The Origins of Art
Our link to the numinous divine, and how it's embodied through Art.
Solar Starburst, Yellow Dahlia. Detail, shown in progress. Snapshots from my desk follow. Watch the short video of this painting I made here.
Muse News, October Notes
Experience has shown me that the origins of art and the desire to create reside deep within hidden chambers of our hearts. Its direct connection to the numinous divine protects us. And, in turn, it is well worth protecting. But how do we do that? I’ve found that by honoring the creative impulse a type of strength builds up.
You don’t have to be an artist to honor the creative impulse. It’s the joy that streams through us when even a small amount of wow is present. It’s that good feeling that gets our attention, yet we often neglect for something more serious. Don’t let that happen to you. Not too often, anyway.
We can respond by giving the creative impulse room to grow, even if we do nothing. But if we decide to act, artistic expression is a great way to go, and I’m speaking from experience.
As artists, we ground the spiritual into the phenomenal world. But no one taught us that in school—that there’s something extraordinary about practicing our craft. Regardless of our level of accomplishment, it is a privilege to create. It's also a necessity. But if making art is primarily goal-oriented, it misses the mark. It becomes hollow, and its link to the numinous divine is hard to hear, see, sense, or feel.
The creative process brings positive energy into our bodies and shakes loose everything unlike itself. Naturally, challenges arise and we are always busy clearing the way forward. That’s just how it goes. It’s part of the process.
I think of making art as a life process. The art of life.
The more we lean into being ourselves, the more we face opposing energies. It’s not just you. That stuff is temporary. It needs you to embody your light to release and transmute. It can’t hold for long unless we identify with it. And eventually, we let go of identifying with pretty much everything anyway.
I love painting. It’s the place I feel most centered. It feels normal for me, not like an altered state or anything like that. Contemporary culture seems completely backward to me, rewarding mental states that disconnect us and create anxiety. Why choose that when creative flow states are productive, healing, and encourage well-being?
I wonder... What would happen if everyone switched to calmer, healthier, heart-coherent brain wave patterns? That would be interesting, wouldn’t it?
Maybe it’s already happening.
What do you think?
— Leslie
Exquisite Paintings on the Nature of Flowers is a body of work based on a sophisticated visual analysis of Nature's frequencies = LOVE. My long-standing body of work, ongoing and now in phase two, began in the early 1990s and is the culmination of a lifetime quest—a sacred journey into the heart of Nature, beauty, and healing the myth of separation.
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