Bruce Barone – Curator and Creator
Bruce wrote these connected comments yesterday. Bruce’s ideas are timely, interwoven, and profound.
Bruce wrote the following, responding to yesterday’s post:
I am not sure I would use the word abnormal but I am always looking. It is about seeing.
(Pierre) Tielhard de Chardin wrote:
Seeing: We might say that the whole of life lies in that verb – if not ultimately, at least essentially.
William Blake called this illumination the Apocalyptic moment. For Blake, the apocalyptic moment was personal and could happen at any time evil is recognized. Revelation and Judgment are internal affairs of the spirit, arising from a clearing of the senses which the artist, by virtue of his imaginative genius, can promote. The true artist then has a social role bordering on the religious. Final Revelation will be “seen by the Imaginative Eye of Every one according to the Situation he holds” and the Last Judgment will happen “whenever any Individual Rejects Error & Embraces Truth.”
Maybe we should call it an Epiphany. And, then how is it is possible for us to see/experience an “epiphany” all the time. I think we can find, see, and experience an epiphany in the richness of the ordinary day. To see. To be astonished. To embrace truth.
Often, I ask myself “what am I called to do” and “how can I make the world a better place.” To paraphrase Rumi; I remind myself: you need to be permanently astonished–this is the real work of religion. Maybe of art. The second thing you need is love; draw upon love for energy. And the third thing is sacrifice–give the drop that is ourselves; we are given an ocean. To be astonished, to become more like a child, gifts are all around us, be nourished by being amazed–it is a great thing to be alive.
Simone Weil said:
“Absolute attention is prayer.” Seeing. Astonishment. Prayer.
As Clarissa Pinkola Estes writes in her book, “Women Who Run With the Wolves:”
Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good. What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take “everyone on Earth” to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale.
William James (brother of novelist Henry James) writes:
To change one’s life: Start immediately. Do it flamboyantly. No exceptions. We simply need to be astonished.
P.S. I love Avolare’s work, too:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mylastsigh/355781841/
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Bruce’s webpages:
http://www.flickr.com/people/mylastsigh/
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OneMoreOption: Thank you very much Bruce. Excellent. You’ve shared an amazing treasure of overlapping and harmonic ideas – none I’ve read before.
I’m usually afraid of William Blake, but your interpretation of him makes him appear clear thinking and sharp. My mind makes an odd correlation between Anaïs Nin and William Blake: They are two artists that can be as beautiful and as ugly as the person who is attempting to describe them. Thank you again.
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Pierre Teilhard de Chardin on Wikipedia
Clarissa Pinkola Estes on Wikipedia
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(Click on images if you wish to view them individually.)
© All rights reserved by Bruce Barone.
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