“Travelers, there is no path, paths are made by walking.”

— Antonio Machado

I am partway through the 4th drawing and I am reminded of the truth of this statement. It would be easy to do something just to finish it with something “canned”. But I must allow it to grow organically– and also not worry about rough edges.

My morning nature meditation made me aware of how normally the boundaries of my awareness  coincide with the immediate space my physical body inhabits. I react to the space I am in at the moment– the people, the temperature, a stumble on the stairs.

This thought came to me because the dawn nature meditation created an experience in me of  an expansion of being. The flatness of the light of the cloudy morning left me less riveted to details and I was invited to be aware of a much larger space. I recalled Mr. Bennett’s meditation on air– something that has become part of me.

http://www.gurdjieff.org/bennett.htm

When I went inside to meditate in the meditation room, I found that I could “go” to the far cliffs of the Turnagain Arm that I had drawn yesterday. Yesterday when I was drawing they seemed so tiny. Yet, sitting for meditation with the awareness of an expanded periphery,  I found that I could “be” there at those cliffs.

Of course, this is what storytellers do all the time– they go to places in their minds when they tell stories. Somehow this experience may help me to continue with my drawing and allow it to “speak.”

You can copy and paste this to watch it. It provides a perspective on art and inspiration that is at the same time ancient and radical to modern thought.

http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses — and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person “being” a genius, all of us “have” a genius. It’s a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.

The author of Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert has thought long and hard about some large topics. Her next fascination: genius, and how we ruin it.

Into our inner being

The riches of the senses pour.

The Cosmic Spirit finds itself

Reflected in the human eye,

Which must ever renew its strength

From that spirit source.

— Rudolph Steiner, 51st week (March 23-29), Calendar of the Soul