Becoming a Channel of Consciousness

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.