Spiritual Art Blog - *Ed P

I’ve almost completed Sacred City – Arriving. I’ll do a final tidy up when the other two are at a similar point.

I’m now working on the second piece, Sacred City – Fountain. Above is a detail view of the fountain which I've been working on.

Our attitude colours our world

Thought for the Week

Have you ever noticed when you are in a good mood you can see the bright side of everything, including your problems. When you are in a bad mood, everyone else is too. Our attitude colours our world.

A while ago I met a person in a hotel where we were at a meeting. He was a grumpy old goat. The lifts were too slow, he was going to report, to the authorities, the fact that there wasn’t Braille on the lift buttons. The room was too big. The organisation of the meeting was “a disgrace”. There were too few people at the meeting. Despite these facts, he did a reasonable amount of business at the meeting, yet it “only covered my overheads”.

At a similar meeting I met a guy who was good fun, telling jokes and spinning stories. It was during our Irish Summer, it was raining again. He moved easily among the people there. It was a pleasure to be in his company. He added a sparkle and fun to everyone around him. This person did very little business but left with the hope that he a few good leads to future sales.

Would you believe that the guy from each stories is the same person. On his grumpy day I stayed well clear of him, I didn’t wanted to infected by his dark humour. When he was sparkling he was good to be around. He added a joy to the atmosphere.

That is how we can colour our world. If our attitude is dull and grey our world will be of a similar colour. If we are bright our world will be light and colourful.

Develop a bright attitude
How do we develop a bright attitude? One of the ways that works for me is to write down a list of what I can be grateful for. For example I’d write down something like this. Thank you (my Higher Power, God, Inner Guide, Guardian Angel, the Life Force, the Holy Spirit, or whatever you wish to call It)for:
my current good health,
the air that I breathe,
the fact that I can breathe,
I can walk,
I have two good hands and arms,
I can see,
I can communicate with my friends and family,
I live in a peaceful country,
the sun is shining,
the rain is falling,
my family,
my friends,
the fact that I have food to eat,
a roof over my head,
I have access to clean water,
the internet,
I can post a blog like this without fear of being burned at the stake,
I enjoy my work,
etc, etc.

I’m sure you get the idea. Once you start writing your blessings will begin to flow. If you look around you at those less fortunate than you and see what you have that they don’t. We are all blessed to be alive and with the people around us. We are learning how to love each other and let them love us.

With Love in our attitude our world will bloom with some beautiful colours.

Inspirational Quote

“Could we change our attitude, we should not only see life differently, but life itself would come to be different. Life would undergo a change of appearance because we ourselves had undergone a change in attitude. “

Katherine Mansfield

Overcome Fear

Thought for the Week

Fear of death
A few of us were in conversation and the question arose "If a person dies in a state of fear do they remain there?" A relative of this person was in bad health and was in a state of fear about the afterlife. The answer a friend gave was very insightful, he said.

"Fear is an emotion which you feel for a time and then it passes. Your relative may go to a fearful place but like any emotion it will pass and they will move on from that to a brighter place." As Soul never dies and is a part of God, the Higher Power, it will always exist. There are guides to meet people who die and bring them to meet their friends and relatives who have passed over before them.

Attention and where we put it is the important thing here. Wherever we put our attention, is where or what we will be attracted to, and it will be attracted to us. If we are focused on something we fear it will grow bigger in our mind. The object of our fear will be attracted to us.

How to overcome fear
There are a few ways to eliminate fear from our minds.

Think of someone or something you love.
Let the feeling of love grow as you focus on it. Fear and love cannot be in the same space so put your focus on what you love. Let your hear open and grow warm with love.

Say a prayer
Say a prayer of acceptance for the situation and the understanding to learn from it. Do not say a prayer in the form of a request for a change of circumstance. A prayer of gratitude and appreciation for the gifts you have will lighten your load as you begin to realise the things you can be thankful for. Try and end it with some words like "May the blessings be". That is accepting the things in your life as blessings even though at the moment they seem to be burdens.

If you are Christian you may like to try the Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory. For ever and ever. Amen

Chant HU
This is what I use when life gets challenging. If possible I’ll sit in a quite place and chant HU. It sounds like the word ‘hue’ or the name ‘Hugh’. I’ll sing it softly on the outgoing breath a number of times. It helps me connect with my inner self and rise above the difficulty of the moment. If I can’t stop or I’m doing something, I’ll chant it silently within myself. Try now or later on today so you have a feel for how it works. Then when you need it you will know what to do.

The next step
Whichever of the above methods you use to overcome fear, the next step is to do what is necessary to move on. Do the best you can at that moment, it may not be perfect but it will be the best for now. If at all possible do it with love.

As we put our attention on love we begin to see that love overcomes fear.

News

I was on St. Stephen's Green on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. On Friday the weather was dull but dry. On Saturday and Sunday the Irish Summer arrived and the sun shone all day. It was great, a lovely place to spend the weekend.

Cute Curators
Two of the visitors who called by to see me on the Green, were the cute curators, pictured above, Karen Harper (left) and Ann Louise McDermott (right). Karen is curator for the Nora Dunne Gallery and Ann Louise curates the D4 Art Gallery.

Holistic Fair in Carlow
Next Sunday, 28th September, I'll be showing at the Holistic Fair in the Dolmen Hotel in Carlow.

Inspirational Quote

Love your enemies. I saw this admonition now as simple, sensible advice. I knew I could face an angry, murderous mob without even the beginning of fear if I could love them. Like a flame, love consumes fear, and thus make true defeat impossible.
Sarah Patton Boyle

This week I’ve been refining the Sacred City pieces and placing figures into them. I’ve had to change some of the viewing angles as the figures couldn’t be seen in the previous views. They were just too far away.

