Sumi-e of Life….Harmony

by | Dec 31, 2014 | 4 comments

Another year has passed. Same time last year, I had published my blog post titled “New Year, Old Wisdom”.
This previous year brought with it seven revelations..Have I applied them? Initially, the revelations touch us in a very profound way. But do we truly understand them? And what is understanding anyway? If we understand mentally, do we really?
I know that ancients didn’t have access to as much information as we do. They had just one teaching/book at hand. They would read each sentence/teaching over and over again and the understanding would constantly change, become deeper. I can relate to this with my Sumi-e and Tai Chi practice. Same moves, strokes, over and over again, day after day, and each stroke/move, each time bringing deeper understanding and connection. Can I say that I know Sumi-e or Tai Chi now, after so many years of practice?

Right after that post, I made a decision to interpret 600 BC Chinese philosopher and poet  Lao Tzu’s  “Tao Te Ching” from an artist’s point of view. In its obscure, yet fascinating philosophies, I am finding more understanding of the life process and myself. It comes to me more experientially, which makes the writing even more challenging. This is when the intelligence doesn’t serve but hinders the understanding

What am I taking with me into the next year?

1) To, as they say, “go with the flow”, be flexible.

2) To accept everything that comes my way (without labeling).

3) To try not to understand everything… things are clearer without the understanding….when the mind is empty.

4) To trust my own feelings, as they are much more intelligent than my mind ….

5) There is much more to nothingness than one can imagine.

6) The less has more….the simple is rich.

7) We come to this world with all the real knowledge, which we lose in the process of “growing up”, with supervision from those who have forgotten as well….to remember.

Just like in Sumi-e painting, by working with contrasts, I am trying to create harmony on the paper of my life…..

 Old Wisdom …indeed.
Happy New Year!
 
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Lilith Ohan
9 years ago

Maybe because we try too hard to "keep" them 🙂 Besides once we manage to apply them into our lives, they are no longer revelations. I think that's how we grow.

MT McClanahan
9 years ago

I wish there were a way to keep that feeling of revelation. Time
seems to make it fade.

Lilith Ohan
9 years ago

Yes, there are different levels of understanding. This post is about that as well. When we think we had a revelation, did we really have it? How much of it we have applied into our lives?

MT McClanahan
9 years ago

Wow–"seven revelations"–that's a lot! If it is a "revelation" then it must be some new understanding of the thing I would think. It is magnificent when this happens–when we see what we didn't see–what we knew but didn't know. You ride the line between subconscious and conscious revelation, and I guess you would say it eventually becomes a conscious one.