Monthly Archives: July 2012

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Now Where Did I Put That Artist


Oil Pastel by Barbara Mattio 2011

Here we are and where I live, it is the middle of the night. I worked on a painting earlier. At some point during my session I reached the zone. I believe it is an interesting place. It is where creativity and spirituality meet and become one.

“Paradise is at your own center
unless you find it there
there is no way to enter.
—-Anglus Silesius

The Buddha says, “We do not learn by experience, but by our capacity for experience.” The creative person has a capacity for experience. It is our ability to not just look at something, but to really see it. Is what we see exactly what we will paint, draw or sculpt? No probably not. There is a place within ourselves where the artist meets with the Divine. This is the place where the created and the creator blend. The blending of the two conditions is the place where we do not move our hands anymore to compose a song, write a novel, arrange flowers in a vase or paint what your soul experiences.

Due to economic restraints schools are reducing their art and music classes. Reading and math and science are totally necessary. What they don’t teach our children is not just to look but to really see..

Not seeing is becoming rampant is our culture.There are some who that when humans do not “really see” what they look at, Then they lose the ability to look at other humans and care about their sufferings or sorrows. They lose the ability for compassion.

When I draw a flower, it is not the little “I” or the ego which is expressing itself, it is the flower that is being able to express itself.When the creativity inside meets with The One, then we are really one with the Universe. We are part of the Creative Process which unfolds continually in Nature.No matter what your medium is, you become part of the cosmic consciousness. The eyes really see and the hand moves and we are in a state of grace. Here we stop looking at and begin firsthand seeing. At this moment, you find the artist you are looking for.

Angelus Silesius wrote the first Western haiku.
“The rose is without why
it blossoms because it blossoms.”

So exactly what am I attempting to say? I am saying that for creative/artistic people there is a point when their medium becomes meditation. It is actually meditation in motion. The hand and eye work in tandem. Quiet and solitude are not the place where art and meditation meet. So if you haven’t seen the artist within for awhile,simply start living the “artist within.” Peace will descend and your work will pour out of your hands. M.C. Escher did a plate of his hands and it is my favorite. The amazing energy which flows from his drawing makes you know you are standing in the presence of Divinity.

Just be yourself, the unique and creative person that was created out of star dust and allow the creativity to flow out of your soul and into your work.

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Baby Steps for Peace


Photo by Barbara Mattio

So here we are. We realize that peace must begin within ourselves. Okay, now what? It is easier to be forgiving from a distance. It is easier to just look away and not see missed opportunities.

There are ways for us to begin. It starts with little things. Giving respect to those who deserve it. Picking up a fallen object for an elderly person. You can not scream at the kids when you have just had the worst day in your career. You can take cake to a new neighbor and say welcome.
You can be flexible with your friends and really care what is happening in their lives. When you can get through the day without a moment when you think, wow I shouldn’t have done that. You have begun to add peace to your journey. The person at the bank that made a mistake and you chose not to be short or mean to them will carry that kindness forward. They will hold the door for a young mother with a baby in arms and a toddler next to her. She will get home late from her errands with 2 crying children. She will sing them lullabies as they fall asleep.
The next day the toddler goes to a play date and is very kind to the other children. And so on and so on.

It is easy to say it begins with me, but assume that others should be the ones to start practicing peace. It is each of us, the 7 billion + people who need to throw the first stone into the ocean of hatred and violence.
Violence grows the same way as peace does. A neighbor fights with another neighbor. They are very angry and others take sides. This escalates the anger and fear enters as others begin to look at each other in distrust. Governments don’t keep promises. Politics become more important than agreements. Nations argue and then war becomes a topic of discussion.

We each need to make peace in our own lives. At times, it takes walking away. Sometimes it takes loving someone more than we love ourselves. We need to remember that we are not alone in our desire to live in a peaceful world. The Divinity that dwells within us wants that also. We make our own decisions and we must accept responsibility for the lack of peace in our own lives. We must hold elected officials to govern in a peaceful manner without ego and without a quest for power.

I encourage everyone to walk the path of peace as well as to talk it. It isn’t enough to just say we need World Peace. We have to live it in our lives each day. Others will respond to the peace within. For the times you lose your own peace, it is okay. Just start again with a fresh slate. Just don’t give up because The One has never given up on us.

Photo by Barbara Mattio

Photo by Barbara Mattio

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The beginning of Peace


Photo by Barbara Mattio

” The fruit of silence is Prayer
The fruit of prayer is Faith
The fruit of faith is Love.
The fruit of love is Service.
The fruit of service is Peace.”