Do Souls sleep when they are dead?

Recently I've had a number of questions about death and what happens after death. My two articles (Is there Life after Death? and Life continues within) deal with the process of dying but the question I'm being asked is "Do Souls sleep when they are dead?”.

This confusion probably comes from my talk about the place we go to, being the same as our dream worlds. We are very much alive in our dream worlds when we are there. It is when we wake up that we say to ourselves "It was only a dream". By saying this, we are discounting its reality. When we have nightmares we are sure they are real until we wake up. We are then greatly relieved when we escape from the nightmare back to our physical world.

Through having dreams and nightmares, we have some recognition that we are dealing with two worlds. Each has its own reality, each is real. Depending on which world we are in and where our attention is focused, that world is the real one at the time. If our attention is on the physical world we will be here doing whatever we are doing and our dream world will be forgotten. If we are physically asleep, our physical world will be forgotten and we will be alive and doing things in our dream worlds.

Now to answer the question, Do Souls sleep when they are dead? The answer is, No. They do not sleep, they are very much alive after death, they have a life and live it in the dream or inner worlds. Souls who have left the physical world, that is those who have died, are now alive and living their lives in the inner worlds.

There is a nice article by Pamm of My Secret Spiritual Dance where she talks about her Mom who died 20 years ago.

As this week’s subject is Imagination I thought a description of the process of creating Sacred City and the role of imagination would be appropriate.

The idea first arrived in my imagination by reading about a sacred city somewhere in the Himalayas. Access to the city is impossible by physical means and can only be gained by travelling there in our dream bodies.
A while later as I walked along the beach I noticed a particular rock which looked to me like the boundary of the Sacred City. Now I had something solid I could base a picture on.

I needed more details, so in my contemplations I tried to imagine the area and what buildings would be there. As I explored the area in my imagination I discovered what the city may look like beyond the mountain boundary. There was a mention of the inhabitants drinking of the Holy Spirit so they could maintain their physical bodies to do there work here. See the second picture here. The fountain serves that purpose.

The City is also a place where Souls come for learning from the great spiritual master who oversees the City. See the third picture here where the lectures are held and a book of golden wisdom sits in a special area.

All of this cam from a paragraph describing an inaccessible city but with the use of imagination some of its secrets can be uncovered.

Imagination, our forgotten gift

Thought for the Week -

Our imagination is something we use all the time but for most of us, imagination is our forgotten gift. We use it to plan our day or the next thing we need to do but that’s about it.

For example, if you need to go into town, we'll imagine the journey and how to get there. We'll picture the car, bus or train. Check our memory to ensure we have enough money for the ticket or if there is enough fuel in the car. As we go through this process we may remember there are road works on the way, so we'll pick another route. This is a typical task we use our imaginations for.

Reading

Reading is another way in which we use our imagination. How often have you read a book and then went to see the film of the book. Were you disappointed in what you saw? Were there details or atmospheres which you saw while reading but were missing in the movie? Our imagination is a very creative and powerful aspect of our selves.

It can also be used against us. People can stir up fears by describing dreadful scene of future horror and leave us living in a state of fear for days, months and even years. We can also create prisons for ourselves by imagining fearful things happening to us. This can involve simple things like going outside, dealing with people or trying something new. Our imaginings turn into fears which can stay with us for a long time.

There is a way of curing this but it does require discipline and regular practice. We can use our imaginations to find peace, solutions to problems and insights into situations.

Finding Peace

Find a quiet place and slowly take a few deep breaths. Picture a peaceful scene or a favourite place in your mind. You may like to use one these images as a starting point: Sacred Place, Sacred Steps, River Sanctuary.

If you are using one my pictures, listen for the running water of the waterfall. Maybe you can hear a soft wind blowing or feel the sun warm your skin. Take time to explore and enjoy the area. Take as long as you like.

Find a solution

If you need to find a solution to a situation or problem, your imagination can help. Again, find a quiet place and slowly take a few deep breaths. Now think of anyone who could possibly have a solution to your situation. It could be a historic figure, a famous scientist, a well known personality with a reputation for getting things fixed or a good and trusted friend. Invite them to your table or sitting room to discuss the topic. Now ask each of your guests for their opinion. Be sure to remember the answers and commit them to your memory. The conversation may develop into a discussion or brain storming session between all your guests.

When you return from your imaginative journey, write down what you have experienced and learned. This is something you can practice on a daily basis. Over the following days be aware of solutions that suggest themselves to you in your daily life.

These are just two examples of how imagination, our forgotten gift, can help us. Just with a little practice we allow our imagination bring gifts into our lives. What can you imagine for yourself?

There is a contemplation exercise here which you may find helpful.

News:

Last Sunday I was the Holistic Fair in Gorey, Co. Wexford, Ireland. There were not as many visitors as were hoped for but I was happy enough with the end results. Some sales, potential sales and lots of interest.

Next Sunday 14th September ’08 I’ll be showing my work at the Holistic Fair in the Bloomfield House Hotel, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, Ireland. If you are in the area call in and say hello.

The following weekend on Friday 19th, Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st I’ll be hanging my paintings on the railings around St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin. There will be over 100 other artists there and if the weather is nice it is a nice place to stroll.

On Sunday 28th September ’08 I’ll be at the Holistic Fair in the Dolmen Hotel, just outside Carlow town in Ireland. The hotel is on the banks of the Barrow river which makes it a picturesque setting for this event.

Inspirational Quote:

"An imagination that develops along spiritual lines is far of a higher, finer nature than anything the mind can produce. While the mind , at best, is like a surgical tool, the imagination is like the breath of God: able to touch the crown of heaven while in the most stricken of human conditions."
Harold Klemp, The Living Word, Book 2.