From horror to hope

"Easter Dawn," 5 x 5 acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas, palette knives

If there's an eternal message about the Easter story, whether you're a Christian or not, centers on humanity's hope, after the horrors of inhumanity. 

After all  the horrors of Roman crucifixion, of humans' constant cruelty,  in war  and crime, to other humans, to other living things, to all of creation--hope somehow survives, hope in life here and after death. Eternity is always present. 

Thus today's painting, rough textured for the horror, light for the hope, just  for Easter. Available soon at Edmond Vibes, April 6 at The Vault, and thereafter at In Your Eye Studio and Gallery in Paseo Arts District.

Full Moon Rising

"Full Moon Rising," 9 x 12 acrylic on canvas panel

Look at the moon.

When I need hope for today, for a future, in these dark days of war and hatred, of discrimination and unfairness, of propaganda and politics, of inhumanity and hypocrisy, in  Ukraine or the United States or even Oklahoma, we need hope. When helpless amid war crimes against a country, or hate crimes against races, or political crimes against genders and religions and beliefs and words,  I treasure nature, and especially the moon.

No, it won't make any of those attacks on our humanity go away. But it's one light in the darkness that we need so much...a reminder that we are brief, that you can count on nature, that creation can be beautiful in spite of us. And that is hope.

Today's painting. No matter humanity or its lack of humanity,  the full moon will rise.

I-magic-nation

"Magic Forest," 12 x 12 acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas

The world, creation, humanity, burdened down with the "reality" of  technology, science, cultures and "logic" spirals out of control with war, inhumanity, pandemics, with so-called "sapiens" living unintelligently, committing eco-suicide by killing the planet.

Most seem to have forgotten, or lost, or squandered or negated another reality--that of imagination, of the spirit, of magic.

Yet there are still places of magic, of the super-natural, of health and happiness in the crevices of our minds that we never touch or have drugged with everyday existence. You find them in all the arts, in nature itself, if you look, if you imagine.

We desperately need magic more than ever, to rescue us from our depressing "reality" that is not working intelligently for us. 

Amid this latest carnage, I began thinking of physical places that are magic to me, where I am closest to creation and the creator. Only then does creativity take place, from close contact, in my imagination.

A few of those are deep forests, in fact, or in fiction, like Tolkien's Mirkwood,  or Robin Hood's Sherwood, or the Pacific Northwest's rainforests, or ... 

Thus this painting.

Where there is peace on earth

"Peace, from war," today's #watercolor

In a season that is supposed to celebrate peace on earth, it's best to remember that humans rarely know peace, with wars and misery raging even today, for years at a time.
There is one place I know that seems to bring peace, though 77 years ago today it was just the opposite.
If you visit the USS Arizona Memorial in Hawaii, you approach and enter with silence and whispers and awe, standing over the tomb of 1,000 sailors in Pearl Harbor from that violent morning.
Here you can appreciate the cost of war, and the value of peace, waves gently lapping over the rusting remains of the battleship, oil still oozing from the depths.

"Shalom" amid unending war?

"Shalom," according to Strong's Concordance, means "completeness, wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, the absence of agitation or discord. Shalom comes from the root verb shalom meaning to be complete, perfect and full." 
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
 
How many years have we been at war now? Will there ever be any peace?
We are the world's most powerful nation militarily. Our citizens can own guns. We have security systems in our houses. We build gated neighborhoods. The list goes on.
The U.S.A., the "United States of Afraid." Why do we not feel safe or peaceful?

The United States of Afraid

Here we are in what is supposed to be a season of "peace on earth, goodwill toward men," and there is none. The words of Jesus are forgotten, or ignored. 
One of the books I've read this year is "Peace Is Every Step: The Path to Mindfulness in Everyday Life," by renowned Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese monk who survived the war.
I had made these notes on his teachings before yesterday's horror in California. They are more pertinent than ever when he wrote them in 1990.
As upset as I've been with the terrorism in the world, and the growing fascism in America, reading this book  has helped reconnect me with Jesus' teachings. His observations help calm me and put this current insanity in some perspective. But they also teach me that inner peace amid all this turmoil, which Jesus spoke about too, comes only with work, with being mindful that only "now" matters, that you count your blessings. I have to reread these ideas often.
His teachings are so needed among Christians and people of all faiths, or of no faiths. Terrorism, refugees, war, hatred, fear, poverty, "social media," intolerance, selfishness, environmental crisis--which current event do you need? His words apply. 
Would that those spewing hate and intolerance as well as those attacking and killing innocent people would read them, and the words of Jesus,  and find "Shalom." Consider these exerpts:

Lack of peace

• "Anyone who has made us suffer is undoubtedly suffering too."
• "A fresh way of being peace, of making peace is needed.
• Peace is based on  respect for life, the spirit of reverence for life." 
• "Poverty and oppression bring war. In our times, every war involves all countries." 
• "Do not utter words that can create discord and cause the community to break. Make every effort to reconcile."

