art as prayer...

art for me is prayer...it is allowing the energy to flow through me to create as no one has before me and as everyone has before me...creation is the moment i am most present in my life and at one with the universe

blessed discomfort...

in the movie Bounce, Ben Affleck encourages Gwyneth Paltrow:

"It isn't brave unless you're afraid."

as an artist i am accustomed to creating within blessed discomfort...as a creative entrepreneur i am more than used to blessed discomfort...as a child of God i have learned to embrace blessed discomfort...

blessed discomfort has helped me grow as a woman, and artist and a spiritual being...to find the courage to stand in my own truth and find my authentic visual voice, i have had to walk through fear...my worst fears...feel vulnerable, raw and exposed...hopeless, helpless and alone...

this walk of blessed discomfort is what defines the path of The Artist as a Spiritual Explorer...following that inner voice that compels you to go forth...take risks and chances with your art...embrace your gifts...then share them with the world....

'out of darkness' - 2007 20" x 24". acrylic, plaster on paper

and the sharing of your work brings blessed discomfort...will they like it...will they understand it...will they buy it...

out of darkness is a work that visually explores my life and my work as an artist...it shows how i am being pulled out of the darkness of doubt and fear toward light and expansion...it reveals that there will be obstacles ahead, yet it promises the journey will be worth the effort...she is a strong woman, naked and raw, heading into her destiny while remembering her past...remembering because it makes her who she is today...it gives her the sensitivity to love the journey...and it frees her creative spirit to explore all that lies before her...

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carolee is having a giveaway on her blog for the cutest trinket box...go see by clicking this sentence...

with this gift is a mission...

i have been given a great gift...in return i have a job/mission to do...

From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more. Luke 12:48

the mission? to bring others to God and feed the poor...

morning meditation...

last night's sunset at the marina amelia island, florida

this peaceful scene helped calm my soul last evening...as you know i have been doing lots of soul work during this Lenten season...it has helped me climb out of the blue funk my life has been in for the past few years...

the sun just peeping over the ocean this morning

i love to go to the edge of the sea to meditate....

contemplate...

for my soul is at rest when i am here...

the sun about an hour after sunrise...thru the pier

this sets my day for creativity and connection to my God, my soul and my muse...

the limitless universe, the space of our limitless spirit...

The message of Jesus reaches into the depths of our humanity...into those spaces of life where we create and imagine, dance and sing, write and envision, laugh and cry, mourn and despair, hope and love, and where everything deeply human dwells within us.

"spirit dancer" - 2008

This message reaches into our art. I believe that our art is another message of eternal life as it lives and reaches beyond us. It is a bridge between heaven and earth and experiencing the oneness with all.

Every human being has a light, a radiant spark of God's divine nature, installed in his/her own nature. The idea of opening this light to the world is what all artists and craftspeople have been doing since the birth of time. And I will venture to say that opening up our light will be most important in the third millennium as people search for a spiritual connection.  For an artist, our art is the portal to our souls.

I believe that all of us are called to co-create in the universe together with God. Everyone, if willing, can open up their divine origin, hidden within the depths of our human souls, and give something of value to the universe.

"repose" 2008

Finding your radiant spark, tapping in to the divine inspiration, and then allowing it to flow through you into the limitless universe is your charge in this life. Finding that space of your limitless spirit is a lifelong quest.

Spiritually advanced human souls have already set forth on their journey... can you be far behind? Afterall, you were led to this place today... Have you set forth on your journey or are you afraid to take that first, necessary step?

Millions of enlightened souls have entered their own dark night of the soul. This is where the journey first leads you. It is uncomfortable and, at times, frightening but very necessary to grow into our spiritual maturity. Once in spiritual maturity you are free to co-create with God and the universe with the gift that is uniquely your own.

We are challenged not to become so immersed in the illusory existence of the manifested universe that we forgot our divine nature. 

Art Preserves Spiritual Possibilities...

"Art is a conservative power, the strongest of all; it preserves spiritual possibilities that without it--perhaps--would die out." Thomas Mann, Reflections of an Unpolitical Man

"spiritual being"rebecca e. parsons 2007 graphite on paper...acrylic...computer enhanced
Einstein and Spirituality


Spirituality is a concept that is difficult to pin down, so to avoid being ambiguous let’s look to science for some direction. The famous physicist Albert Einstein was very clear that he didn’t believe in a personal God or any accepted theology. He denied any belief in the immortality of the individual, and considered ethics to be an exclusively human concern without any superhuman authority behind it. However, he did have a spiritual side, which he often expressed. To him it was characterised thus:

To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is a something that our mind cannot grasp and whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly and as a feeble reflection, this is religiousness. In this sense I am religious.

