Peer Into Darkness | Flow Line Face 102526
Art and insight emerged through the “flow lines” active meditation creative process:
Peer Into Darkness
We tend to associate darkness with danger. As children, we look toward the shadow beneath the bed or the open closet and imagine what might be hiding there. Before we can see clearly, imagination fills the space. The unknown becomes something to fear.
Yet darkness also holds what we have not discovered. A possibility without form. An understanding we have not reached. A part of ourselves waiting to become known. To peer into darkness is, for me, a creative art of great necessity.
I see the flowering of our potential as fundamental to being alive. Each of us gives that possibility a different expression, but discovering it asks something similar of us: the willingness to move beyond what is familiar. This is the recurring invitation of the Hero’s Journey. We leave the known, encounter uncertainty, and discover capacities that remaining comfortable might never have revealed.
The challenge is to allow vulnerability without letting discomfort determine the limits of our lives. Fear may accompany us. We can listen, exercise discernment, and still take a step. Over time, we learn that uncertainty is a space we can enter and explore.
There is an expansion that a larger house or expanding bank account cannot provide. It happens through discovering more of ourselves, questioning what we have accepted, and giving expression to what we find. I understand this as a spiritual evolution, a journey whose direction cannot simply be borrowed from another person.
As an artist, this is central to my work. I enter the process without knowing everything it will reveal. I question the boundaries of what is acceptable, beautiful, or possible, including those I have imposed on myself. The work asks me to venture beyond my existing understanding and remain receptive long enough for something unfamiliar to take form.
This capacity belongs to anyone willing to approach their field creatively. The engineer, physician, designer, or entrepreneur can also become a visionary. A society needs people willing to look beyond its established answers and bring new possibilities into view.
I practice peering into darkness regularly. Through practices like drawing, painting, photography, sound, and exploration, I become more familiar with the feeling of not yet knowing.Stepping into the unknown becomes an adventure, aligning with our true nature: curious, creative, and ready to discover what we are capable of.
I think of the lotus opening its petals, the tree bearing fruit. Their flowering depends on the conditions around them. Ours is shaped by the conditions we cultivate within: openness, courage, presence, and the willingness to explore.
I peer into darkness because some part of what I am capable of creating is still waiting there, unseen.
ARTWORK:
