LABYRINTH

Chartres Cathedral
Chartes, France
From: SECRETS OF THE MAZE by Adrian Fisher & Howard Loxton

The Chartres labyrinth lies beneath the great circular rose window, whose size and shape it echoes. The plan appeared in a 17th Century sketchbook surrounded by this array of creatures.


A LABYRINTH (isn’t that a great word!) is created as an intricate path which follows a specific circular layout, leading to a center point. This design differs from a maze in that a labyrinth has only one path to the center which is repeated on the return. A maze can be any configuration or shape and usually includes dead-end paths that purposely confuse the walker.

Barbara S. Arthur, a labyrinth enthusiast, describes the experience of labyrinth walking, “…one of awakening an inner wisdom and sense of well-being.” It stirs the imagination to realize that labyrinths and their symbols have existed throughout history in most cultures throughout the world, no matter how primitive or advanced the civilization. Think about this for a moment…in most cultures throughout the world that have had no known exchange of knowledge or contact; a profound concept when you consider the implications of this fact. Today, labyrinths are found in both public and private buildings, cultural centers, gardens, places of worship, healing, education and athletic facilities.

In the interactive and informative book SECRETS OF THE MAZE by Adrian Fisher and Howard Loxton they explain,

“…The circular architectural form has long been associated with the churches of the Knights Templar. Traditionally, Christian churches faced east, pointing toward the Holy Land. However, when the Knights Templar reached the Holy Land during their Crusades, they began to build circular churches, like those they found in Jerusalem. It may well be that the Knights Templar were responsible for creating the famous circular labyrinth in Chartres Cathedral, France.”

The Chartres Labyrinth (as in the above photo) is often graphically reproduced and used as a meditational ‘fingermaze’; using your finger along the path instead of walking. This little exercise is a fun way to relax, breath and regain a sense of perspective and balance.

Next time you’re ready for a small diversion, give this a try:

1. Clear your mind and focus on the labyrinth.
2. Take a few deep and refreshing breaths.
3. Using your index finger or a pen/pencil, begin at the arrow and trace the path…slowly.
4. Breathe slowly.

Enjoy the journey from the beginning point (your birth)

Through your life (with all of the unexpected turn of events)

That lead you onward to your ‘center’ (personal wisdom)

DRAGONS CAN'T BE PUT INTO CAGES

The Reluctant Dragon by: Maxfield Parrish

The excerpt below is taken from a page in an Artist’s Journal,

Life: Writing on Water :

DRAGONS can’t be put into cages.
WHY?
Because they don’t “live” in the place we “think” they live…

The Western Mind tries to put everything into its “proper” place/box/cage…
If we can’t find that “proper” place/box/cage...
We breed Uncertainty
Uncertainty breeds Anxiety
Anxiety breeds Confusion
Confusion breeds Fear…
Along with Fear comes its demented cousin Anger
Anger invites Futility, Frustration and Paralysis to join the party

So?

Ask yourself…
What might happen if we didn’t try to cage (control) everything in the first place?

Remember…Dragons can’t be caged.

--The Pheasant--

TODAY...FLY YOUR KITE!

KITES flying on the Oregon Coast

By: Janis Miglavs

"IMAGINATION IS THE HIGHEST KITE ONE CAN FLY."

-LAUREN BACALL-

"How many once-in-a-lifetime experiences have we missed completely because they were ordinary once-in-a-lifetime experiences and NOT supercool, kick-ass once-in-a-lifetime experiences? Everything you ever do, no matter what it is... is ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS a once-in-a-lifetime experience. DON'T MISS YOUR LIFE."

-BRAD WARNER-

From: Sit Down and Shut Up

THE UNFOLDING ROAD

Photo of BEN OKRI, Poet and Novelist
Vice-President of the English Centre of International PEN
Member of the Board of the Royal National Theatre
Awarded an OBE in 2001
Most recent book: Starbook Rider & Co., 2007

In our previous post, we introduce Master Muse Martha Beck’s latest book STEERING BY STARLIGHT FIND YOUR RIGHT LIFE NO MATTER WHAT. We believe this book offers a life altering experience as well as being a premiere resource for jewels of wisdom and inspiration. We would be remiss if we did not acknowledge one such jewel; the work of poet and novelist BEN OKRI.

Martha Beck’s final page leaves us with selections from a BEN OKRI piece entitled, To an English Friend in Africa (March 1991). Martha writes about her experience,

“…As the last of the sunlight faded and the moon cleared the horizon, he read us one of his own favorite poems…

Live while you are alive…
Learn to be what you are in the seed of your spirit
Learn to free yourself from all things that have molded you
And which limit your secret and undiscovered road…
Never forget that love
Requires that you be
The greatest person you are capable of being,
Self-generating and strong and gentle-
Your own hero and star…
Be grateful for life as you live it,
And may a wonderful light
Always guide you along the unfolding road.

