Embodied as Visionary

The Dimension of Powerful-Play

Inspired State of Awe

Builds the Capacity for Sacred Perception

 

Pervasive, Symbolic, Enlarged

If the Fox was philosophical, he would posit that flowing in the Beauty of this world is a moral act. He would wisely nip arrogant humans who argue that he is deluded, those who say that his landscape is composed only of particles drifting randomly. He would give a side-eyed glance to those who claim that all the precious creatures he loves are little more than stimulus-response machines.

Our Fox is an instinctual Buddhist, sensing that the sacred is not something separate or distant from the ordinary and the profane. For those who can finally see, a transcendent reality and energy permeates all and is pervasive, not limited to specific places, times, nor things. In the zone he enters the deepest level of reality.

Pervasive

Why this painting?

Like the Fox, let the Inspiration be everywhere. Let the Inspiration speak through you.

Symbols in narration create the language of our sacred human experience. Of course, it is a language very difficult to speak without sounding psychotic. Engineers or anyone trained to speak monologues from the left brain are notorious for having no idea what you are talking about. If you go to your psychiatrist and complain of a lack of energy and alertness because these have been stolen by the relentless commands of our technological society, then they will speak back to you in the language of diagnosis and pharmaceuticals. If you haven’t been diagnosed as crazy, it doesn’t matter. Because you will feel that way.

Symbols reveal themselves in our natural world, in our relationships, in our mindful states of attention, in our engagement with our art. Symbols are not a thing, not an image, though an image and the thing itself can become a pathway into the deeper plane of knowing. As spiritual teachers have tried to convey to us for a millennium, we live in a symbolic world.

But why should we care? We have lived our life perhaps entirely in a consumer space, with plenty enough spectacles to keep us entertained (until they don’t). Knowing that there is more than the one room (the small one you have rented) in the house of our existence matters because the voice of our self, true essence, lies in a world beyond the daily walls and mental barriers. When we are aware, when we break the trance of tunnel vision, we find what is True; the path of our Heart-desire is aligned perfectly with the Heart of the universe. If that sounds too “woke” then you have been engulfed by some mindless political campaign (don’t forget to buy the hat), or fear is at the root of your resistance.

To begin, you could collect small objects that you find, feathers, stones that call to you for some reason (or better, for no reason). Hold on to quotes, wisdom, poems, anything that helps you to remember to find as William Blake wrote, “Infinity in a grain of sand”. Reflect on your collection, let this give rise to different thoughts on different days. Such small rituals can begin to infuse our lives with meaning and purpose.

At the same time, be warned as we cultivate a more Sacred Perception, widening the circle of our compassion, we can be struck by the deepest grief for all those glorious being that humanity often has treated as roadkill.

Inside Out:

If you have been feeling radically disconnected, consider the Fox who sees that the Universe is worthy of reverence. Everywhere is the manifestation of a divine or ultimate reality. He senses the sacred that permeates all aspects of existence, and he lets it move him.

This painting invites you to similarly see the Beauty all around. Recognize that the magical and creative source pulses within and without. Though the human mind can appreciate only so little–the depth and breadth of our holy source we cannot see—still we can open our Heart and mind. Cultivate veneration and gratitude.

Enlarging. To begin a Heart-drama that may bring you closer to what is True and Beautiful, you must start with Enlarging your state. Pay attention to your body, and step back, be an observer. There is a form of theatre playing out before you. You are a performer playing a familiar role, getting a payoff, a weekly allowance of emotional charge that keeps you sticky in it. You’ve been adhered to the character and the drama. You have memorized all the lines you have been given. Your ego is quite proud of what you have been able to do on stage with this limited character. You may have imagined that you will receive at least an honorable mention at the Golden Globe’s. You won’t.

Stepping back requires shifting your attention. It requires some spontaneous action to move you. You will know that you have been released because there may be an audible pop, as your rigidity is momentarily pulled away. Or not. You may feel a jolt, or nothing, or feel disoriented, as a chorus of negative voices have gone quiet. Don’t worry, they will show up again, probably in the next moment.

Stepping out from of the barriers around you is Enlarging. Enlarged is the natural spaciousness of a human Heart.

Enlarging is embracing the spontaneous. Learn to dance, or better yet unlearn any practiced dance by getting into rhythm with a being in front of you or in a natural setting. Play with your dog. They think humans are crazy anyway because they know us so well, so they won’t judge you any more than already do, and they will at least enjoy the game. The point is to get out of the sobriety of your persona; to do this naturally is always best, but if you attend a concert where the onlookers are getting high or drinking, they may not even notice you in this wild incarnation. You may even find your own spontaneity by blending in.

Upside down:

The knowledge that you are on a spiritual path unique to you and your life does not sit well with those who think themselves the only authority. Reflect if you are being challenged by a “rational” self-assured, overly optimistic, even bullying persona or community that has found its way to mass insanity. Dominators and their minions have some status in their own tiny fishbowl and believe they have earned a right to convey the special knowledge that they have acquired from sources, derivations sometime murky or absurdly precise. As self-proclaimed models for others on how to live, they can be dangerously persuasive, and their influence can be pervasive.

Do not allow authoritarian-leaning out-of-control egos to influence you. Consider what is driving them that has nothing to do with you. Mommy or daddy may have told them they were Golden children because they were so good at adhering to the party line. Or maybe their uniqueness was unrecognized in their family, and now is the time for them to prove they are special. Perhaps religion taught them “the only truth” and they now must convince you of something. Or their specialness is the result of a medical residency or similar profession, where empathy and the ability for awe was deconstructed by mentors who preached compartmentalization with the fervor of religion.

You don’t need to ask them where their delusions come from. Unless you hope to be their therapist, it’s not your job to trace a contagion back to the origin. The message here is to find a way to a source that is larger than anyone’s ego-created God.