Yes I have another new image already, as always I ask you to view it with your own eyes. That said, you just know I’m going to give you my own humble view on it, so here goes.
Let’s start with the photos that made up this work. The two main images are both spiritual but from different belief systems. one is of a church steeple taken in St Ives in Cornwall, the other is of a shaped stone which lives in the garden of the chalice well in Glastonbury.
Well almost at the start of working with these two images I saw what I viewed as a figure appear and I new that he was to be the focus of the work. I had been thinking a lot about shaman over the past weeks and I thought this figure looked like he was wearing an outfit along these lines. I was finding many of the shaman ideas fascinating, this was all started by and interview I had seen with Hank Wesselman (View his website). At times I can be so taken in by other peoples stories, I forget to question weather this has anything to offer me on my own spiritual path. As my own spiritual patch work has a large section of Buddhism in it, I have always been happy to question beliefs (Buddha encouraged questions) from a position of respect and inquiry, rather than from the attack and discredit mode so many nowadays seem to embrace. I then thought that weather or not this figure was a shaman, a guru or simply a wise man, if I met him in person what would he expect from me? blind faith? I would hope not as I would indeed have many questions to ask him. While the route of persistent questioning can ultimately only ever have you chasing your own tail, life is meant to be enjoyed and what can be better than friendly banter on things of a spiritual nature. A wise man or guru who rejects the need for questions from his pupils is proclaiming he has nothing left to learn, a dangerous assumption indeed.
So I decided to use one of my favourite sayings ‘ Question Everything’ as the title to this picture in the hope that is will get people to think more on this and everything. Below is the direct writing that goes with this image. I hope it will highlight the paradox of questioning everything and how eventual even the most obstinate of us can grow to old for this game ….
‘Question everything’ said the wise man
‘ But why?’ Said the student
‘Very Good’ said the wise man ‘I see I’m no longer needed’
Does a lie told a thousand times become the truth?
What you believe to be true is. But how do you know what you believe?
A wise man may be a simple fool, who fooled a fool more foolish.
The truth will set you free they say, but what is this truth?
Know that the truth you finally settle for could just be another old lie that you simply like the look of …
But ultimately does it really matter?
If your truth brings you peace, happiness, joy and hurts no one, then that is truth indeed.
