“We have a lamp inside us. The oil of that lamp is our breathing, our steps, and our peaceful smile. Our practice is to light up the lamp.”
~Thich Nhat Hanh

… by going to the side bar under “Categories” and clicking on “Drawing Series 2: Entering the Void With the Eyes Open.”

The last drawing should be up shortly.

“Thus the outer work can never be minor, when the inner work is a major one, and the outer work can never be major or good when the inner work is a minor one and without value. The inner work always determines in itself all the dimensions of the outer work, its whole breadth and extent. The inner work receives and draws the whole of its being from nowhere but the heart and in the heart of God…”

— Meister Eckhart, The Book of Divine Consolations

People are always crying for peace, “Peace, peace, peace, peace,” but they are looking outside all the time and all they get is turmoil– turmoil and suffering. The purpose of meditation is peace. All the sufferings of the external world are forgotten when you reach that place.

— Baba Muktananda

The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.

–W. B. Yeats

Follow the course of nature day by day.

— Gurumayi Chidvilasananda

 Wherever you stand, be the soul of that place.

–Rumi

To the mind that is still the whole universe surrenders.

–Lao Tzu

As I end the current series of 15 drawings: Art in the Making: Entering the Void with the Eyes Open, I am receiving some inspiration about the next series.

The above three quotes seem to provide a foundation for the next series.

I have discovered that without the deadline that I had for the first series (Cushendall Tower Residency) I procrastinated and didn’t do a drawing a week. This meant I spent less time drawing. I found that I was more tentative with the drawing process. I need to draw at least five days a week.

Here is my idea at present. One drawing a week created by drawing for at least five days during the week. This will keep me in the flow. I will make the above three quotes the foundation of this series. I may do something different this time. I think I will use better paper, keep the drawings within margins, add lettering (quotes, poems), and, perhaps, add one fluid modality. I am inspired by the artist who painted with tea (video).

These are my thoughts for now.

I still need to complete the last drawing, create categories for the two series in the blog so that people can see just the drawings, and organize a showing.

My longing to be in Cushendall is so intense because I feel that is the place that vibrates with my soul. I hope to return. In the meantime, I must learn to ensoul the place I am in.

Keep performing your sadhana, your meditation, your practice till you come to this stage: Whatever you see is the Truth. Whatever you say is the Truth. Whatever you touch is the Truth. Whatever you hear is the Truth. Let everything you see and everything you hear be transformed by that Truth. So when it reaches you, it is nothing but that Truth, it is nothing but that love– the secret in apparent reality.

— Gurumayi Chidvilsananda

“And so it goes…” (Kurt Vonnegut)…

Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Not quite yet, dear! Keep walking the path, step by step!

“One thing that comes out in myths, for example, is that at the bottom of the abyss comes the voice of salvation. The black moment is the moment when the real message of transformation is going to come. At the darkest moment comes the light.”

~Joseph Campbell

This entry is about how I have been given a “sign” that the current project is rightfully coming to completion (Art in the Making: Entering the Void with the Eyes Open– a series of fifteen drawings).

This morning I woke after having a dream where I was circumventing a huge black hole, like a quarry. I made a note to myself that I wanted to contemplate the dream later.

When I rose and looked out the window, I saw the sky just before sunrise, and took the above picture. After observing sunrise (at its exact moment), I did this  morning’s nature meditation, during which I saw two magpies playing and dancing with each other in the air. The verse by William Blake came to me as today’s theme: Kiss the Joy As It Flies.

Later, when I sat to meditate, in the course of the meditation, I unexpectedly entered the hole.  As I immersed myself in the black hole, as if I were going to swim in a quarry, I was buoyed up by a series of unending sunrises. Inside the black hole was the “eternal sunrise.”

At the very end of my series of fifteen drawings entitled: Art in the Making:Entering the Void with the Eyes Open, I entered the Void, and found that inside of the hole, which had seemed to be fearful and black, was “eternity’s sunrise.” I am moved deeply by this experience, and I am filled with gratitude.

It always helps to have a “sign” that what I have done was meant to be. And indeed it was. I will continue to keep myself open to learning what this experience has to teach me. I will bring it to completion. And I will begin the next project “as assigned.”

He who binds to himself a joy 
Does the winged life destroy
He who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sunrise

No matter what your religion or path may be (I believe there are many paths to experiencing our highest inner nature)… it’s a long road to walk for most of us before we can say we live in the knowledge of the Truth.

Whatever one knows is colored by his inner state, his feeling, and is filtered through his personal history, his good and bad actions. Even so,  a person can delude himself into thinking that his limited perception is the absolute Truth. In reality, it is only when the heart is purified and God reveals Himself within, that a person knows directly what is true and what is not true.

— Baba Muktananda, Bhagawan Nityananda of Ganeshpuri, p. 24

It reminds me of the Beatitudes, where Christ said, “Blessed are the pure in  heart, for they shall see God.”