"Continuum" : A continuous whole, quantity, or series; thing whose parts cannot be separated or separately discerned"
Welcome to the New Continuum Wisdom Gallery
Art, Poetry and Teachings
Leave Your Shoes At the Door
"Thirty spokes will converge
In the hub of a wheel;
But the use of the cart
Will depend on the part
Of the hub that is void.
With a wall all around
A clay bowl is moulded;
But the use of the bowl
Will depend on the part
That is void.
Cut out windows and doors
In the house as you build;
But the use of the house
Will depend on the space
In the walls that is void.
So advantage is had
From whatever is there;
But usefulness arises
From whatever is not."
---TAO TE CHING
POEM:
Prayer for the Sentient
Dedicated to those who have lost their lives due to earth changes
The streaming tears,
their scarlet hue,
Those that live,
a favored few.
This earth,
she cries
for me, for you;
She tried to tell us what to do.
Ascension bears its own frontier
Some find it there,
Some see it here
We bring our faith,
We bring our fear
Either way,
The time is near.
These holy passings pierce God's heart
Yet transform madness
as they start
A symphony, a trinity----
We close our eyes to clearly see
Beyond this bend of tragedy
To dream of corn and calendula,
Of artesian springs,
Our Divine Ma,
Of saffron robes,
Of rainbow bones,
Of skulls alight with prayer
This exodus,
It leaves behind
Not death,
Not breath,
But air.
---Susanne Still
©2010 Blue Jaguar Press
Art and Meditation
Lama Anargarika Govinda
Art and meditation are creative states of the human mind; both are nourished by the same source.
Meditation perfectly concentrates the mind and eliminates all unessential features of the subject in question, until we are fully conscious of it by experiencing reality in a particular aspect or from a particular angle of vision.
Art proceeds in a similar way: while using the forms of the external world, it does not try to imitate nature, but to reveal a higher reality by omitting all accidentals, thus raising the visible form to the value of a symbol, expressing a direct experience of life.
The highest form of meditation or perfect absorption, which has no particular subject, may be described as an experience of a spiritual space-experience of “vacuum” in which the universal forces of our deepest center can manifest themselves. In this sense meditation can be called the art of arousing within ourselves a creative attitude, a state of intuitive receptivity.
The primary influence of art in the life of humanity and as part of human civilization is its power to inspire all those who open themselves to it. Great works of art have had a more lasting impact on humanity than have mighty empires or even ancient religions, which have been survived only by their art creations. The language of art speaks to us across the millenniums, even after all other languages of the time have fallen into oblivion.
The enjoyment of art is an act of re-creation, of creation in the reverse direction, toward the source of inspiration. It is an act of absorption, in which we liberate ourselves from our small self in the creative experience of a greater universe and the interrelationship of all life.
It is the truly beautiful coupled with a clear consciousness of universality which enables the contemplative as well as the artist to enter into spiritual relations with the hills and rivers, trees and rocks, human beings and animals, gods and demons.
Art as the manifestation of the truly beautiful, of inner truth, and the purity of inner vision is, therefore, the greatest creative power.
It is not the subject of a work of art which decides its value; rather it is the inspirational impetus, the spontaneity of inner experience, with which it has been created and which it arouses and reproduces in the beholder. But the faculty of responding to the inner meaning of such works of art has to be cultivated in the same measure as the faculty of creating them. Just as the artist has to master the material and tools with which he creates, so the one who wants to enjoy art has to prepare and to tune the instrument of spiritual receptivity in order to achieve that profound resonance which is possible only if the mind has been emptied of all distracting thoughts and petty cares.
The enjoyment of art and the contemplation of an artist’s creation become part of spiritual training, without which no one could claim to be really cultured."
Excerpts from
"Creative Meditation and Multi-Dimensional Consciousness"
“On Art”
John Anthony West
“In the Western world, art means something different to everyone.
It is ‘self-expression’, ‘art for art’s sake’,
a means of radicalizing the masses
or an instrument for providing aesthetic pleasure.
To most of us, art is seldom what it is meant to be
and what it has always been---a means of playing upon
human faculties in such a way as to provoke consciousness
of super human realities beyond the senses…
In every great ancient civilization
art has been used to further understanding,
to lead men and women
to a higher experience of reality
than they might be able to achieve individually,
left to their own devices.
Art is not meant to be enjoyed,
It is meant to illuminate.”
"To see God, you have to have special eyes.
Otherwise you cannot bear the shock."
---Neem Karoli Baba,
from "Miracle of Love", quoted by Ram Dass
"Art,
when inspired with love,
leads to higher realms.
Love art,
and that art will open
for you
the inner life."
-- Meher Baba
"The technique of meditation is the outstanding creative agent on our planet. When you, as an individual, are endeavoring to "build the new man in Christ", which will be an expression of your true spiritual self, meditation is, as you well know, your best agent; but the meditation process must be accomplished by creative work, or else it is purely mystical, and though not futile, is nevertheless negative in creative results."
---Djwhal Khul
"Every true spark you strike from out your own soul
is a light that has not shone before and that shall never be extinguished."
---Invisible, From "With Folded Wings"
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