9.25.23

Thought

A painter, who finds no satisfaction in mere representation, however artistic, in his longing to express his inner life, cannot but envy the ease with which music, the most non-material of the arts today, achieves this end. He naturally seeks to apply the methods of music to his own art. And from this results that modern desire for rhythm in painting, for mathematical, abstract construction, for repeated notes of colour, for setting colour in motion…

… And so the arts are encroaching one upon another, and from a proper use of this encroachment will rise the art that is truly monumental. Every man who steeps himself in the spiritual possibilities of his art is a valuable helper in the building of the spiritual pyramid which will some day reach to heaven.

— Wassily Kandinsky. Concerning the Spiritual in Art

Quote

 Philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti on self-knowledge:

"The more you know yourself, the more clarity there is. Self-knowledge has no end."

Intention of the Day

My intention is to love myself fully today and through every step of this journey.

What is your intention today?

Happy Monday,

Val

9.18.23

Thought

The sociologist George Herbert Meade called this “the interiorized other.” That is to say, we have a kind of interior picture, a vague sense of who we are, and of what the reaction of other people to us says about who we are. That reaction is almost invariably communicated to us through what other people say and think, but soon we learn to maintain the commentary on our own, and each thought or observation is then compared to the idea we have formed.

Therefore this image becomes interiorized — a second self who is commenting all the time upon what the first one is doing — and in any given situation we must either rationalize why a certain behavior is consistent with that image, or force ourselves to change that behavior, or fail to change it and feel guilty for failing. The difficulty with this is that although it is exceedingly important for all purposes of civilized intercourse and personal relationships to be able to make sense of what we are doing, and of what other people are doing, and to be able to talk about it all in words, this nevertheless warps us. We have all admired the spontaneity and freshness of children, and it is regrettable that as children are brought up they become more and more self-conscious. In this way people often lose their freshness, and more and more human beings seem to be turned into creatures calculated to get in their own way.

—Alan Watts. What Is Tao?

Quote

Conservationist John Muir on the power of mind:

"The power of imagination makes us infinite."

Moment of Gratitude

I’m grateful for the relaxed weekend of creating that I just had.

What are you grateful for?

Happy Monday,

Val

9.11.23

Thought

Art—real art—connects artists, and their art, and those who experience their art, to the metaphysical background of the world, to the imaginal world that lies deep within the physical. That is, in part, its ecological function. And that is why the continuing assaults on the imaginal (and its explorers) are so pervasive, why the schooling of artists—of writers, musicians, painters, sculptors—has become so mechanical, so oriented toward surfaces, toward form. For if we should recapture the response of the heart to what is presented to the senses, go below the surface of sensory inputs to what is held inside them, touch again the “metaphysical background” that expresses them, we would begin to experience, once more, the world as it really is: alive, aware, interactive, communicative, filled with soul, and very, very intelligent—and we, only one tiny part of that vast scenario. And that would endanger the foundations upon which Western culture, our technology—and all reductionist science—is based; for as James Hillman so eloquently put it, “It was only when science convinced us that nature was dead that it could begin its autopsy in earnest.” A living, aware, and soul-filled world does not respond well to autopsy.

—Stephen Harrod Buhner. Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm: Beyond the Doors of Perception into the Dreaming of Earth

Quote

American painter and teacher Robert Henri on making art:

“The object isn’t to make art, it’s to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable.”

Moment of Gratitude

I’m grateful for the opportunity to create.

What are you grateful for?

Happy Monday,

Val

9.4.23

Thought

Here & Now

I keep doing this because I don’t

think people thoroughly grok

the fact that here is where it all

is. After you finish the whole

thing & you’ve vibrated your spine

for years & done your pranayam &

meditated for years & years &

sat in a cave & here ants have eaten

your arms & legs you are.

You’re right here again . . . . . . . .&

What blows your mind is

you were here all the time

& it’s such a cosmic joke

it’s so funny your [sic] struggling so to get here

—Ram Dass. Be Here Now

Quote

Spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle on existence:

"You are the universe, expressing itself as a human for a little while."

Meditation of the Day

Thich Nhat Hanh’s simple breath exercise:

As you breathe in, pay attention to just your in-breath, so it becomes the only focus of your mind. If you are truly focused, mindful of your in-breath, you will release everything else. You will release the past, the future, your projects, your fear, and your anger, because the mind has only one object at a time.

Happy Monday,

Val

8.28.23

Thought

Wu Wei is the Taoist concept that translates to “effortless action” or “actionless action” – to proceed guided like a river with the natural flow of life:

The Tao is like a bow, and the ego is like an arrow. The ego wants to hit the target, but it is the Tao that guides it. Wu Wei is about allowing the Tao to guide the arrow, rather than trying to force it to hit the target.

— Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

Quote

Buddhist monk and writer Thich Nhat Hanh on existence:

"We are not separate from the universe; we are one with the sun, the moon, the stars and the earth. Everything is interconnected."

Intention of the Day

Today, it’s my intention to be to kind to at least one stranger, without any expectation in return.

What’s your intention today?

Happy Monday,

Val

8.21.23

Thought

Tsundoku is the Japanese practice of accumulating books on your shelf with the intention of reading them, but never getting around to it. Counter intuitively, the books can still serve as a reminder - of all that we don’t know:

Read books are far less valuable than unread ones. [Your] library should contain as much of what you do not know as your financial means, mortgage rates, and the currently tight real-estate market allows you to put there. You will accumulate more knowledge and more books as you grow older, and the growing number of unread books on the shelves will look at you menacingly. Indeed, the more you know, the larger the rows of unread books. Let us call this collection of unread books an antilibrary.

— Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

Quote

Essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson on self determinism:

"The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be."

Moment of Gratitude

I’m grateful I got to hang out in the California sun this week.  

What are you grateful for?

Happy Monday,

Val

8.14.23

Thought

If you look deeply into a flower, you see that a flower is made only of nonflower elements. In that flower there is a cloud. Of course we know a cloud isn’t a flower, but without a cloud, a flower can’t be. If there’s no cloud, there’s no rain, and no flower can grow. You don’t have to be a dreamer to see a cloud floating in a flower. It’s really there. Sunlight is also there. Sunlight isn’t flower, but without sunlight no flower is possible.

If we continue to look deeply into the flower, we see many other things, like the earth and the minerals. Without them a flower cannot be. So it’s a fact that a flower is made only of nonflower elements. A flower can’t be by herself alone. A flower can only inter-be with everything else. You can’t remove the sunlight, the soil, or the cloud from the flower.

—Thich Nhat Hanh. No Mud, No Lotus

Quote

Philosopher Socrates on the myth of knowledge:

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."

Intention of the Day

Today I intend to live a life of powerful gratitude with every step and breath that I take.

What’s your intention today?

Happy Monday,

Val

8.7.23

Thought

On cultivating an appreciation for the mundane:

The great lesson from the true mystics, from the Zen monks, and now also from the Humanistic and Transpersonal psychologists – that the sacred is in the ordinary, that it is to be found in one’s daily life, in one’s neighbors, friends, and family, in one’s own backyard – that for which we have been seeking for so long is already present, already within us.

— Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth

Quote

Buddhist monk and writer Thich Nhat Hanh on present mindfulness:

"The present moment is the only moment available to us, and it is the door to all moments."  

Moment of Gratitude

I’m grateful that last weekend I got to see family I haven’t seen in ages as we celebrated my aunt and uncle’s 40th wedding anniversary.

What are you grateful for?

Happy Monday,

Val