DIFFERENT MINDSETS TO USE 1
Felipe Echevarria 18x24" alkyd, graphite on wood
When creating a piece of art do you listen to music? Do you work in silence? What is your mental state when working? Does it change minute by minute, hour to hour? Are you cursing, whining, happy, thoughtful, distracted, or just thinking about what you're doing? Below, and in DIFFERENT MINDSETS TO USE 2 are some ideas to ponder regarding the varied mindsets or awareness one can have while working, and how it can affect the actual outcome of the piece:
AS A MEDITATION
It doesn't matter what you're doing, you can be running, sitting, throwing up last night's dinner, having sex, or on the edge of death, and you can still be in a mindful, meditative state. First, I must qualify what meditation is and what a meditative state is with a couple standard definitions:
- Meditation is a self-directed practice for relaxing the body and calming the mind.
- Meditation is a balanced state of relaxed alertness, with a certain focus of attention in the present moment.
I'll use the extreme example, "throwing up." It is possible to have all your attention on the actual act of throwing up (you will anyway, you don't have much choice here), but I also mean throwing up can be a meditation in action. You won't be physically relaxed amidst the hurling, but you can be centered and calm in mind and body while you're doing it. The opposite of the full paying of attention on the act of throwing up is to have your awareness enveloped in thoughts and emotions, like, "Oh, God, I feel like shit," and feeling sorry for yourself, or hoping the neighbors won't hear, or wondering what caused this, etc.
Thoughts are always one step away from where the present moment is. Thought means you are thinking about something, and it is not the thing itself. If your awareness is held in the present moment, no thought exists, because all thoughts are in time, and in the present moment there is no time. Therefore, if your awareness is held in the present when throwing up, there will be no "throwing up" (it's a thought), there will only be:
(I apologize, this is getting disgusting--but just hang on, as I do have a point to make)
- the smell of the bile
- the feeling of the cool toilet bowl porcelain under your hands
- the textures and consistency of the fluid coming up the throat
- the burning sensation in the mouth and throat
- the extreme contraction of muscle
- the sound you're making
- the sound of the fluid making contact with the water in the bowl
- the feeling of pain
- the ebb and flow, the rising and falling of the sensation and need to expel matter
- etc
That wasn't a typo, this is the experience of meditation, a loosening of sticky, clinging thought-forms into the void. My extreme example of throwing up was just to hopefully show you
more effectively how even a so-called "unpleasant" happening can become a meditation, how
you can circumnavigate thought, overcome judgement, and just BE.
Now, on to the focus of this blog, when employing meditation while painting, there is no "painting." There is now only the experience of painting, the noticing of the act of painting, and it's no longer in the realm of thought (in time), it just is. You are no longer an "artist," you are no longer "painting," you are not even doing anything on one level. It's as if the art you're working on is painting itself.
How can this be?
Because when awareness is held in the present moment while participating in any action the mind is detached from the action, and no one is there to paint the painting!
Painting, therefore, becomes:
- the feeling of the brush stroking the paper or canvas
- the smell of the paint, mediums
- the thoughts you have while painting (thoughts are noticed, then let go of)
- the "noticing" of the thought
- noticing that you're noticing the thought
- the movement of your wrist while moving the brush
- the effects of color on your senses and the work
- the image in the light as it strikes your eyes
- the sounds made while painting
- noticing your breath rising and falling
- noticing your eyes darting around the image
- noticing your mind making almost imperceptible painting decisions
- etc (seemingly infinite stimuli to notice)
What does this do for you as a "painter?" It makes the outcome of the painting irrelevant. Thinking about a desired outcome is a thought, it is thinking about the future (which doesn't truly exist in the present moment), and if your attention is truly in the present, the outcome does not exist.
But, yes, you can start with an outcome (what you want to paint, how you want the finished piece to look), then let go of the judging mind, and just paint. This is really painting. This often makes for better paintings, because the element of fear (judgement, worry, anger, despair, hope, etc.) is eliminated. All action and decision making become more free, less harried, and the connection to your inner self is unchecked. This is pure joy, this is bliss, this is
.
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