—-Mother Theresa

We talk so much about peace. And then they talk some more. We wish for peace, we pray for peace, we hate those who are different and we talk some more about peace. We don’t like different colors, we don’t like wearing hoodies, and we pray for peace. We tell others that if they don’t worship like we do, they will not experience St. Peter and the pearly gates. We hate those who have a different culture. We become violent when changes are suggested for our country. We let fear and anger twist our thinking and our souls, but we know God is with us and we pray for peace. Peace needs to start somewhere and the best place is within our hearts and souls. If we develop peace within our own families, communities and with our friends; it is the place for beginnings.
If each of the 7 billion + people on Mother Earth start in their own lives and in their communities, a wave of peace will begin to spread over the world. Let it begin with each of us.

Photo by Barbara Mattio

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Tea Party Slayer's avatarTea Party Slayer

http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/juan-williams/237989-opinion-romney-house-gop-jab-obama-on-jobs-but-have-no-plan-of-their-own

See Link Above – Opinion: Republicans jab Obama on jobs, but have no plan of their own

 

In fact, fixing the economy is the entire basis of Romney’s campaign. So what plans does the GOP candidate have to rev up the economy?

 

His most concrete idea for creating jobs is to approve construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The idea has political potency because President Obama, citing environmental concerns, denied a permit for TransCanada Corp. to construct the 1,700-mile pipeline.

However, the number of jobs that would be created by Keystone could generously be described as modest.

TransCanada initially estimated the project would create 20,000 jobs — 13,000 for the actual construction and 7,000 for manufacturing steel and other equipment.

In subsequent interviews the firm’s executives and economists who consulted on the study clarified that each of those “jobs”…

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An Attitude of Peace


There are people from every religion who believe in peace. There are prayers that are part of every culture, every religion that are lifted up for the cause of peace.

Zorastrrian prayer for peace:
“We pray to God to eradicate all the misery in the world; that understanding triumph over ignorance, that generosity triumph over indifference, that trust triumph over contempt and that truth triumph over falsehood.”

A Jewish prayer for peace
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, that we may walk the paths of the Most High, and we shall beat our swords into ploughshares, and our spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall we learn war anymore. And none shall be afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken.”

A Baha’l Prayer for Peace
“Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity. Be fair in thy judgment, and guarded in thy speech. Be a lamp unto those who walk in darkness and a home for a stranger. Be eyes unto the blind, and a guiding light unto the feet of the erring. Be a breath of life to the body of humankind, a dew to the soil of the human heart, and a fruit upon the tree of humility.”

A Sikh Prayer for Peace
“God adjudges us according to our deeds, not the coat that we wear; that Truth is above everything, but higher still is truthful living. Know that we attain God when we love and only that victory endures in consequence of which no one is defeated.”

A Hindu Prayer for Peace

O God, lead us from the unreal into the real.

O God, lead us from darkness into light.

O God, lead us from death to immorality.

Peace, peace, peace unto all.”

A Buddhist Prayer for Peace
” May all being everywhere plagued with sufferings of body and mind quickly be freed from their illnesses. May those frightened cease to be afraid. and may those bound be free. May the powerless find power, and may people find themselves in trackless, fearful wilderness- the children, the aged, the unprotected, be guarded by beneficent celestials. And may they swiftly attain Buddhahood..

A Sufi Prayer For Peace

“Send Thy peace, O Lord, which is perfect and everlasting, that our souls may radiate peace.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that we may think, act, and speak harmoniously.
Send They peace, O Lord, that we may be contented and thankful for They bountiful gifts.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that amidst our worldly strife we may enjoy Thy bliss.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, that we may endure all, tolerate all in the thought of Thy grace and mercy.
Send Thy peace, O Lord,that our lives may become a divine vision, and in Thy light all darkness may vanish.
Send Thy peace, O Lord, Our Father and Mother; that we Thy children on earth may all unite in our personhood.”

Each spiritual path leads us to the Divinity. A different facet of Divinity. Does it have to look like the people around us, is Divinity energy, is it all-powerful, does it love us and want to experience life through us? Wherever in this great big world we live in, let us understand that there is One World, One Life and One Love. Let us each do all we can to remember this each day; that we all want the same peaceful world. And may that peace come to all countries and religions and races. May we learn to love the way we are loved by Divinity. May we not see anything besides Divinity within each other and may we build a peaceful world where love is all.

