One of my favorite things to do in Chicago on Good Friday is to participate in the reinactment of the Stations of the Cross in Pilsen. If you live in Chicago and want a dose of religion and Mexico, you won't be disappointed.
I will be spending the next few days at a Buddhist Vipassanā retreat titled A Resilient Heart with Sharon Salzberg at the Insight Meditation Society This is my daily schedule...
5:30 am – Wake up 6:00 am – Sitting meditation
.... 6:30 am – Breakfast .....
7:15 am – Work as practice period 8:15 am – Sitting meditation with instructions 9:15 am – Walking meditation 10:00 am – Sitting meditation 10:45 am – Walking meditation or interviews with teachers 11:30 am – Sitting meditation
Found this article, How Genius Works, in the Atlantic. It is filled with interesting thoughts and ideas on creativity.
"Great art begins with an idea. Sometimes a vague or even bad one. How does that spark of creativity find its way to the canvas, the page, the dinner plate, or the movie screen? How is inspiration refined into the forms that delight or provoke us? We enlisted some of America’s foremost artists to discuss the sometimes messy, frequently maddening, and almost always mysterious process of creating something new."
Here is a video on Chuck Close and Paul Simon talking about their process.
Be sure to check out the article in full by clicking HERE.
Waking up to who I am...this seems to be the thread that is most prominent in my thinking this year. I am actively working on trying to distill the remainder of my life to the most essential elements, if that is even possible.... how do I choose to spend my time and how do I want to funnel my energies.
I heard a wonderful piece on the Bob Edwards radio show this morning as he interviewed Filmmaker Tom Shadyac who has just released the movie, I AM. I have seen the trailers and can't wait to see the movie in the theater. The podcast of the interview is HERE.
"Everyday, we are assaulted with messages, images, slogans, and sound bites, that tell us of our inadequacies, the sad state of affairs that is you and me: “With this product, you can lose weight, with this one, you can gain muscle; if your breasts sag, our bra lifts them up; if you have wrinkles, this cream irons them out; if you’re sad, we have a pill that will make you happy; if you’re too happy, we have a pill that will bring you down; if you’re not as much of a man as you used to be, this pill will straighten you out (literally!). And everyone who’s anyone has itunes, the iphone, and the ipad, am I clear?
And we participate in this maddening chatter unaware, telling our kids that in order to succeed they have to get the best grades, get into the right school, and get the right job. We tell them that one day they must stop all this horsing around and get serious with their lives; we ask them who they are going to be when they grow up, warning them that life is all down hill after 22, declaring college the best four years of their lives; and finally, if they are lucky, they just might make something of themselves in this dog eat dog world. It’s enough to stress you out completely – but of course there’s a pill that can fix that, too.
Is this how life really is? Is our identity simply conditional and fragile? Is who we are really defined by the things we own, our job status, and the social circles we run in?
The mystics, those saints and sages who saw through to the inner workings of reality, proclaimed something very different. A little background here: The word “mystic” comes from the Latin word, “mysterium”, from which we also get the word, mystery. Thus, a mystic is one who sees into the mystery. So what exactly did the mystics see? And what does their vision of reality reveal about who and what we are?
Here’s what Thomas Merton said, after decades of meditation and contemplation: “As if the sorrows and stupidities of the world could overwhelm me now that I realize what we all are. I wish everyone could realize this, but there is no way of telling people they are all walking around shining like the sun.”
Shining like the sun. That’s you. He didn’t say, shining like the sun after you can afford the new electric Chevy Volt. He didn’t say, shining like the sun after your bust gets lifted. What he said was, right now, in this moment, with all of your imperfections, with all of your challenges in the temporal, with all of your worldly failures and successes, you are walking around shining like the sun!
Merton goes one step further with this concluding insight: “I am finally coming to the realization that my greatest ambition is to be what I already am.” Wait a minute. What about worldly status and success and power? Merton saw through all of that, and invites us to do the same. Can you imagine? What a lesson to embrace, to embody and even, to teach; to declare to our kids they don’t have to be someone, they already are someone. Now the cynic will undoubtedly rise up and warn that this will poison our youth; they will be so inflated with their own identity, they will surely sit back and do nothing. Quite the opposite is true. This knowledge compels those it touches, Jesus, Gandhi, St. Francis, Mother Theresa, Rumi, and Hafiz, to walk with power, to use their talents for the good of all, without the drag of invented pressure to measure up to some arbitrary social standard.
You see, (and it is a matter of sight!), what we are telling ourselves, the command to succeed and be someone, is just a story; it’s a story based on expectations. It’s temporal and finite. It is not who you really are. The Sufi mystic, Meera, wisely said: “You cannot play your role in time, until you know who you are in eternity.” And who you are is a drop in the ocean of divinity. Inside you is starlight. Inside you is the same infinite energy that created the universe. As the modern mystic, Irwin Kula, knew, “Everything is god in drag.”
So the next time you’re told you need to be somebody, rest in the knowledge that you already are. Hafiz implores us to wake up to this truth when he says: “I wish I could show you, when you are lonely or in darkness, the astonishing light of your own being.” Now what iphone or ipad, what present day pill or product can deliver that?"
I just finished watching the award winning documentary, The Cove. It was an AMAZING film. Such courage and passion. In it there was the following quote....
