I am lying on the carpet listening to my favourire track these days: Everyday by the Cinematic Orchestra.
The song starts really slowly, but it sets a very contemplative tone. At the beginning I only hear a violonchello, but after a minute, other instruments join in too. The music gets denser and richer, more and more layers reveal themselves and suddenly I feel an inner pull. I cannot remain still. I begin to move my body. Gently turning from one side to the other, I start to wallow and roll around. My legs are the first to celebrate then all my limbs follow the impulse. I am curling, flowing and swimming with the music. All my parts feel the energy, the inspiration, something uplifting, there are no words, no thoughts, no feelings, just that pull, that undescribable force that dictates the moves. I open up and let it happen. I become the dance. I dissolve in the flow. I am fully present and playful as a kitten.
Do you also have those little moments? When you just feel that "pull", that something by its beauty or grandeur pulls you in, and you cannot take your eyes, ears, or other senses off of it? Maybe when you look at a masterpiece in a museum? Or when you listen to a song, or you see a beautiful dance performance and you just become one with it? Yes. I am sure. You must have it too.
Yes, those moments are when you don't even know, but you have to say "Yes" and give in. You have no other choice but to give all your attention to the source of the "pull". You have to watch it, listen to it, smell it, write about it, you cannot pass by it. You just submerge into it totally. And then you don't feel the passage of time, the minute seems infinite and ever. You are just there, in the moment, forgetting about all else. You are alive.
That is part of why we admire the genious of the artist. We love art, we appreciate it, even if it does not make "sense", still we feel something genuine and original about it, and it makes it attractive. I will never forget the moment when I first saw the paintings of Van Gogh in Amsterdam. They looked so alive, full of passion, full of sorrow and suffering, they were amazingly real. They were the mirror image of the artist's soul.
Art is undeniably a form of self expression. In its highest form it is not about the egoistic expression. If you look at the greatest works, they were not created to gain the artist fame and wealth (e.g. Van Gogh), they just had to come to life, because it was time for them. These masterpieces were created out of inspiration which is a form of higher consciousness. The true artist is like a vessel through which something precious, something truly new can come to life. A typical artist is the lonely type spending much of his time on contemplation, just looking at reality. Observing. When you see through the artist's eyes, you may enter a mode similar to pre-meditative practices. You must pour your focus naturally on something, on the music, on the subject you want to paint, on the topic of your poetry etc. Dharana, this yogic focussing naturally happens. And this kind of focus excludes all else and brings you absolutely into the present moment. And if you allow that to happen, you will be surprised, what a great artist is hidden in you. I know, because I did a drawing course for dummies, but the teacher used the method of drawing with the right side of the brain, and I was truly surprised what I did in a short period of time.
Art really helps to bring you into focus, and to live in the present moment. It is a real pity, that after a certain age we are deprived of practicing it. After 16 maybe there are no further drawing classes in school, no arts, no music, other more "practical" studies have to come forth. And then you slowly become a "grown up", who cannot play that much. Your artistic skills are in general not kept in practice, and even if you had a certain hobby, you will certainly have no or very little time to continue it.
However, art and self expression in this pure form of are great ways to learn how to be present, how to feel your true nature.
Practice art: dance, paint, sing, draw, move whenever you have the slightest chance. Keep that playfulness and that innocently open eye.
2010. szeptember 26., vasárnap
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