BEN OKRI is often described as one of Africa’s greatest writers. To read the complete version of To an English Friend in Africa, click on this link to Mystical Quill Productions.

YOUR ONE WILD AND PRECIOUS LIFE

Master Muse MARTHA BECK has written another MASTERpiece, STEERING by STARLIGHT FIND YOUR RIGHT LIFE NO MATTER WHAT! Martha is a brilliant life coach and intellectual warrior who strives to shine light on the dark places we all face. The book jacket synopsis sums it up,

“…She connects readers with their authentic hopes, needs and desires by bringing together cutting-edge research in psychiatry and neurology and offering powerful new methods for solving problems that beset every one of us.”

Here in the MUSEologies Studio, we like visual aides and have a growing collage of images and quotes affixed to every free surface. They inspire us. More than that, they make us feel good. One of our newest additions is an excerpt found on Page 231 of STEERING by STARLIGHT. We enlarged it, so that we can read it from across the room. We enlarged it, because it deserves ‘Center Stage’,

“One night in Africa, I watched the full moon rise huge and orange over the savannah. Giraffes walked in front of it like movie stars. A leopard huffed somewhere. One of the men in our group said he was afraid to look up; the stars were so bright he felt he was falling into them. “It makes me think too much”, he said, sounding genuinely scared. I know what he meant. If you see the stars too clearly, they make demands of you, throw out rude, intrusive questions. The poet Mary Oliver did this in one of her poems, brazenly asking,

”Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

If you’re afraid you’ve come to this question too late, you are wrong. Ask your Stargazer self. It will tell you what my fallen-noble friend Marianna told me in one of my darker hours: that the world is re-created in every instant of time, and this moment is always your life’s beginning. No matter how many years have been stolen from you by your own ignorance, by cruel fate, or by the acts of others, you have a clean, broad slate before you. In this instant – THIS ONE NOW – you can begin steering by starlight, and if you do, the rest of creation will conspire to guide, teach and help you.”

WHAT IS IT YOU PLAN TO DO...

WITH YOUR ONE WILD AND PRECIOUS LIFE?

LIVE WITH INTENTION

PHOTO BY J. BALLOUZ
Close-up of Royal Poinciana Flowering Tree.

Consistently voted among the top 5 most beautiful flowering trees in the world.

Native to Madagascar.

Abundant in the Florida Keys. Blooms in May and June.

LIVE WITH INTENTION
WALK TO THE EDGE
LISTEN HARD
PRACTICE WELLNESS
PLAY WITH ABANDON
LAUGH
CHOOSE WITH NO REGRET
CONTINUE TO LEARN
APPRECIATE YOUR FRIENDS
DO WHAT YOU LOVE
LIVE AS IF THIS IS ALL THERE IS

--Mary Anne Radmacher--

THE POWER OF A QUESTION

Creating thought-provoking interview questions is truly an art form. This morning we came across a series of questions from a 2007 interview in skirt! magazine. This is a ‘chick’ magazine that every guy should read. “… It’s all about women…their work, play, families, creativity, style, health and wealth, bodies and souls. skirt! is an attitude…spirited, independent, outspoken, serious, playful and irreverent, sometimes controversial, always passionate.”

On the surface, the interview questions look rather simple. But, if you take a few moments and THINK about them, you realize they are anything BUT. They just may stimulate some long lost memories and open a part of your heart that has been under lock and key for too long.

These questions stirred up our Studio this morning. We laughed. We comforted each other. We gave each other some authentic feedback. We razzed each other unmercifully! Ultimately, we got to know each other better; no small feat when you realize that we have been working together for almost three decades!

Give it a try. Find someone. Interview each other.

Prepare to be amazed.

QUESTIONS:

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR FAMILY.

WHERE DO YOU CONSIDER YOUR HOMETOWN AND WHY?

DID YOU OR DO YOU HAVE A NICKNAME?

WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?

WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU HAVE EVER LOST?

WHAT IS YOUR PASSION?

WHAT IS THE BEST THING YOU EVER WON?

WHAT IS THE WORST IDEA YOU’VE EVER HAD?

THE WORLD WOULD BE A BETTER PLACE, IF ONLY…

IF YOU COULD BE TOTALLY WILD AND FREE, YOU WOULD?

DON'T THROW IN THE TOWEL

FROM A MARTEX ADVERTISEMENT

I find it interesting that you can read something one day and it passes through the conscious mind with a rather benign interest, eliciting not much of a reaction. On another day, you can read the very same passage; when, like riding the perfect wave, you begin to recognize the signs of pure exhilaration - that indescribable feeling of happiness and excitement combined with a heightened sense of just being alive… it pulses through the body and explodes into a million watt inspirational experience.

A case in point is the passage below which arrived last April in our cyber-post box from TUT’s A NOTE FROM THE UNIVERSE. I read it. It caught my attention enough to actually print it out. Then, the scrap of paper discreetly disappeared under a behemoth pile of books, photos, drafts, drawings…and was, of course, forgotten.

This week has been one of those weeks. In fact, the last three weeks are not ones that we wish to repeat anytime soon. We all have humdinger weeks like these. It took a real and concerted effort to brew up some optimism with our morning coffee. 90+ degree heat and its partner, humidity gone mad, added to a pessimistic sense of overwhelm. Not a pretty sight or feeling. Stress was crackling in the air like black lightening. As if on cue, a slip of paper worked its way out of the precariously stacked pile that was vibrating to the rhythmic sequence of the whirring ceiling fan. The paper landed on the floor, skipping around gently like a feather being blown in a light breeze. Absently, I picked it up to see if it was an important scrap. It was The Universe.

“Remember you once told me that if ever all the circumstances in your life were aligned just so, your soon-to-be assignments, clients and friends (a little add here on my part) were in all the right places at all the right times, and the financial markets, your bank account, social climate and global energies had all reached optimal points…you’d want to be gently nudged as a subtle sign that it was time to start doing new things, saying new things, and visualizing so that you might catch these gargantuan waves of change and surf to dazzling new heights.”

TODAY’S THE DAY!!

Hang Ten,
The Universe

TODAY IS THE DAY. I woke up above ground. A fresh beginning. A clean slate. Nope, I won’t throw in the towel. The next potential gargantuan wave is just too enticing. It’s time to pick up my board and surf!

-Royce-

Sidebar: Mel Fisher is the Treasure Hunter who discovered a Spanish Galleon off the Florida Keys called The Atocha. Mel’s daily proclamation became quite famous in Key West. Every single day for twenty five years he said, "Today’s The Day!" (to find the mother lode…gold, coins, emeralds). That day arrived. He recovered millions of dollars worth of gold, jewels and history. If you’re ever in Key West, don’t miss the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum. The story and discovery will stir up your adventurer’s spirit.

SHIBUI

ROBERT GENN and Emily

THANK YOU TO ROBERT GENN for his permission to reprint his article SHIBUI. Robert is a talented and brilliant artist and muse. Learn more at www.painterskeys.com. Don’t worry if you are not a painter; Robert inspires and offers his wisdom on creative expression, in all its guises.

Shibui is a broad term that can mean irregularity of form, openness to nature, roughness of texture, and the naturalness of daily life. Also known as Shibusa, it refers as well to the Japanese "Seven aspects of being," which are simplicity, implicitness, modesty, silence, naturalness, roughness and normalcy. It's seen in raku pottery, architecture, folk crafts, haiku, gardens and painting. Shibui is worth thinking about no matter where you are or what your art. Fact is, perfection is boring. Shibui allows viewer participation in the artist's art. It's particularly valuable in an age of highly finished and sophisticated machine-manufactured products. Shibui comes naturally, shows the hand of the maker, and triumphs gesture and the vagaries of process. While there are hundreds of ways to bring shibui into your life, if you think you might include the idea in your painting, here are seven:

Use the whole brush--right down to the ferrule.Have more than one colour on the brush at one time. Hold the brush well up on the handle. Work freshly and let intuition be your guide. Feel the energy and direction of your subject. Be not uptight, but relaxed. Quit when you've connected and while the going is good.

In a way, the making of raku pottery is a good metaphor. In the fiery arms of the kiln god, work takes on a form of its own. Think of yourself as a kiln rather than a labouring artisan. Under the smoking straw of passion, work shapes itself and becomes its own statement. Shibui is all about trust--trust in your materials, trust in your instincts, trust in yourself, trust in the kiln. Shibui transforms frantic work into calm joy and subdues the creator with relative contentment. As well, viewers get a strong feeling they are looking at art.
In shibui, sheer ease is a virtue. Hours fly by as the creator becomes lost in process and the gentle curiosity of outcome. You never know what you're going to pull out of that kiln.

Best regards,
Robert

PS: "Austere, subdued and restrained are some of the English words that come closest. Etymologically, shibui means 'astringent,' and is used to describe a profound, unassuming and quiet feeling." (Bernard Leach, "A Potter's Book" 1940)

Esoterica: I often wonder if the best art happens during some sort of self-hypnosis. In Japan, I once sat with a sumi master in lotus position in a particularly stark room with only three tatami, several sheets of rice paper and some simple tools. He could not, or would not, answer my questions as he worked. He was as inscrutable as a Buddhist monk, as if another power was guiding his brush and he was only a rapt observer, smiling with some inner expectancy, impervious to the outside traffic that rattled and drummed his paper walls.