redtreetimes posted: " Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate. --Chuang Tzu, ca. 4th century BC Centered. The middle way. Neither too high nor too low. Equilibrium. As som" Redtree Times
Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.
--Chuang Tzu, ca. 4th century BC
Centered. The middle way. Neither too high nor too low. Equilibrium.
As someone who has bounced high and low for all my life, I have found there is no one way of centering myself, of finding that middle ground on which to stand. Time has taught me to accept where I am at any given moment and just let it be, high or low. But it is always with the knowledge that wherever I find myself at that moment, it is only temporary.
Everything soon moves in an opposite direction, always back toward the center.
Knowing that both the lows and the highs are forever fleeting is a great comfort. Puts things in the perspective that things are never so bad or good as they seem.
The words above from the 4th century Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu ring true for me. To accept whatever you are doing in any given moment is the key to staying on that center ground. I found this to be true in the last job I held before becoming a full-time painter.
After years of other unsatisfying jobs, I found myself waiting tables at a local Perkins Restaurant. Great pancakes, by the way. While working there, I had the accident that led to me taking up the paintbrush. Just a little over a year later, I was showing my work at the West End Gallery. Then not long after that, on to other venues around the country.
For a few years I worked both as an artist and a server at Perkins. I never thought of myself as an artist when I was waiting tables. While at the restaurant, I was a server only. When I was painting, I was an artist only. I found that to try to be both in one moment was too distracting and didn't help me either as an artist or as a waiter.
By focusing on what I was doing in the moment, I was satisfied in both.
That's a pretty rudimentary example but you probably get the idea.
This sense of balance in being what you are at any given moment is what I see as the central message in the painting at the top. Says so right in its title, The Centered Self.
I can attach all sorts of symbolism to this piece's elements and composition, but I am going to just let it be this morning. You're pretty smart. You can deduce from what's above where this going and can judge whether you see it for yourself. That's why I like you folks. I don't have to say everything though I often say too much.
It is, of course, currently at the West End Gallery as part of my annual exhibit there. This year's show, Eye in the Sky, is on display until August 24. I will be doing an in-person Gallery Talk beginging at 11 AM on Saturday, August 19, with all the usual fanfare and goodies of the Talks that took place prior to the pandemic. Seating is limited so please contact the West End Gallery to reserve a seat.
Here's a piece of music that I think blends well with today's subject. It's from classical guitarist Xufei Yang and is a composition titled Eterna Saudade from late Brazilian guitarist/composer Dilermando Reis. Saudade is from the Portuguese and it is said there is no literal translation for it. The one meaning I found that I thought appled to this morning's post was: A bittersweet feeling sustained by absolute pain and pleasure at the same time.
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