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Art And Spirituality
“Lost in awe at the beauty around me, I must have slipped into a state of heightened awareness. It is hard — impossible really — to put into words the moment of truth that suddenly came upon me then. Even the mystics are unable to describe their brief flashes of spiritual ecstasy. It seemed to me, as I struggled afterward to recall the experience, the self was utterly absent: I and the chimpanzees, the earth and trees and air, seemed to merge, to become one with the spirit power of life itself. The air was filled with a feathered symphony, the evensong of birds. I heard new frequencies in their music and also in singing insects’ voices — notes so high and sweet I was amazed. Never had I been so intensely aware of the shape, the color of the individual leaves, the varied patterns of the veins that made each one unique. Scents were clear as well, easily identifiable: fermenting, overripe fruit; waterlogged earth; cold, wet bark; the damp odor of chimpanzee hair, and yes, my own too. And the aromatic scent of young, crushed leaves was almost overpowering…. Jane Goodall
After many years of practicing artmaking, I began to slip into a meditative space that saw wholes instead of pieces. In the beginning I struggled with craft, with materials and their behavior, with how to represent the world with verisimiltude and grace, if possible. As I continued to paint and grow older, my way of seeing changed. I began to…
