Oh my gosh, more than one Substack a month! Who would ever guess? I am trying to play a bit of catch up as of late. This entry was actually started 2 months ago. The past couple of days has been a blessing in that I am able to do work on my art and writing. Even the weather is sweet, clouds in the morning, cool enough for me to have cognizant thoughts instead of the scattered ADHD mindscape that I dip into way too frequently.
On The Menu: The Links/ New Art – The Golden Centre/ On Dying/ Counterpoint/ Poesy – Rabia al Basri/ Japan – Ghost (2003 Mix)
The Links: How The Troubadours Shaped Medieval Romance / How Art Invented Humanity / Is this the world’s oldest image of a mind‑altering plant?/ Can Plants Feel Pain?/ Rewilded land remains green amid drought-stricken English countryside
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New Art – The Golden Centre/Vimana Series
This piece is constructed in part with pen and ink work I did nearly 30 years ago, to finally see the light of day in this piece as fading sunlight. I am very excited to share this piece! I hope you like it!
G
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Recently I had a dream in which I saw the timeline of my remaining life here in this place. It struck me that I had a bunch of stuff to do before I clocked out.
The Dream. This dream came with a remembrance of an old Sufi saying. “Die before you die”. (some credit Rumi, but I am sure he picked it up along the way) I was given a timeline in which to complete what I came here to do this lifetime. I have been remiss on a few items, I swear. Death came to me and invited me to let it go when the time was right. As I understood the message, that we “Die before you die” was that preparation was everything.
I have had a few close encounters in my life, accidents, illness, the police… This was not an encounter on this side but on the other. Oddly comforting and assuring.
I guess it is in the task at hand. The doing. Being present for those that need you, and for yourself as well.
This life has gone so fast.
Much Love,
G
For your consideration a counterpoint to the current societal madness:
“We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable. But then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings.” – Ursula le Guinn
We live in a shared reality. The present state of things is only very recent in the human timeline… From what I recall from the Neolithic on Is less than 1% of our time on Mother Earth. We now live in an aberration; A state that runs counter to all that went before and if we are so lucky to all that comes after.
The experiment is coming to an end. I believe we are here to help rectify the imbalance of this age.
We are watching systems of government & economies collapsing and mutating. This is not a time to wax nostalgic over what is now fading away. The Event Horizon is beckoning.
As it has been pointed out by David Graeber & David Wengrow, we did not just jump from hunter gatherers to farming in one cataclysmic leap but moved back and forth for several thousand years.
I started dictating this sitting in a fabulous Garden alongside the Willamette where I was painting exterior walls for a friend. For all the insanity in the world it is but a blip compared to what is really going on. As I worked there, a hummingbird would come almost daily to flit about me as I worked. Sweetness.
We have solutions available, but we must seize on them, and soon.
For the Future, and those that come after.
Poesy – Rabia al Basri:
I have loved Thee with two loves –
a selfish love and a love that is worthy of Thee.
As for the love which is selfish,
Therein I occupy myself with Thee,
to the exclusion of all others.
But in the love which is worthy of Thee,
Thou dost raise the veil that I may see Thee.
Yet is the praise not mine in this or that,
But the praise is to Thee in both that and this.
—
If I adore You out of fear of Hell, burn me in Hell!
If I adore you out of desire for Paradise,
Lock me out of Paradise.
But if I adore you for Yourself alone,
Do not deny to me Your eternal beauty.
—
Your hope in my heart is the rarest treasure
Your Name on my tongue is the sweetest word
My choicest hours
Are the hours I spend with You —
O Allah, I can’t live in this world
Without remembering You–
How can I endure the next world
Without seeing Your face?
I am a stranger in Your country
And lonely among Your worshippers:
This is the substance of my complaint.
—
With my Beloved I alone have been,
When secrets tenderer than evening airs
Passed, and the Vision blest
Was granted to my prayers,
That crowned me, else obscure, with endless fame;
The while amazed between
His Beauty and His Majesty
I stood in silent ecstasy
Revealing that which o’er my spirit went and came.
Lo, in His face commingled
Is every charm and grace;
The whole of Beauty singled
Into a perfect face
Beholding Him would cry,
‘There is no God but He, and He is the most High.’
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Japan – Ghost (2003 Mix)
And a note as I depart this posting. A blessing on you and yours, I hope the days and nights are sweet.
Until Later!
G