlling your experience,
you're a passenger to your experience.

You're watching it and letting it be however it's going to be.
When you're more a passenger to your experience,
you can watch what naturally happens,
when you have no idea of what should happen
or where you're going.

You'll naturally come into more of a state of listening.
Listen, watch, see what happens.
Just allow awareness to flow wherever it wants to;
to be aware of whatever it wants to be aware of.

As you allow awareness to go where it wants,
rather than where you want it to go
it unwinds your thoughts, it unwinds your mind,
and your body.

So instead of seeing where you can direct awareness,
you're actually seeing where awareness will take you
when you let it go wherever it wants.

Nothing is held onto. Nothing pushed away.
Allow everything to take its natural course.

Make no effort to enhance or sustain anything.

Just have the notion that you will continue to allow
everything to be, as it is, as it wants to be,
and that you will continue to allow awareness
to go where it wants to go...

Adyashanti
An excerpt from his guided meditation.
from the CD set: "Spontaneous Awakening"
2005

Ebb and Flow - Ivan Granger

When the face of Ever-Presence is known,
all concreteness spontaneously fades away...
Kelsang Gyatso

The vivid appearance of the external world can become a trap
for the distracted mind.  We can get caught in constant reaction,
running after pleasure, running from pain.

In the truly natural state, awareness is at rest, perceiving without
tension, encountering reality without an overlay of stories,
without attraction or repulsion.
In that Pure Awareness, life becomes a flow of events and
interactions, not pushed by the self-will of likes and dislikes.

We are simply as we are...
Events simply unfold...

...life experience; its waning and waxing is simply its natural flow.

Ivan Granger
Poetry Chaikhana

~*~

Our lives are like rivers.
Eventually they go where they must,
not where we want
them to...

From the movie - "Empire Falls"

Falling Off The Edge...

Days unfold like waterfalls.
Nights are welcome Silence
at the window -
just sitting,
allowing
the flow
of the
day
to
come
to
the
edge
and
gently
fall
away

~
~
~

into
rest

~
~

~

A smooth
sliding
movement
of
awareness
finding
its
own
Rhythm
empties
out
the
eddies
of
life

~
~
~

Letting go
of trying

trying
to
make
sense
of
life;
trying
to
make
anything
happen

~
~
~

Just deeply relaxing

Just
 falling

 e
f
f
o
r
t
l
e
s
s
l
y

into
the
still
rest
 of inner
Silence
~
~
~
the mind
slips off the edge
and
down
the
sides

~
~
~
resting

Sitting
under
the
cascading
              waterfall of
                                   deep Silence
feeling
               the gentle
rhythmic
              movement
envelope
           my being
I slip
       into
           its
                    soft
                                  crevice

            into the
 folds of
                         deep
                                               Stillness

the softness
of
just Being
~
~
~


The Natural State
~
~
~

Mystic Meandering

©April 23, 2012

Fun-Qi Art™
Oct. 2009