Using Art to Explore your Inner Life

I attended a workshop today that was quite fun.  We used art making  to respond to a text instead of talking about it!  I’ll post below here a short text that you might read and then experiment with playing with art materials.  The idea is to get below your thinking and to see if a bit of deeper truth might be revealed by your hands!  There is a roughly 5 step process.  (though you can probably do it in whatever way appeals to you.

1)     Select a text that calls to you in some way.  Read it aloud.  Explore your thoughts around the text – what words jump out at you?  What can you learn from this text?  How is it speaking to you about your life?  What do you not “know” about this text?

2)     Set some sort of intention about exploring this text.  Name what you want from your exploration.  Your intention might be as simple as I am curious about what is hidden in this text for me.  Or I am open to exploring what I don’t know.

3)    Art making.  Set a timer for 20 minutes.  Give yourself a blank piece of paper and whatever art materials you have on hand.  The idea is to “follow your energy”.  Don’t think about what you are making. (It is not about a product!). Notice what is going on for you while you are making this piece of art.  KEEP GOING.  Do not stop to think about what you should do next! 

4)    Witness what you have created.  Look at your drawing/painting/collage.  What does it say to you?  How do you respond to it?  Try to avoid internal criticism.  It was not meant to “be something” .  It was meant to reveal something! Journal about it if you feel so inclined.

5)    (optional). Share with someone else!  Or, do the process together with someone. Or, bring it to your next spiritual direction session!

I enjoyed doing it and was able to get curious about my own need to “produce”, to “get something”. etc.  I enjoyed the experimenting without the pressure to be perfect!  ENJOY!

A possible text to use for this exercise;

“Maybe the journey isn’t about doing anything.  Maybe it’s about unbecoming everything that isn’t really you, so that you can be who you were meant to be in the first place.”  ~Paulo Coelho

YOM KIPPUR

At this time of the Jewish New Year I came across this wonderful poem by UU minister Rev. Julian Jamaica Soto.  I love the idea of knocking gently at your own door in order to be kind to yourself and illicit a caring response for yourself rather than trying so hard to whip yourself into shape.  Rev. Soto has given me permission to reproduce the poem here.  You could see more of their work by clicking HERE.

As part of the Yom Kippur, (Ne’ilah) the

prayers list sins in alphabetical order,

but not all of them, as folks have

many bad ideas.

And as they are read, the listeners

beat their chests in ritual, but

without pounding.

Rabbi says, “Knock gently, that the

door may actually open, rather than

steel itself against an onslaught.”

“Hello? Is anybody home.”

I am; having returned from a long

journey away from myself.  I open

the door to let in the possibility

that after a while, forgiveness

can make way for growth and

patience can make room for

love.

-gently 

.  And, here is one of my own poems about Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah

When the gates of the Hebrew New Year swing open,

I, too, am given the chance to atone;

for the petty disappointments I continue to carry

for songs I could have sung and didn’t

for un-danced dances,

kisses given without heart

for words I wish I could reel back

and my resistance to gray days, rain and boredom.

For times I was not mindful

and others were harmed,

for sitting in the back row

demanding that the world entertain me,

for clinging to outcomes,

forgetting that heaven is here on earth.

My prayer is

that the process

of remembering

my sins

helps

to soften them,

wash them

into the stream

of last year

where they might flow

remembered

and transformed

by the river

of time.

            ~Penny Hackett-Evans

TO WHOM OR WHAT DO YOU PRAY??

APPROACH THIRSTY

~ By Chelan Harkin

Lately I’ve been praying to Muhammad,

Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Baha’u’llah, Zoroaster, Jesus –

why be choosy?

I ask any source of true love

and great joy

to throw me as any bones

as they might.

Sometimes I pray to Mozart, Bach or Galileo

to pour music or the stars

through me.

Often I pray to Tahirih,

a great Persian poet and feminist

of the 1800s who would remove

her veil when addressing men

and was martyred

for speaking the irrepressible truth

in her heart.

Her final words were,

“You can kill me as soon as you like,

but you will never stop

the emancipation of women.”

I often ask Hafez for a dance

and we go for the most poetic whirls.

Sometimes I ask Rumi

that he pluck me an ancient,

everblooming rose

and I crush its scent

onto the page.

I have a crush on Kahlil Gibran

and ask that he pass me

inspired love notes.

I pray to Harriet Tubman,

that queen of heroism, for courage

and to Einstein

for out of this world ideas.

Inspiration is not elitist.

There is no much

that is off limits,

no genius you should not approach

and ask to be yours.

Oh, beseech whoever you might

that the master keys

that open all hearts

are put in your care,

that your particularly necessary

style of expression

may open new portals of beauty

to the eyes of the world.

Hobnob with all the great

dead poets,

thinkers,

lovers,

artists,

heroes of justice,

leaders of truth,.

They still want a place

to pour their wonder

into the world,

and you are a worthy vessel.

It’s an open bar in the sky.

Approach thirsty,

and ask!

Isnt this just a marvelous poem – with good questions – to whom or what do you pray – and had you considered all these unusual sources?!!  I simply love Chelan Harkin’s poetry and I commend her poetry books to you.  I hope you'l look for them at your library on orline. .  This poem came from her book "Wild Grace". but I highly commend any of her books to you. They are chocked full of funny, honest, moving spiritual poems.