Dough Mix

First off, I see two things here. One that many people just don’t see is how deeply passionate that we artists can be. We can get a head of emotion brewing in us on an average day that would overwhelm most people. And if we don’t feel this way about our work and what we are doing, our lives, then we feel a big let down. (What’s the point?)

The second thing that I see is that you’re working with the readers digest version of Buddhism. And frankly the simple lessons that you can get from this version will not satisfactorily answer your profound questions. I think that it might be helpful for you to look at it this way: it is not that Buddhism teaches us to have no attachments; it teaches us to not confuse those attachments with our identity, our true self.

The point is that the mercurial stream of life, our thoughts, passions, dreams, and despairs are always coming forth. Revealing the fabric of truth and the presence of our reality. Nirvana is not about ditching our reality for some non-being status, it is about seeing the “source” of all that is. And in that realization, we see the dance of life as it comes forth, knowing it, and in knowing it realize our own truth, our thusness. And in realizing that truth, we live the lives we are here to experience. For this is the truth as it is revealed in the light of this reality. Paint this light, because it is your own profound realization of the truth within you. And then, you not only know yourself, you know the deeper thusness of the greater reality. To have the gift to do this, as you do, is a sacred honor. To live it deeply, and at time without reason, is a great blessing. Honor your troubles for they reveal that which you need to learn.

At times when I am in deep despair and anger, I paint.