Art Is a Way of Knowing: A Guide to Self-Knowledge and Spiritual Fulfillment through Creativity
224
Art Is a Way of Knowing: A Guide to Self-Knowledge and Spiritual Fulfillment through Creativity
224eBook
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Overview
Making art—giving form to the images that arise in our mind's eye, our dreams, and our everyday lives—is a form of spiritual practice through which knowledge of ourselves can ripen into wisdom. This book offers encouragement for everyone to explore art-making in this spirit of self-discovery—plus practical instructions on material, methods, and activities, such as ways to:
• Discover a personal myth or story
• Recognize patterns and themes in one's life
• Identify and release painful memories
• Combine journaling and image making
• Practice the ancient skill of active imagination
• Connect with others through sharing one's art works
Interwoven with this guidance is the intimate story of the author's own journey as a student, art therapist, teacher, wife, mother, and artist—and, most of all, as a woman who discovered a profound and healing connection with her soul through making art.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780834823266 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Shambhala |
| Publication date: | 04/11/1995 |
| Sold by: | Penguin Random House Publisher Services |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 224 |
| File size: | 3 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Knowing
the Imagination
Our
imagination is the most important faculty we possess. It can be our greatest
resource or our most formidable adversary. It is through our imagination that
we discern possibilities and options.
Yet
imagination is no mere blank slate on which we simply inscribe our will.
Rather, imagination is the deepest voice of the soul and can be heard clearly
only through cultivation and careful attention. A relationship with our
imagination is a relationship with our deepest self: Whether we have cultivated
our imagination or not, we each have a lifetime of patterns and habits of
thought embedded there, based on past experiences. Our expectations of
ourselves and the world flow from these patterns. Suzi Gablik writes: "What we
are learning is that for every situation in our lives, there is a thought
pattern that both precedes and maintains it. So that our consistent thinking
patterns create our experience. By changing our thinking we also change our
experience. . . . The basic step is to confront what we actually believe" (p.
27).
Art
is a way of knowing what it is we actually believe. Bernie Siegel (1986) is a
medical doctor who deeply respects the power of the imagination in regard to
physical healing. He asks his cancer patients to draw images of their treatment
in order to
discover
their
deeply held beliefs about the treatment options. He has learned that the belief
of the patient, not the objective benefit of a particular therapy, is the
greatest factor determining effective results.
Knowing
what our beliefs are requires confronting ourselves, our fears, and our
resistance to change. Once we know what our real beliefs are, we can allow them
to evolve and change if they do not serve us. Fear will throw up difficult and
unpleasant images at the gate of the imagination. Many of us worry that if we
delve too deeply, we may find terrible things, or nothing at all, no options,
no solutions. Joanna Macy (1983) works with the imagination to get people to
break through apathy about being able to affect the ecology of the planet and
other big issues facing all of us. She finds that at first fear and despair
arise and even seem overwhelming. Once that despair is felt and acknowledged,
however, it passes and new options arise that empower individuals to think of
new ways to view the problems and to create new solutions.
Art
making is a way to explore our imagination and begin to allow it to be more
flexible, to learn how to see more options. The major problem for most of us is
that we allow fear to stop the imagination before it really begins to work.
Shaun McNiff says that the image never comes to harm us, and I agree. Our fears
exist to protect us from what we imagine to be harmful. We need to respect
their purpose, to see our fears without allowing them to control the great
potential of the imagination.
Before
trying to change beliefs through making art, begin by taking an inventory of
some beliefs that you hold.
Contents
of the imagination.
Make a list of your beliefs about imagination. Include any phrases or truisms
you have heard, like "It's only your imagination," or "You're letting your
imagination run away with you." Try to articulate the belief behind such
statements. Sort your list into statements of belief that are positive and ones
that suggest the imagination is dangerous or trivial. Make a check mark by any
of the beliefs you are willing to change. See if you can restate them as
beliefs you would like to hold.
The
wealth of the imagination.