"Never depend upon institutions or government to solve any problem. All social movements are founded by, guided by, motivated and seen through by the passion of individuals. " Margaret Mead
I ran across the work of Larson + Shindelman a while ago and was so impressed with it. It is really clever in its treatment of our current state of communication.
Geolocation: Tributes to the Data Stream was created in 2009.
In their words...
"Each morning we follow strangers through their Twitter updates, becoming intimately involved in their banal daily errands. We imagine ourselves as virtual flâneurs, exploring cities 140 characters at a time through the lives of others. Sometimes we follow these strangers for a day and other times for months, following the ups and downs of their posts to this public venue.
Using publicly available embedded geotag information in Twitter updates, we track the locations of users through their GPS coordinates and make a photograph to mark the location in the real world. Each of these photographs is taken on the site of the update and paired with the originating text.
We think of these photographs as historical monuments to small lived moments, selecting texts that reveal something about the personal nature of the users' lives or the national climate of the United States. It is also grounds the virtual reality of social networking data streams in their originating locations in the physical world while examining how the nature of one's physical space may influence online presence."
I have so much to say but have not had the time or space to articulate it.
This year has been amazing...the latest chapter involved caring for my parents, aged 90 and 91, after my mother's cardiac complications. I spent 3 weeks with them, one of which was in a hospital where they played the Brahams Lullaby every time a baby was born. When I first heard it, I thought they were trying to subtly tell everyone it was rest time! It was a wonderful reminder of the life cycle.
This was the monarch butterfly arrangement I placed in my mother's hospital window. Much to my surprise and delight I was witness to the real thing fluttering on the other side of the window pane.
The three weeks were filled with so many moments of grace. I feel fortunate to have had the time with my parents and felt completely in the moment. While there, I was reading a review of David Foster Wallace's new book, The Pale King. In it he states,
"Happiness... is the ability to pay attention, to live in the present moment, to find “second-by-second joy + gratitude at the gift of being alive.”
"It has been one month since the first earthquake and tsunami washed across Sendai and the northeast coast of Japan. 30 days ago we launched Life Support Japan, a creative community of photographers contributing to help in the recovery efforts. Since then, with almost 700 sales and 1,000 prints we have raised over $50,000 to help the people of Japan begin their recovery. We have delivered $25,000 to Direct Relief International, and the check for Habitat for Humanity is soon to be on its way. Thank you all for your efforts, your support and your belief in our cause. It is because of you we can make a difference. I am humbled by our efforts, and am filled with pride to be part of this amazing group of caring people."
It is truly amazing what is possible with some imagination and an open heart.
Just heard about this on NPR...a new piece is coming out tomorrow on You Tube. It is a wonderful counterpoint to the stalemate in DC on the budget...wake up you elected officials and start working together!
I was unable to make the opening but happy to find this on their website:
Dear Friends, For those of you who live just a bit too far to swing by Dumbo to check out the show fear not, for we've got you covered: We've put together a slideshow of all the wonderful work that comprises the Provocation show, so sit back and enjoy!
thought you might enjoy this... posted on facebook under relationship status update from Emily and Joe
In response to a comment left by the amazing Welsh painter, Helen Booth, just thought I would let you know that Emily is my niece and a very talented photographer...her website is here.
A silent auction will be held on Saturday, March 19th at the Jennifer Schwartz Gallery in Georgia. Wonderful work is available and you don't have to attend it to bid. A great way to collect! All proceeds benefit Direct Relief International and Habitat for Humanity Japan.
Maiko Takaku, Matsuo Kabuki (2003) by Hiroshi Watanbe
And a Chicago benefit will take place titled, "Japan We Care," organized by the group efforts of Fernando Xavier Chavarria, Sean Haley, Ruben Antonio Borrero Veaz, Rene Romero, Cordell Johnson, Cleveland Dean, Caswell James, Christian Vera Soulphonetics. I will have a print and signed book for sale to highest bidder.
Location: Butterfly Social Club Time: 7:00PM Sunday, March 20th
Friday morning I checking into Facebook and read Aline Smithson's entry "We are preparing ourselves for something on the west coast...all very unnerving. Thoughts and sympathies to all friends in Japan." I had no idea what she was talking about...only that she lives in LA and I have many relatives on the west coast. I quickly checked into the news and learned about the devastating earthquake.
Within hours, Aline and Wall Space Gallery director, Crista Dix's put together Life-Support Japan with the contributions of many, many photographers. The print sale has raised nearly $6,000 in 24 hours. 100% of the proceeds benefit Direct Relief International and Habitat for Humanity. It is so impressive.
If you were thinking of contributing please check out the site. More prints will be added daily.
I was in Whole Foods yesterday riding the elevator up to the parking lot with a petite Indian woman who has been a bagger there forever. As we were getting out of the elevator she said she could smell incense. I was so shocked because I had used it during my morning meditation but had since swam in a chlorine filled pool and showered. I was so surprised that there was any residue left.
I said yes, that I had just returned from India. Well, the flood gates opened for both of us. She, Amma, had been raised in Kerala and there was this immediate connection between us. She proceeded to show me her prayer beads that were tucked carefully under her shirt.
I can't help but wonder if all those water purification rituals I participated in have some how changed my very essence. It would be nice to think so!
my guide for the purifying baths at the Sri Ramanathaswamy Temple on Rameswaram Island at the southern tip of Tamil Nadu
the 10th purifying bath taken from one of the 22 wells within the temple containing water from different holy places
