I want my paintings to be:
abstract, direct, urban, basic, modest, pure,
simple, silent, honest, absolute.
—Alan Charlton

an attitude of gratitude

We are all culpable: we all consume far more than our fair share.

The teacher helps you slough your skins and become who you really are beneath all the conditioning, missteps and laziness. The work is always reductive.

When I was a kid, the priest's pulpit was commonly called the coward's castle.

Spirit expresses in the eyes & the tail.
Both need to be attended to,
especially the neglected tail.

Truth is whatever we're running from

All artwork is stored energy.
The art releases its power whenever a viewer
becomes a dreamer.
—Larry Bell

応 無 所 住 而 生 其 心
The mind arises without dwelling on anything.
—Musō Soseki (1275–1351)

The Taiji Form should be practised daily until it is part of you and there is little likelihood of ever abandoning it.  It then gives back so much – always reviving spirit & mood, and always generating new material – fresh insights to work with.

“Bum-in” gets the lower dantian directly under the heart.
“Chin-in” gets the upper dantian directly over the heart.

It's important to spend time each day with the three dantians vertically aligned so that Nature (Heaven & Earth – levity & gravity) can work on you.

On the Earth gently
In the world softly
With myself tenderly

Things are not difficult to make; what's difficult is putting yourself in the mood to make them.

—Constantin Brâncuși

Only a willingness to sacrifice
shows the student is serious

I remember my physics teacher at school telling us that toward the end of the nineteenth century scientists really thought they had everything sewn up - just a few loose ends but apart from that, done & dusted. And then Einstein came along and blew everything apart. I feel the same with the modern bourgeoisie - they think their lives pretty much sorted and that a little meditation class on Tuesday evening and things would be perfect. But if they really embraced the meditation (or the Taiji or the Yoga) then everything would change, not just the way they feel but their whole value system and world outlook.

Feel it rather than think it

We are all in the same boat. We are all asleep, avoiding the issue. The difference is one of intent.

“Stinking thinking” is the universal addiction.

—Richard Rohr

Too much of a good thing upsets the balance & eventually leads to depression. This should be obvious.

The sacred principle at the heart of bourgeois life is private property. Now we know that the bourgeoisie have everything topsy-turvy so the sacred principle at the heart of the spiritual life must be the commons – commonality – what we share, not just with each other but with all of life – what cannot be owned – S P I R I T !

The courage to remain open

Teacher as significant other

In this noisy overcrowded world,
the most precious commodity is
silence.

consistently
vulnerably
patiently
openly

The good teacher doesn't just give you exercises, forms, principles, insights.  She teaches you how to follow your nose.

One principle must make the universe a single complex living creature, one from all.

—Plotinus

Meditation: disappearing into the bigger picture