"The more powerful and original a mind,
the more it will incline toward the religion of solitude."
Aldous Huxley
Bayou Sunrise *
Meditation is “in.” Everywhere you turn, life coaches,
self-help books, spiritual development mentors are teaching and encouraging us
to meditate. Part of that spiritual growth and consciousness-raising effort is
a quality called mindfulness – being fully present to the moment. So at first
glance, you might think the title of this post refers to that and in a way,
there is a connection. But they aren’t exactly the same thing.
I hope you don’t mind
my continuing to explore the ideas presented by Sam Keen regarding the
qualities he considered essential in order to complete our sacred quest, our
hero’s journey. That journey is, he says, first a pilgrimage INTO self-knowledge and then
ultimately a journey out of and beyond that new self-awareness. We are reborn in that process to the virtue of wonder and have learned to be empathetic. That
applies both to creating and receiving art as it does to any other aspect of
life and I’ve addressed those qualities in the past two posts.
The third heroic virtue is something Keen calls “a heartful
mind.” It’s not an easy quality to define, particularly in a world where
rational thinking, a scientific and analytical approach to problems or
undertakings, and objectivity are the normative modus operandi. We speak of men
as more analytical and less emotional than women and then remind women that
sometimes to be successful in business (even the business of marketing art) we
have to “think like a man.” In other words, we are advised to divorce our
hearts from our minds and let the mind dominate who we are. Keen says otherwise. We must acquire a heartful mind, he says, and
we can do that best through the “cultivated discipline of solitude” and the
habit of recollection. Keen goes on to describe in detail why such solitude is
necessary in a world where men and women have willingly become passive members
of anonymous masses in mindless conformity. Perhaps that’s a bit harsh but
think about how readily we adopt slogans or positions and sort ourselves into
us and them. “Solitude,” says the author, “begins when a man silences the
competing voices of the market, the polis, the home, the mass and listens to
the dictates of his own heart. Self-love requires the same commitment of time
and energy as any other relationship. I must take time to be with myself, to
discover my desires, my rhythms, my tastes, my gifts, my hopes, my wounds. We
need solitude to keep the relationship between me, myself and I alive and
growing."
I cannot help but think that there are few areas of life
where solitude is more necessary – no, actually fundamentally required – than
the act of producing a work of art. Writing, painting, even photography are
solitary endeavors (even if one is with another!) And I must be keenly aware of who I am and what I want to
express in order to undertake it. For myself, I cannot create at all in a chaotic environment,
or when my solitude is interrupted by phone calls, duties and noise. I
regularly take myself apart into what I call my “cave time.” [Another subject
for another post!]
When the idea of this
series first occurred to me, I listed the ten virtues and beside each I wrote
the name of an artist I thought exemplified that quality. In some cases, that
was more difficult than you might imagine, but in this case, I didn’t have a
second’s hesitation. The person who came immediately to my mind is a man I am
so proud to call my friend and whose work (for example, in his photo series, “Where the wind carries me…”) speaks consistently to the quality of heartfulness. That
artist is photographer Ramon Fernandez. In a recent article in Trillium
magazine, Ramon remarked, “I often think about the rhythm and flow of
life,” adding that he wants his viewers “to realize how connected we all are to
one another and to our planet.” An American living now in Costa Rica, he brings
a true sense of presence to his photography and says his personal mantra is, “Home
is not where you are, but rather who you are.” This is an artist who understands exactly what
a “heartful mind” is and how it impacts his art. Do YOU possess a heartful
mind? Does it show in what you write, paint, or photograph?If it doesn't, perhaps it's time for a little solitude.
*The base image is in the public domain courtesy of the National Park Service
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