Global to Local in Ecuador

You will undoubtedly find inspiration in watching these young people empowering young people to create transformation in the world.  I know I did.  Kudos to them for all their efforts.  This short video will tell you who they are and something about their goals.

Note: You can click on each photo to see a larger version. All images and text on this blog are copyrighted material, and may be used only with written permission, except where syndication rights have been granted. All other rights reserved. Please visit my sites listed in my sidebar if you would like to see my paintings and more of my photography and digital art, or make a purchase. You can also find cool, artsy gifts at my Zazzle shops!

Thoughts on The Tree of Life

Tree of Life - Image c Lynda Lehmann

Witness the great tree: the overarching Tree of Life.

It spreads and reaches....
soaking in light from above
to nurture the growth
of all its branches.

We are like the twigs,
works-in-progress growing,
turning, striving, streaming
and
bifurcating from branches
larger than we.

We are each rooted in
humanity, as each branch
springs from the tree.

But on a tree,
divergent branches although separate,
do not turn on themselves,
nor on others.
Nor do they ridicule those
weaker tentacles whose growth
does not rival their own.

Because they remember
being tender shoots
themselves,
barely differentiated from the flesh
of the great trunk,

they know their origin,
respect it,
and are humbled.

Mindful, they know their attachment
to something greater:
a force that nurtures them while still
enlisting them to provide.

There are no outcasts among branches.

Nor scorn for angling off
in a different direction.
For each twig and branch
sees its own way
towards the light.

****

The branch reaches far
yet gives thanks for its base,
its connection to
the larger tree.

No branch stands
on a pinnacle
to proclaim its sovereignty.
Lording not, over others.

Nor does it claim
more than its share
of root's nourishment
or succor of light.

A single branch
is gangly, awkward, lost...
unrelated...
yet a tree brims

with the hope
of all levels of life
reaching
for more of itself.

A branch splintered
from The Whole,
loses stability, sustenance, meaning.

Embedded in its cells,
the code,
calling for contribution
but not conformity...

to evolve in concert with The Whole.

We have much to learn
from mingled branches
that together stand proud, as
the Tree of Life.

A World of Their Own - Image c Lynda Lehmann

MY BLOGGING FRIENDS: Just a note to tell you that this will most likely be my last post for a week or two, because of other projects I have to attend to. Everything is fine; I'm just busy.

I WILL however, visit your sites and comment, and respond to your comments here. Any constructive criticism on the poem is most welcome! And I'll be back to post as soon as I can. Love and peace to you....

Journey - Image c Lynda Lehmann

All images and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed.

Reaching for the Solstice

We walked on a beach along Long Island Sound this past Sunday. The day was overcast, so the colors of the day stood out. I'll be posting "Beach Foundlings" from that day, man-made or altered objects found on the beach, and a variety of more natural beach images, in coming posts.

Today I'm sharing just this image of a hill facing over the shoreline and water. The woods were finally showing signs of color, emergent green and amber evident on slender veins of new growth. The air was soft and not too cold, and I was taken with this view of the fertile pre-spring arbor: ready to burst with life, replete with possibilities and energy of fresh growth and brushy splendor. So delicate, yet full of awesome power...

Life renews itself in Spring, and with the changing of the season, comes new hope.

My most fervent hope is for our survival on our magnificent green, blue, and amber planet.

Images and text c Lynda Lehmann. If you would like to view more of my art or make a purchase, please visit Lynda Lehmann Painting and Photography or my gallery at Imagekind, where you can choose from several sizes and paper types or buy my prints plain or matted and framed.

Art and Power: How Making Art Empowers Us

Like most people, I'm fascinated by questions about the nature of life and our place in the cosmos. As a human being, I feel all the ageless and timeless doubts of the human condition. But there's one thing I know for certain: doing art lifts me above doubt and despair and gives me joy. Being involved in creative process has helped me to say "yes" to life. In my own creativity and in other's, as well, I see glimpses of something wonderful. It's what I like to think of as "the infinite potential of the universe." It manifests in all of us, especially when we create.

For me, the activity of creating art is an affirmation of life. Experiencing "the grand mystery" gives us a feeling of joy, based on the miracle of form and the complex web of life on our planet.

Here's a short article I wrote for my blog on Absolute Arts, that was later published at Creativity Portal and in a catalog for a large artist's exhibition in India. It addresses the idea of how art gives us power over ourselves.

ART and POWER

I think most of us would agree that producing art gives us power. I see it as a power over ourselves, as opposed to power over what is outside of ourselves. It is a personal power over our own energy, perception, and motivational systems. And perhaps more important, the making of art helps us transcend the need to achieve a social equilibrium (which in my opinion, is rarely possible anyway). Instead, we are involved in a process by which we may achieve a degree of harmony within ourselves, in relation to the universe. In the dynamic state of being committed to a creative process, we do not need to steal anyone's energy, or let them steal energy from us.

The truth wears six billion faces, each with different life circumstances, a different life script, and a different mode of emotional being. For me, doing art takes me to a place from which I can accept all scripts and embrace the subjective and relative nature of truth. (This is not to imply that morality is relative, however, because murder and extortion are always wrong, no matter whose script dictates it.)

Because my own script, when involved in creative process, is so engaging to me, always varied and full of mystery, it teaches me both tolerance and hope. The bounty of creative options available to me, gives me confidence in the infinite potential of the universe, for hope, harmony, and healing. In short, it gives me joy.

I have heard it said that artists, in doing art, are participating in a God-like creation process, and indeed it is true. While we are by no means transmuted into gods by making art, we at least become his humble hand-maidens. We see glimpses of beauty and wonder in places where other people may fail to look, unearthing it at every turn. We see new relationships, both visual and metaphoric, sociological and scientific. It becomes easier for us to step back or undercut the tendency to power struggles, that so often consumes people. (The last thing we need in this weary world is more conflict, personal or generalized, to spew hatred around the globe!)

I have heard it said, also, that we artists make art in order to find love and to be loved. I think the apex of this is that in the tender connections we make to the universe, we find some degree of self-love. I think this is a balanced form of self-love that perceives the relative and tenuous nature of things, including the subjective nature of our own lives. Therefore, in my opinion, it is a mature self-love, not to be confused with narcissism. •

All text © 2006 Lynda Lehmann