Hi Andrea... thanks so much for this 💗! So sorry about the war. My feelings are that what we are doing as Artists is critically important. Keeping our powerful consciousness focused on the creative process is not only healing for us, it feeds this healing to the collective consciousness that desperately needs healing. After following the scientific proof of this from HeartMath, I am struck by the understanding that Artists have an unique and important role to play. I particularly love this part of your post:
" I walked for miles, drawn by curiosity, driven to explore with no pressure to narrate, occasionally stopping to draw until my fingers were numb with cold. I paid attention to the specific qualities of the spaces in which I wandered, noticing and trying to capture what drew my eye, not really knowing why. Wrapped in solitude, I kept company with the trees and moss. The trails felt magical and mysterious..."
There is a phrase that goes "Man plans, God laughs." It apparently comes from Talmud, and has also been translated as "Man proposes, God disposes" or, in Mike Tyson's formulation, "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth". Or, if God and Talmud aren't your things, in the words of John Lennon "Life is what happens to you, While you're busy making other plans."
The Fort Worden bunkers were built against invasions that never happened. We see that through the eyes of survivorship bias, but there is no way to know what would have happened in the absence of these fortifications.
Yet, for all of the human sweat, intelligence and planning that went into building these impervious battlements, they are slowly and inevitably rusting, and rotting, and falling apart and becoming places, instead, for deer to gather and graze.
There are many lessons to be learned from this, but perhaps one might be, we don't have to "beat swords into plowshares. Time, and the elements, will unfailingly do that for us in the long run.
The way you hold the beauty of place alongside the weight of history and present events is powerful. Your reflection on drawing as a humble but deeply attentive act resonated with me. Thank you for sharing this experience.
Thanks so much Judith. Sometimes I agree and sometimes I feel all I can do is taste the strawberry before getting eaten by the tiger.
Hi Andrea... thanks so much for this 💗! So sorry about the war. My feelings are that what we are doing as Artists is critically important. Keeping our powerful consciousness focused on the creative process is not only healing for us, it feeds this healing to the collective consciousness that desperately needs healing. After following the scientific proof of this from HeartMath, I am struck by the understanding that Artists have an unique and important role to play. I particularly love this part of your post:
" I walked for miles, drawn by curiosity, driven to explore with no pressure to narrate, occasionally stopping to draw until my fingers were numb with cold. I paid attention to the specific qualities of the spaces in which I wandered, noticing and trying to capture what drew my eye, not really knowing why. Wrapped in solitude, I kept company with the trees and moss. The trails felt magical and mysterious..."
Thank you so much... peaceful happiness Judith ❤️
Also, posting a comment should be done with a degree of humility...I seem to have posted the same thing twice (or maybe three times?).
Haha (I removed the double posting) Glad you felt so moved to respond!
There is a phrase that goes "Man plans, God laughs." It apparently comes from Talmud, and has also been translated as "Man proposes, God disposes" or, in Mike Tyson's formulation, "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth". Or, if God and Talmud aren't your things, in the words of John Lennon "Life is what happens to you, While you're busy making other plans."
The Fort Worden bunkers were built against invasions that never happened. We see that through the eyes of survivorship bias, but there is no way to know what would have happened in the absence of these fortifications.
Yet, for all of the human sweat, intelligence and planning that went into building these impervious battlements, they are slowly and inevitably rusting, and rotting, and falling apart and becoming places, instead, for deer to gather and graze.
There are many lessons to be learned from this, but perhaps one might be, we don't have to "beat swords into plowshares. Time, and the elements, will unfailingly do that for us in the long run.
The way you hold the beauty of place alongside the weight of history and present events is powerful. Your reflection on drawing as a humble but deeply attentive act resonated with me. Thank you for sharing this experience.