It's a warm, foggy Monday and I am comfortably seated in the small
public library near my apartment, where faded sunlight is filling the
dreary room with a gentle glow. The librarians are milling about,
speaking to patrons with mild condescension, while the security guard is
stalking the room with a foreboding stride as hip-hop and soul music
blast from the cars driving by outside. It can be difficult coming to
the public library to get work done when you're a penniless,
institutionalized thirty-something artist with a dream. The attitudes of
the staff and the shabbiness of the environment are constant reminders
of the formidable obstacles one must overcome in order to achieve
success.
I attended a talk on spirituality last night
that a dear actress friend of mine gave at one of my favorite
bookstores. She channels beings from other dimensions and is a serious
meditator. It is so affirming to have a friend in my life who is as
committed to her spiritual practice as I am. We often think of art as
coming from an inspired source, and indeed it does. Art is a labor of
love, and at its best it channels transcendent streams of consciousness
in order to create works that remind us of the best of what we are, and
can become. In order to create it, we tap into vibrations and levels of
awareness in Jung's collective unconscious, the collective unconscious
of humanity.
As such, artists have to remain pure channels
of this consciousness, unhindered by unresolved, trapped or stuck
emotions or thoughts. The more constrained or burdened an artist's
consciousness is by thoughtforms of pain, fear, and so on, the less it
is able to consistently latch on to the feelings or vibrations that
accompany streams of inspiration - feelings of bliss, attunement, and
acute awareness. Creating art is a futile endeavor when one is not
tapped into the visceral experience of love, forgiveness, understanding,
empathy and compassion.
As someone with such a
history of trauma, poverty and illness, it is really difficult to tap
into those vibrations. In fact, I have little clue where to start. For
now, I am doing things like reading books of poetry about people who
have faced situations similar to my own. Seeing the stark words laid out
on the page, capturing the events of my life with such a compassionate
voice, really helps me begin to touch the tragedy of my life and awaken
my heart. My hope is that this process of healing will help me to
rediscover inspiration and produce transcendent new works of art. I'm
really grateful to Sydney for paving the way for me. As I continue to
heal, my spiritual practice will undoubtedly help me to tap into
wellsprings of emotion and change the world in my own way.
