Winter sun in my eyes casts long shadows of tea cup, pile of papers, hand moving with pen, sesame seed, crumb.
Bright is bright, darkness dark in this pale season.
The vine climbs the stone wall without leaves so brilliantly.
I keep looking to see what it is. But it is so naked that it cannot be seen.
Like Giacometti said:
« La vision classique ne me semble pas une vision immédiate et affective des choses, mais une reconstitution raisonée. »
Enseignante Zen et poète, Sensei Amy “Tu es cela” Hollowell est née et a grandi à Minneapolis, aux Etats-Unis. Arrivée en France en 1981 pour étudier la littérature et l’histoire, elle y est restée, s’installant à Paris, où elle élève ses deux enfants et gagne sa vie en tant que journaliste.
The Zen teacher and poet Amy “Tu es cela” Hollowell Sensei was born and raised in Minneapolis, but came to France in 1981 to study literature and history and has lived in Paris ever since, raising her two children and making a living as a journalist.
Yes indeed.
But there is another aspect of the square centimeter I often meet proffesionaly.
People want to do many tings:
monday yoga, tuesday art, wednesday chinese, thursday coocking, friday party, And in the weekend there is a lot of time : on saturaday: football, concert, swimming and on sunday: zen, doglesson, familyvisit… like all the gaps have to be filled up?
This is realy increasing enormously the last years that people want to do everything. This is what I call the ADHD society. ( ADHD is a syndrom often with children? that cannot concenrtate very long on something – they often have problems to sit still to.)
It is really a symptom of our time this fear to really go for something. To surrender – be engaged in something. Like doing something completely is missing all the rest?????????
Yes indeed.
But there is another aspect of the square centimeter I often meet proffesionaly.
People want to do many tings:
monday yoga, tuesday art, wednesday chinese, thursday coocking, friday party, And in the weekend there is a lot of time : on saturaday: football, concert, swimming and on sunday: zen, doglesson, familyvisit… like all the gaps have to be filled up?
This is realy increasing enormously the last years that people want to do everything. This is what I call the ADHD society. ( ADHD is a syndrom often with children? that cannot concenrtate very long on something – they often have problems to sit still to.)
It is really a symptom of our time this fear to really go for something. To surrender – be engaged in something. Like doing something completely is missing all the rest?????????
True, life can be lived in a square centimeter. And when it is (and the truth is that it always is, we just don’t see it most of the time), then there is no square centimeter. The universe is everywhere at this very instant.
We don’t see at all most of the time.
We "recognise" what we "know allready".
Even when we draw, most of the time we don’t see.
We "copy" what we "know".
And here we see we run in circles of an allready known world. Not in touch with what’s there. Not able to pervade life;
(Although also this is perfect as it is. everything comes from something)
To see, we have to bring this sacrifice to be "totaly naked" – prepared "to step into the dark" as Rene Char tells us in one of his poems. In trust. Prepard to get lost. No point of reference. Total surrender.
That’s all……………
Each time we see we are like a newborn baby, everything fresh and new…
It is nearly impossible to realy say something whise on it. Becouse in saying we just use words/ concepts that cannot help us at all to pervade into this proces.
We can exercise in a visual way.
Someone said to me this is "practice". Visual practice. And in just this we can learn everything. Life can be lived on a square centimeter. Would be a good Zenpractice. In Chan painting was one of the ways to practice I was told.
Intresting to open all the gates though.
"But it is so naked that it cannot be seen."
I feel exactly what you mean. For it is "not a thing" anymore – and there is no one to see…
interesting what you wrote: "It" is so naked… Describes exactly the total relationship!
Interesting what Giacometti said
"ne me semble pas une vision immédiate et AFFECTIVE"
When you see what you know – you make it an object. Object in the real sense of the word. We don’t "feel" it anymore. ("affective") there is a certain kind of empathy??? missing. "Objects" feel as allready overwon by placing them in a "safe" "category". The battle has been fought. Everything safe. We lost touch.
This has a relationship to with what this French filosofer Levinas? mentioned by "l’apelle dans le regard de l’autre". We can see it/ we can feel it completely and immediate – as long as we didn’t make him "an object" to feel safe.