Exercising
the imagination is a potent form of preparation for making art. Imagining can
be done anywhere, anytime. It is a form of play that feeds our inner self: It
is a little like stocking the shelves. Later, at another time, art making can
bring forth what we've imagined and allow the image to take form.
The
first step is simply to become aware of the endless stream of images that are
available during a day. There are visual images, everything from the rumpled
bedclothes, your face in the bathroom mirror, and the steam rising from the
shower, to the images of suffering children that flash by on the evening news
or the pattern of tree branches against the sky that you see as you walk down
the street. There are internal images that can be called up at will, like your
sister's face when she's laughing, or evoked nonintentionally, as when you
remember a special place when you hear a certain song on the radio. Colors,
smells, sounds, weather—all of these stimulate imagery to rise within us.
In
dreams and daydreams we elaborate images into stories. The imagery of others is
also a source; books, movies, poems, are filled with images that we transform
by taking them into ourselves. Yet, in order to get through the day, most of
the time we screen out images or are only peripherally aware unless something
dramatically different comes into view. A spectacular sunset or a car wreck
will command our focus on the ride home from work; otherwise we may be lost in
thought and oblivious to the images that surround us.
The
first step, then, with no outcome in mind, is to begin to practice awareness.
Play with the different ways in which you can be aware.
The
images are already here.
Stop
reading for a moment. Sit back in a relaxed posture. Let your eyes fall on the
images around you.
Fifteen
birds are perched on a wire against a gray November sky outside my window. My
desk is crowded with family photos, piles of books, a half-woman, half-deer
talisman I made out of sticks, a plastic cow.
Notice
the images around you. Appreciate the richness of possibility. Pick one image
to follow. Notice its color, shape, texture, detail. Where does it lead you?
How did it come to be in front of you? Imagine an art work based on your image.
What would it be like? A huge soft sculpture of your stapler? A pencil drawing
of the tree outside your window?
Play
with your awareness by opening it to include as much as your eyes see. What do
you see on the periphery of your vision? Now close your eyes and shift to the
pit of your stomach. What is the sensation? What image does it evoke? Open your
eyes and go back to your first image. Focus on it; does it seem different?
Focus on one detail of that image. Let it go.
Notice
what comes up. Sometimes simply shifting our focus to images rather than
immersion in our inner dialogue can be a means of achieving relaxation. It is a
goalless opportunity for the mind to rest and replenish. At odd moments,
practice this skill by choosing to focus on a particular image, then
consciously letting it go. It is particularly helpful for relaxation to focus
on images of beauty in nature. If your energy is depleted, try focusing on
flowers, trees, plants, the sky. Allow yourself to rest in the beauty of what
you see, and let that perception replenish your energy. These are very simple
means of achieving awareness.
Table of Contents
Foreword
vii
Preface
ix
Acknowledgments
xiii
Introduction
xv
Part
One: Beginnings
1.
Knowing the Imagination 3
2.
Knowing Memory 7
3.
Knowing How to Begin 12
Part
Two: Basic Steps
4.
Knowing Drawing 21
5.
Knowing Painting 28
6.
Knowing Sculpture 33
Part
Three: Personal Content
7.
Knowing Obstacles 43
8.
Knowing Background 51
9.
Knowing Work 64
10.
Knowing Soul 71
11.
Knowing Story 76
Part
Four: Deeper Waters
Introduction
87
12.
Knowing Archetypes 88
13.
Knowing the Dance 106
14.
Knowing Patterns 111
15.
Knowing Life 120
16.
Knowing Grief 127
17.
Knowing the Past 141
Part
Five: Continuing
18.
Knowing Depth 149
19.
Knowing Fear 159
20.
Knowing Projection 170
21.
Knowing the Unknown 175
22.
Knowing Collaboration 180
23.
Knowing Transformation 185
24.
Knowing Nothing 192
Conclusion
25.
Knowing Something 197
Bibliography
201
Resources
203