Photo by Barbara Mattio

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Mellow Yellow Monday #3


Photo by Barbara Mattio

I love summer and it is difficult not to find yellow in life. There are yellow submarines, yellow butterfly’s, yellow sun rays, yellow in rainbows, yellow in dried grass, and yellow in roses and salvia, I see yellow blanket flowers and yellow day lilies. A yellow sail on a boat and a yellow canary. There is something about the combination of yellow and summer that just heals the soul. It makes me feel happier and stronger, and full of blessings. Summer sun warms the body and the soul. The soul responds to our environment. It responds to rain, sun, snow and it responds to the time you spend in the inner landscapes communing with the Beloved.

” We learn the inner secret of happiness, when we learn to direct our inner drives, our interest, and our attention to something besides ourselves.”

—Ethel Percy Andrus

Photo by Barbara Mattio

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I Will Walk Easy


We are at a place in time when we can no longer view ourselves as separate from our planet. Each of us has inner spiritual work to do, but we must accept that we are totally part of the living Mother Earth. Healing ourselves and working to resolve the ecology of our planet is the same work. Healing involves making ourselves and our planet whole again. If we can destroy Gaia with our actions, then we can also heal her and ourselves in the process. We are fields of energy integrated with our world. We can reestablish the balance on our planet and allow for her to heal herself.  The balance will allow us to heal also.

“I have come to terms with the future.

From this day onward I will walk

easy on the earth. Plant trees.

Kill no living things.

Live in harmony with all creatures.

I will restore the earth where I am.

Use no more of its resources than I need.

And listen, listen to what it is telling me.”

—M.J. Slim Hooey

” My help is in the mountains

Where I take myself to heal

the earthly wounds

That people give to me.”

  —-Nancy woods

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Flutes For Dancing


” It’s lucky to hear the
flutes for dancing
coming down the road.
The ground is glowing.
The table set in the yard.

We will drink all this wine tonight
because it’s Spring. It is.
It ‘s a growing sea.
We are clouds over the sea,
or flecks of matter
in the ocean when the ocean
seems lit from within.
I know I’m drunk
when I start this ocean talk.

Would you like to see the moon split
in half with one throw”?
——-Rumi

This small homage to Rumi was inspired by a message I received from a friend who is traveling in Turkey. She is on a tour to promote peace. Yesterday she visited the tomb of Rumi. I am so excited for her and a little envious.

Persians and Afghanis call Rumi “Jelaluddin Balkhi.” He was born on September 30, 1207. His father was a theologian and jurist and a mystic of uncertain lineage. Rumi’s life was a fairly normal one for a religious scholar. He taught, meditated, and helped the poor. In 1244 he met a stranger who put a question to him. Shams of Tabriz was the stranger who wandered through the Middle East searching and praying for someone who “could endure his company.” He found Rumi. It is said that the questions he asked Rumi caused him to faint. Shams was a dervish and Rumi and Shams became inseparable

They spent months together without any human needs, transported into a realm of pure conversation. This ecstatic connection caused difficulties in the religious community. Rumi’s students felt neglected and Shams, sensing the trouble, disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared in Rumi’s life.

Scholars feel that the disappearance of Shams began Rumi’s transformation into a mystical artist. Rumi began to write poetry and to listen to music and sing. He began whirling and would whirl for hours at a time. Rumi spent the last twelve years of his life dictating the six volumes of his master-work. He died on December 17, 1273.

Photo by Barbara Mattio

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Strangers and Sojourners


Photo by Barbara Mattio

For my house shall be called
A house of prayer for all peoples.
—-Isiah 56:7

The builders of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem followed the instructions of the prophets and their vision. It was designed to be a house of worship for strangers and those journeying through Israel.

The Temple was constructed with an inner area where only Jews were admitted to worship. Within this area, was the Holy of Holies. The High Priest was the only one allowed here in the presence of G-d.The High Priest only entered on Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. There was another important area in the Temple. It was “The Court of the Gentiles.” History shows us that there were often Gentiles worshiping with Jews in the Temple in Jerusalem.
The Jews considered the Gentiles, G-d fearers. The combined worship of Jews and non-Jews was the hope of a world where all peoples and nations would worship together. This hope would join all peoples in praise of the One who created them.

Outside of Paris, France is a structure called the “Universale” and it is also a building designed for all peoples regardless of race, religion or gender to come inside and worship the One God. It is in Surrennes and all are welcome to come and pray and worship together. I feel that the gathering of peoples of different races and religions to share the experience of being in the presence of Divinity is freeing. To experience the One together is healing and makes the presence of G-d, the Beloved, the One a reality in the life of each of us. I love the concept of the energy of all the prayers of all the strangers and sojourners wafting up to Divinity. What an amazing experience.

Photo by Barbara Mattio

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