Art as Meditation
By
James Harvey Stout (deceased). This material is now in the public
domain. The complete collection of Mr. Stout's writing is now at
http://stout.mybravenet.com/public_html/h/
Jump to the following topics:
- What is "art as
meditation?"
- The techniques.
What is "art as
meditation?" It is any type of meditation in which we use art. Art
has been institutionalized as a form of meditation in Zen -- with
calligraphy, ink drawings, and gardening -- but we can meditate with
other media, e.g., painting, sculpture, water colors, etc.
The techniques.
- We create a meditative state. Before we start to create, we
can use any of the other meditation techniques in this book.
- We are mindful while we prepare our tools. Those tools include
our paintbrushes, our sculpting stone, etc.
- We experience balance in the various relationships (i.e.,
dualities) in creativity:
- The relationship between artist and tools.
- The relationship between artist and creation.
- The relationship between the creation and the space around
it.
- The relationship between creator and audience.
- The relationships among all the steps of our endeavor
(including the preliminaries, and the cleanup afterward).
- The relationship between spontaneity and technique.
- "Spontaneity" is characterized by impulsiveness, an
attentiveness to intuition in each moment, "the beginner's
mind," receptiveness, uninhibited experimentation, the right
hemisphere of the brain, etc.
- "Technique" includes technical rules, professionalism,
mental reasoning, a detailed plan for the finished product,
learned artistic principles, audience response,
marketability, intentional symbolism, abstractions, the left
hemisphere of the brain, etc.
- The relationship between personal self and impersonal
spirit.
- The personal psyche is diminished to a different
proportion In this unified process, we use the perspectives
and energy of the ego, archetypal-field elements, thoughts,
emotions, imagination, and personal technique -- but those
things are subservient to the activity of life creating
itself. We do not self-consciously judge ourselves as "a
great artist" or "an incompetent" artist; instead, we merely
observe and appreciate the miracle of creation.
- We might feel that life (i.e., spirit) is creating
something through us. We allow the creation to go
beyond our concepts of our identity, our capabilities, our
habits, our emotional and mental preferences, and other
individual concerns. We permit the creativity to occur on
its own terms. Our individuality is still here, but we
transcend it such that it is only one part of the process;
it is merely a "spice" in the recipe rather than being the
main course.