Narrow -minded religious fanaticism 

• "Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology...all systems of thought are guiding means' they are not absolute truth." 
• "Do not think that the knowledge you presently posses is changeless, absolute truth--truth is found in life and not merely in conceptual knowledge."
• "Do not force others, including children to adopt your views."
• "Do not use the religious community for personal gain or profit, or transform your community into a political party."

Poverty

•  "The wealth of one society  is made of the poverty of the other. Wealth is made of non-wealth elements and poverty is made of  non poverty elements."

Technology

•  "When we watch bad TV, we become it." (This was written pre-Facebook, but it certainly applies."
• "We are victims of our own telephones." (written pre-cell phones)

The environment 

• "Everything co exists--we cannot be just by ourselves alone.
• "The forests are our lungs outside of our bodies. The sun is our heart outside our bodies.
•  "We are imprisoned in our small selves,  thinking only of  the comfortable conditions of this small self, while we destroy the large self."

 Mindfulness

•    "...we think too much, and mindful breathing helps us to be calm, relaxed and peaceful. It helps us stop thinking so much and stop being possessed by sorrows of the past and worries about the future. it enables us to be in touch with life, which is wonderful in the present moment." 
• ..."the eucharist is mindfulness--awareness..." 
• "...walk as if kissing the earth..."
• "Everything we do is an act of poetry or a painting if we do it with mindfulness."  
• "By taking good care of the present moment we take good care of the future." 
• "Do not avoid contact with suffering or close your eyes before suffering."

The Future

• "Use the suffering of the 20th Century as compost so that together we can create flowers for the 21st Century." 
• "The flower of tolerance to see and appreciate cultural diversity is one flower we can cultivate for the children of the 21st Century. Another flower is the truth of suffering."

It is a difficult journey, from Jeremiah's "Peace, peace, there is no peace," to finding "Shalom."

Old, and Biblical, and on the blog at 102

About the time I though the reach of this blog was over, a new reader from the 13th African nation and 102nd country to have readers hit on this blog.

Ethiopia, one of mankind's oldest regions, if not the oldest for homo sapiens, should also be familiar to Jews and Christians alike, referred to in the Old and New Testaments, as well as in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.  Heard of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon? She was Ethiopian. Read of Phillip preaching to the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts? Not only is the country old, it has a long history of Judaism and Christianity. It's been a  monarchy most of its life since well before Christ.. And until the last 20 years, the symbol of the Lion of Judah was in the middle of the flag, the emperors claiming direct lineages from Solomon and Sheba.

It's also a country that has been plagued by politics, wars, famines  and droughts throughout its history. No wonder prehistoric man decided to migrate away.Now home to 84 million people, two thirds are Christian and other religions, and one third Muslim. It was a major power in the third century and the first major empire to adapt Christianity as the official religion.

When Europe set about pillaging Africa, only it and Liberian maintained independence. Invaded by Mussolini's Italians in 1936, it was eventually freed by the British in about 1943. When the colonization of Africa began ending in the 1960s, many new states used the Ethiopian flag colors in their flags. After legendary Emperor Haile Sallasie was deposed, the Soviets and Marxists took over until the collapse of the USSR. A new constitution and flag were adopted in the 1990s, featured a multiparty system. Continued wars, droughts and famines continue to plague the country and its politics.

Today's flag colors date to 1889, and were adopted after defeat of Marxists in 1991. The blue represents peace, the star represents diversity and unity, and the sun's rays symbolise prosperity. The green recalls the land, yellow stands for peace and hope, and red is symbolic of strength.
I don't know who my reader from Ethiopia is, but welcome, and thank you. Don't suppose that this is a backward country however. When I was privileged to travel to Mali in 2007, one of the few airlines serving Bamako, other than Air France, was Ethiopian Air. We were fortunate to have their flight attendants staying in our hotel. I quickly decided I liked these friendly people, and talked with them and got authgraphs. Can you see why?

Ethiopian Air flight attendants

The War on Math and Science

Did you know America declared war on math and science in this century?

That's the title of one of the chapters in Friedman and Mandelbaum's book, "That Used to Be Us."

If you thought we were emphasizing math and science in our schools as all the politicians keep preaching, this title grabs you and makes you say, "Huh."

But I kept reading,  I realized words don't mean anything. Action is reality. (James2:17 for a Biblical bent, which essentially says "Faith without works doesn't exist."

so what are they talking about?

Math--the huge national deficit which began to grow after 2000. Vice-president Dick Cheney saying "deficits don't matter," and politicians wanting to cut taxes. That's war on math. It won't work for you and me--let's go charge everything and then take a cut in pay--and it isn't working for our country.

The war on science--politicians--including Oklahoma's own wholly owned puppet of energy companies Jim Inhofe--claiming that man-made climate change is a hoax. I'll admit, climate change isn't all the fault of fossil fuels, but to deny what most scientists int he world document is criminal or ignorant. Ever notice how much warmer it is in cities than the country during summer? Why? Concrete, and people. that's man made climate change. Science.

Now everybody agrees the deficit is the problem, and it's fair to debate how remedy that. But to delude ourselves that we can do it by cutting revenue without cutting spending is  to live in fantasy.

To deny that we must do something to help remedy the problems of climate change is also.

America is in trouble because our actions don't match our words.