Today is Christmas. I received a long message of
holiday greeting from an artist I know who has a different view of the world. I
am posting an excerpt from her message to me, which to protect her identity, I
have very lightly edited, along with an excerpt from the response I wrote and sent off to her a few
minutes ago. (I’d also note that she sent me examples of her work and
photographs of everything she mentions seeing that I am not including in the following posting.) Her message is below, followed by a
much briefer excerpt from my reply to her. You don’t have to agree with either her or
me, but I thought both postings might indicate that there is room for God and
the soul in the minds of at least two quite intellectually and artistically
sophisticated individuals. — Ray Carney
* * *
My artist friend wrote me:
Subject: I hear God laughing
Last week I went to a
local museum to see the Monets. I enjoyed them immensely, and recalled how you
once told me that you could wear anyone out going to a museum. I had that same
feeling, I could have spent the whole day looking at one particular painting of
a bird on a fence. Fortunately, the security guard didn't mind me getting my
face right up into it so I could study the brush strokes. (I stood off to one
side and kept my hands in my pockets so he wouldn't worry that I would touch
it). The snow was absolutely brilliant and breathtaking, I have never seen
anything like it! It sparkled and glowed with the softest of pastel whites, it
was cold and crunchy. It opened up another world of spirituality, and drew me
into it. The lone bird was the perfect grace note giving the feeling of
inner peace and solitude. It was like a magnet that kept drawing me
back to look at it again and again, and it was annoying to have to leave so
soon since the friends I was with had long before moved on and were ready to
leave. And to think it was rejected when submitted to the Salon. They didn't
understand how to look at it. Oh and a wonderful thing to share from the audio
tour, a quote: "Art has its courageous soldiers." Monet had to wear
three coats to stay warm while he went outside to study the snow for hours and
paint it en plein air. The only way to capture nature is to go outside
and be in it. And to keep studying the masters to learn their secrets!
A few days later I had a wonderful photo shoot at the arboretum just prior to the
hard freeze that hit for several days. It was cold and very windy. Not an ideal
day for shooting flowers, but I've learned that weather can make some great
shots anyway. My part is to show up and pay attention. I was really looking
forward to seeing the Japanese maples in all of their glory. There's a huge
section of them along the walks and by a few creeks. As I was walking along the
creek, admiring the brilliant red maple leaves waving in the wind,
something red and down low briefly caught the corner of my eye as I
passed. What was that?? I decided to
stop and figure it out. The red leaves had cast their amazing reflections in
the creek, and I immediately had the feeling of experiencing God laughing!
Thigh-slapping laughter that only I could see. Only because I turned aside and
went back to look was I rewarded. I took some amazing photos to remind me of these
intensely mindful moments. I went on to take more abstracts of other tree
leaves that were green, and ended up with shots that somehow reminded me of
Monet. I imagined myself doing just what Monet had done, braving the weather to
go study nature and create art that captured the beauty and feelings it gave
me. Fortunately, I was able to get a brilliant experience without the subzero
temperatures requiring three coats! Another photo of God laughing! I've decided
to explore abstract photography for a while just to understand capturing pure
emotion in what's in the world, everywhere around me. For those “with eyes to
see.” How true that expression is. I'm a little restless and looking for a new
art project. I may work on some poetry about God laughing with my red maple
abstracts. I also will be dabbling with a watercolor set. No limits to art, no
definitions, no requirements, no deficiencies—that's the beauty of it. I'm also
jotting down a few notes for a book about living outside of the lines. Who
knows what will take hold and see the light of day? I never know, I always have
zillions of ideas on the shelves. Maybe this is the sign of an active soul? My
life is certainly not boring.
And playfully, a
gazebo reflection that reminds me of a snowman with a jaunty hat in a snow
globe just after it's been righted after a good shaking. Frosty the Snowman
showing up to say hi! It doesn't have the facial features, but oh well, the
impression is still there.
Warmest holiday
wishes and hohoho to you for a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, Frosty! To
one of art's courageous soldiers, stay well in your soul and keep fighting for
truth. This will be the year for the completion of your Bresson masterwork, I'm
sure of it.
* * *
A much briefer excerpt from my reply:
Subject: Laughter is the sincerest prayer
Subject: Laughter is the sincerest prayer
I just love your stories about
attention and laughing with God. And just as much love the attachments. Beautiful,
mystical, moving, exciting. Do you know that God actually needs us to laugh? So that He can laugh. We are His sense organs
and His way of expressing himself in the world. We are His opening into the world of space and time, since He is above and beyond it and transcends merely human sensory and bodily
experience. We are His way of touching and feeling the world. He made us to be His
eyes and ears. That’s what life is. And some people, too many people alas, let Him
down, shut Him out of themselves and out of the world -- and even worse, let themselves down, and shut themselves out of their Godhead -- by locking themselves up in the prison of
their minds, by hermetically sealing themselves up inside their distracting internal dramas, their fears,
their hopes, their dreams, when He needs them to see and hear and feel
for Him -- when he offers them the glorious opportunity to be Him, to know, care, and love with the purity, intensity, and beauty with which He knows, cares, and loves. I mean this literally. You were really His hands, feet, nose, touch, tongue,
skin, eyes, and ears in the museum and on your winter walk. For those moments,
for those minutes, for those hours. You are His feelings and thoughts when you
make your art. Try to extend these moments into the smallest cracks and
crannies of your life, when you are in the kitchen, in your office, in your car,
walking down a hall, in the street, smiling at a stranger. Be God's sense organs, God’s mind, God’s
feelings, God’s expressions ALL of the time. That is the best you can be. The
greatest we can all be. Because we ARE God then. We are not separate
from him at those moments. We are really God at those moments. Those moments are
why we were made. The reason we exist. They are the purpose of our lives. These are
not metaphors or figures of speech. We see through a glass darkly today, but these are truths that will be discovered and proven by physicists of the future -- if you can get your mind around that one!! HoHoHo back at ya! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Ray
* * *
I wish a sincerely
spiritual, soulful, and very merry
Christmas to everyone who is reading this! Dare to become God’s eyes and
ears, dare to love with God's love, and dare to laugh God's laugh
today, if on no other day of your life. — Ray Carney
