Just before noon, I looked out of the south window of the entry to our house.  The sun shone brilliantly golden-orange between blue-gray stripes of cloud; I was thrilled with the beauty of it. As I watched the yard outside the window, ever-brightening  golden light revealed the details of glistening ice shapes draping over withered plant stalks. This growing intensity of light also revealed the swirling shapes impressed into the siding of the house. There was a continuous brightening of the scene (as the clouds parted), awakening me to previously unnoticed intricacies.  I experienced a continuous, unbroken refinement of  the details in the landscape in the field of my vision. This is (along with other things) what the “drawing as meditation” process does for me. It increasingly reveals the beautiful details around me that I otherwise would not notice. This requires unflagging attention. This unflagging attention comes about as a result of my longing to become one with that which I behold.

Ultimately, we cannot understand what lies outside of us. For true understanding, it is necessary to become one with the object of perception.