I was not always into "meditation," although it's mostly an issue of vocabulary. People meditate in so many ways on a daily basis, but I think the hang-up comes when they picture what "meditation" conjures... sitting still for hours, thinking about nothing perhaps, or maybe chanting. There may also be a bit of apprehension on how meditation ties into religion, or thought-processes. It's not something most people relate to or know how to think about properly, and it definitely wasn't something I related to until I did the research and applied meditation to my life and my art. Zen has become me, and I'd like to put that in terms that can be understood by someone who may not meditate or know what Zen is, maybe so "Zen Portraits" can make a bit more sense.
Most of us live in a hectic headspace. Worries, schedules, voices, interior monologue, our conscience, reminders, reactive emotions, triggered memories... it's a chatter that many people live with as they wake up, go about their day, and then struggle to put aside so they can sleep. I can very much relate to this from my past experiences. And being an artist, I can add all the visual imagery and imaginative exploration that goes along with art to the list of things that were cluttering my mind on a daily basis. Most see this as the human condition, and take it upon themselves to wade through this thick muck of thought, trying to decipher what is important and what is not. It's this kind of activity that stops us from doing some of the great things we know we could be doing with our lives if it weren't for "everything else we need to do", etc.
The truth is that you are capable of doing ANYTHING you set your mind to do. But priorities are priorities, unless you're not setting the right kind of priorities.
We all know that priority number ONE for each of us is tending to our own mind. What we sometimes neglect to consider or acknowledge, though, is the magnificent ability of our mind to look after itself. Here you've stumbled upon the basic principle of meditation: trusting that your mind can organize itself, without all that fretting and over-thinking and sleeplessness.
Meditation has nothing to do with religion, because it is not related to any one religion. It is simply an activity that can only benefit us. To sit in silence, even if only for 5 minutes a day, and allow ourselves to return to a state of calm and awareness. To let our thoughts roam without paying attention to where they go, to hearing the dog barking down the street, the birds chirping three blocks away, the sound of leaves and branches as they mingle and sway in the wind... and finally you hear the silence of your own mind at peace. There is no searching now for whatever might need searching for. You know which direction you've been heading in, and now is your chance to adjust that direction. You know what is important to you, and simply need to ask yourself how to fill more of your life with it. Most importantly, you now know what peace feels like, and you know that you can return to it whenever you need to. This sitting in silence and returning to balance is meditation.
What we can achieve after the appropriate time of dedicated meditation is a state referred to as Zen. Zen is something that must be maintained, but can be described as the enlightenment that comes when we understand ourselves beyond our daily lives. It is what we attain when we come to peace with the Earth, with our personal relationship with society, with our existence in the galaxy, the universe, and ultimately, our relationship with love, beauty, and death. Zen is can then be described as the state attained when we know who we are, through and through, and yet still dedicate our mind to listening, and to awareness.
These states of mind, even a simple daily meditation, does wonders for our daily lives. Our brains possess the tremendous ability to sort things out for itself during these meditations, as well as remind us what's really important, and how we should be spending our days.
It's with this state of my that I personally create my art. I approach each subject only after meditation, and with a clear mind to what needs to be conveyed with a portrait. A portrait itself hopes to encapsulate a human personality, to express incredible uniqueness in a single frame, and ultimately portray the subject, be it a person, a pet, a car, a building, or a scene, as it simply is. If this is done right, it brings a smile to the viewer with its very nature. As a portrait artist, that's my goal, and Zen, as well as a keen eye for photo-realism, are my personal tools to unlock that essence of the subject matter.
I hope this window into my personal creative process helps to give insight into the "Zen" in Zen Portraits, as well as encourages you to incorporate meditation into your life. I may blog in the future about meditation, but for now, I say that it's an incredible way to come to know yourself and what you really want, as well as a way to improve all aspects of your mental and social life. Once you've reached a point where you can accept yourself and your unique relationship to the world through meditation, you can then start to evolve yourself and your talents in ways that are self-directed, intentional, and give you the satisfaction of knowing that youare one day closer to living the life you plan to live.
Live fully, live Zen.
//Jordan / Zen Portraits
No comments:
Post a Comment