This piece was created for an upcoming group show at ModernEden Gallery in April. The reception is April 13th, and more info can be found at moderneden.com. In the continuation of exploring the concept of 'Nature' in my ongoing body of work "Self, Culture, Nature", so much of the focus of the process of experimentation and discovery has led me to the nature of mind. The whole point of working with the idea of "nature", began with simply trying to understanding who we are. Our commonality despite culture, race, gender, etc. And in working with the previous concept of "culture", which has been the bulk of my work for the last number of years, it is fascinating to see the relationship between the two. In exploring culture, my conclusion was one of emptiness and suffering as being the convention as the result of ignorance. And now with Nature, I am seeing it as the missing content of our lives in filling that emptiness. Please enjoy this recent expression and thank you for visiting...
The highest achievement being one of a spiritual nature. To understand the truest nature of our mind, opening our eyes to the true reality of life itself. This is the knowledge behind the knowledge. Not the outer appearance of anything, but the inner experience of them. The awareness that lies behind the ego. And from the awareness of one's true nature, a quality of fearlessness exists. For things are experienced in there constancy in the nowness, not first conceived then acted or not acted upon. There is a harmony in this manner, where one is fully absorbed in all that is occurring. All things are experienced willingly. There is no 'good', there is no 'bad'. Even in difficult circumstance, it is experienced as an opportunity to further awaken to ones deeper nature. This is living fully, with openness, with vulnerability, with faith that it is all okay. To be in alignment with this understanding, is to be in alignment with the world itself. For all things in nature exist in this fashion. All things take form from birth, exist for a period, and return to a formless state (death) inevitably. To not have this understanding in all things, leads to confusion and ultimately suffering. Without this understanding, one is made vulnerable to the multitude of relationships that constantly manifest and throw us into this dance of birth and death. And to deny this process in its completion, is to deny life itself. For only to experience the 'good' willingly, is to experience a half life. For all life experience contains both. And so in this way, all that one acquires whether a relationship, family, material wealth and so on, can be experienced fully, and healthy for patterns of manipulation, control, fear, etc that rob one the opportunity to be deeply present in their experience with all things outside themselves are overcome to allow a wholesome experience, only after relating to the universe from the source of our primordial mind, heart. The foundation for a life of contentment, happiness that we all live our lives in effort for obtaining on small and larger scales is manifested from the inside, out.