Welcome to my blog which has the ambition of entertaining you while reflecting the ‘life’ of a writer-in-waiting. And what’s he waiting for? Money? Recognition? Success? Or the ability to answer the question, ‘What do you do for a living?’ Maybe by time we get to the end of this study (only 65 weeks to go!) we might know better whether any of these results prove to be relevant.
At the moment we can see the writer in his big brother house, sitting at his wobbly MFI desk, one hand keyboarding, the other clutching a cup of tea. It is six in the morning and the room is bright with sunlight. He is thinking. A writer, this writer, spends a lot of time thinking. He only does this because he can’t help it. Even after thirty years of meditation, the thinking remains untrammelled. Rather than being penetrating and progressive, this sort of thinking is like a rapidly moving downward spiral which ultimately leaves the thinker somewhere up his own arsehole with his fists in his ears to drown out the repetitiveness of the words in his head. The only cure, it turns out, is to write something down. Then there is a shift and everything moves on and new thoughts appear.
At the moment we can see the writer in his big brother house, sitting at his wobbly MFI desk, one hand keyboarding, the other clutching a cup of tea. It is six in the morning and the room is bright with sunlight. He is thinking. A writer, this writer, spends a lot of time thinking. He only does this because he can’t help it. Even after thirty years of meditation, the thinking remains untrammelled. Rather than being penetrating and progressive, this sort of thinking is like a rapidly moving downward spiral which ultimately leaves the thinker somewhere up his own arsehole with his fists in his ears to drown out the repetitiveness of the words in his head. The only cure, it turns out, is to write something down. Then there is a shift and everything moves on and new thoughts appear.
I’ve been thinking about creation, and of painters.
You may have noticed that this is called a ‘self-help reality novel’ because part of the story is about a writer who uses deliberative techniques to support his endeavour like, for example, those described in Robert Fritz’s books, ‘Creating’ and ‘Your Life as Art’. Robert is very keen on using the painter analogy:
“One of the best ways to quickly explore the major principles of the creative process is by thinking about how painters work. Painters use every principle that you need to understand to create your life as art.”
Fritz then develops the theme by inviting us to imagine being the painter with a blank canvas and asking him/herself, ‘What do I want to create?’
On reading that, I recalled having seen a similar analogy in one of my books on Kashmir Shaivism. After three hours searching, I found it amid a host of analogies and descriptions used by Shaivite philosophers in the 10th century to describe the creation of the universe. (Apologies in advance for obscurantism, any apparent religious wording, untranslatable Sanskrit terms written without the right accents and any ennui engendered. Let’s face it, I haven’t many readers yet so I may as well get it out of my system. You can always come back next week, please.)
‘If the Highest Reality did not manifest in infinite variety, but remained cooped up within its solid singleness, it would be neither the Highest Power nor Consciousness but something like a jar.’
‘As the great banyan tree lies only in the form of potency in the seed, even so the entire universe with all the mobile and immobile beings lies as a potency in the heart of the Supreme.’
‘Just as a peacock with all its variegated plumage lies as a mere potency in the plasma of its egg, even so the entire universe lies in the Shakti of the Supreme. The Shakti of the Supreme is called Citi (Consciousness), or para-Shakti (the great vibration) or paravak (the first word.)
‘He (i.e. shiva, universal consciousness) Himself full of joy enhanced by the honey of the three corners of his heart, viz., Will, knowledge, Action, raising up his face to gaze at (his own splendour) is called Shakti.’
‘When He becomes intent to roll out the entire splendour of the Universe that is contained in his heart (in a germinal form), he is designated as Shakti. Shakti is his intentness to create and is the active or kinetic aspect of Consciousness.’
‘At first (logically, not chronologically) there was only ‘Sat’ (existence which is consciousness) – all alone without a second. He gazed and bethought to himself, May I be many, may I procreate!’
‘Just as an artist cannot contain his delight within himself, but pours it out into a song, a picture or a poem, even so the Supreme Artist pours out the delightful wonder of his splendour into manifestation or creation.’
‘Shakti thrown up by delight lets Herself go forth into manifestation. All manifestation is, therefore, only a process of experiencing out, creative ideation of Shiva.’
‘Just as an artist has at first a hazy idea of the picture he has to produce, but later a clearer image of the picture begins to emerge into his view, even so at the Sadashiva stage, the Universe is just a hazy idea, but at the Ishvara stage it becomes clearer.’
And thus we are returned to the painter analogy. However, before addressing what the painter chooses to create, maybe we could first notice that at some point previously the desire to create must have arisen in him. Where did that come from? And why? At what point in the evolutionary cycle did music and art become survival tools? What needs to they fulfil?
According to the selected quotes above taken from indian thought, the desire to create is natural and is inherent in the nature of being and consciousness. Imagine, if you would, an amorphous blob of nothingness stretching infinitely in every direction. In that blob there is ‘a somewhat of a movement’, a throb, a heartbeat, a feeling of explosive energy and that movement, in a flash, ripples out giving the appearance of a cosmic process of creation consisting of emanation, existence, dissolution, concealment and revelation.
Well maybe that’s a bit much to imagine all in one go.
My word count tells me that my 1,000 words is almost up. The bad news is I may have to continue in the same vein next week or until I’ve got this stuff out of my head. Meanwhile I’ll briefly sum up my thinking so I can move on. (Remember I’m writer so it’s all about me even when I pretend it isn’t.)
The essential message of Shaivite monistic philosopher is that ‘the jiva is shiva’, that the individual is no different from the cosmic processor and thus we have the same compulsive desire to create, originating as a throb within our blob and unfolding continually in a recognizable process that produces our experience. Can I illustrate this?
Come back next week.
The Significance of Shiva's Dance
This cosmic dance of Shiva is called 'Anandatandava,' meaning the Dance of Bliss, and symbolizes the cosmic cycles of creation and destruction, as well as the daily rhythm of birth and death. The dance is a pictorial allegory of the five principle manifestations of eternal energy — creation, destruction, preservation, salvation, and illusion. According to Coomerswamy, the dance of Shiva also represents his five activities: 'Shrishti' (creation, evolution); 'Sthiti' (preservation, support); 'Samhara' (destruction, evolution); 'Tirobhava' (illusion); and 'Anugraha' (release, emancipation, grace). The overall temper of the image is paradoxical, uniting the inner tranquillity, and outside activity of Shiva.Text taken from hinduism
.com, HDR by Photomatix Pro]
No comments:
Post a Comment