The Spirituality Effect

Spirituality

 How do you define it? What is it to you? These are important questions to ask in order to create art as a spiritual practice.

 For many, spirituality is religion. For many others, it has nothing to do with any religion. And for some, it is a combination of both. It's important to define it for yourself before you can connect your art with it.

 For me, I see spirituality as a sense of being a part of a larger whole, like I'm just one grain of sand on a giant beach. I am separate, being just myself. Yet I am also a part of this larger existence. For me, the important thing is understanding how I connect to this larger whole. And I connect through my art.

 Art As Connection

 My life has been an ongoing series of awakenings. These have been both ordinary and profound. Many of these have been centered around the art I do. Each one has allowed me to feel, and understand, a deeper connection to the whole. It's as if in reaching out for experience, something has reached back at me and pulled me into a deeper experience.

 So for me, art is, and has always been, my connection to the Universe as a whole. It has also been a way to experience the Universe itself. Even sitting here, at my kitchen table, alone (except for a cat sleeping on the table next to me), I am not alone in one sense, as I am connected to the larger whole of experience. Each time I write, play music, take a photo, etc., I am reaching out and the Universe reaches back. This is my experience. This is my practice. 

 Don't Be Afraid To Reach Out

 When I was younger, I felt that my world kept going in circles. Then I chanced reaching out, and something grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the circle. I try to reach out everyday. I keep moving forward. It's almost as if I have a grip on a rope, and each day I pull, pull myself further along this rope. Much of this comes through a dedicated practice.
The practice is pulling on the rope.
Find your rope and keep pulling on it everyday.

 ~ MB
Art as Rope Pulling




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