The letter Einstein wrote late in his life to the Queen of Belgium, who was suffering a great grief, is full of this sense of spirituality.

And yet, as always the spring-time sun brings forth new life, and we may rejoice because of this new life and contribute to its unfolding, and Mozart remains as beautiful and tender as he always was and always will be. There is after all something eternal that lies beyond the hand of fate and all human delusions, and such eternals lie closer to an older person than to a younger one oscillating between fear and hope. For us there remains the privilege of experiencing beauty and truth in their purest forms.

Einstein’s spiritual side often expressed itself in his love of music. After hearing the 13-year-old Yehudi Menuhin with the Berlin Philharmonic he was heard to exclaim ‘Now I know that there is a God in heaven.’ He once said, ‘I often think about music, I live my daydreams in music, I see my life in the form of music’. He particularly worshiped WA Mozart and JS Bach: ‘I have this to say about Bach’s works: listen, play, love, revere - and keep your trap shut.’

The Unifying Principle of Spirituality

A final quote from Einstein might help to clarify this mysterious unifying principle. In 1930 Einstein published an essay on Religion and Science in the New York Times magazine, in which he described his own inclination towards a ‘cosmic’ religious sense, and discerned kindred glimpses of this feeling in such diverse figures as the prophets and psalmists of the Hebrew Bible, St Francis of Assisi and the Buddha. In this he said the following:

It is very difficult to elucidate this feeling to anyone who does not experience it. The individual feels the vanity of human desires and aims, and the nobility and marvellous order which are revealed in nature and in the world of thought. Individual existence strikes him as a sort of prison, and he wants to experience the universe as a single significant whole. The religious geniuses of all ages have been distinguished by this kind of religious feeling. In my view it is the most important function of art and science, to awaken this feeling and keep it alive in those who are receptive to it.

Art for me, and for those receptive to it, preserves the spiritual possibilities...keeps them alive for the artist as well as for those who view or hear the artwork...what are your spiritual possibilities?

Blessings Today...Rebecca

article from: http://thecultureclub.wordpress.com/2007/11/27/js-bachs-mass-in-b-minor-albert-einstein-and-universal-spirituality/
photo from: http://thecultureclub.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/albert-einstein-mechanics-1.jpg

Art...Inspiration...Spirit...

Model of Inspiration from visual thesaurus here...
As I begin to create The Artist as a Spiritual Explorer, I find a need to define the connection I feel between art and spirituality. If I could not explain it for myself how could I explain it for fellow explorers.

Art is inspiration...and inspiration is:


in spirit
Inspiration \In`spi*ra"tion\, n. [L. inspiratio-in spirit.] The act of breathing in; breath; breathing in the spirit.

Definition from Bartleby.com, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

1. 
   a. Stimulation of the mind or emotions to a high level of feeling or activity.
   b. The condition of being so stimulated.
2. An agency, such as a person or work of art, that moves the intellect or emotions or prompts action or invention.
3. Something, such as a sudden creative act or idea, that is inspired.
4. The quality of inspiring or exalting.
5. Divine guidance or influence exerted directly on the mind and soul of humankind.
6. The act of drawing in, especially the inhalation of air into the lungs.

Inspiration, for me, is a sudden flash of intuition...the arousal of the mind to creativity with divine guidance or...breathing completely in the spirit...where the skills and/or tools capable of originating (and subsequently developing) innovation or insight bring into existence something new and uniquely mine.

My formula for inspiration is:

spirit + openness + presence + grace = inspiration
The Holy Spirit breathes into me, when I am open and present, the grace to create....

Art has always felt like prayer for me...being one or with Spirit. It is a time of deep connection with something outside of myself...God, The Holy Spirit, the universe...whatever you name it. When I paint it is a contemplative time, a meditation where I feel the presence of my greater self in God and allow it to flow through me. Being in spirit...

The Artist as a Spiritual Explorer is about this inspiring influence rather than a process or it's effects. It is the journey to a place where intuition meets creativity to form intuitivity. Although my art, at times, is sprinkled with vision, illumination and heart...it is the moment of creation that is the catalyst for continued exploration. The 'affects' or feelings that I experience are what keep me inspired, regardless of the outcome in terms of monetary or notable gain.

This is about your journey, not mine. Although I will give reference to my journey from time to time for illustrative purposes, the path and how you walk it are entirely up to you and your connection with the spiritual.

Exploratory Expedition...Create your personal formula, consisting of the ingredients that define inspiration for you. There could be many things that play a part in your definition of inspiration or just a few. Pray with it or meditate on it for as long as it takes. There is no timeline for you to follow. This is your path. When you come to definition that suits you, create a visual reference for yourself.

Resources:
Definitions of Inspiration at Humanity Quest here...
Article of Inspiration here...