The Mustard Seed

The Mustard Seed or the Story of Kisa Gautami is a great story for anyone who is experiencing terminal illness or death in their family. After losing 4 family members in a pretty short time, I came across this story and I kept it close to my heart.  Suffering comes to all of us in life as does death. And we must realize we are not alone on this journey. We are all undergoing many similar experiences and we must love and respect one another as we deal with these days of our lives..

I hope this story helps you as much as it has made me realize that gratitude each and every day is a great way to deal with loved ones illnesses and death. Try to focus on the positives in life as we are only here for a short time and we are all here for a purpose..and try to take a walk each and every day to take in the beautiful nature that has been provided to us all..

Kisa Gautami was a young woman from a wealthy family who was happily married to an important merchant. When her only son was one-year-old, he fell ill and died suddenly. Kisa Gautami was struck with grief, she could not bare the death of her only child. Weeping and groaning, she took her dead baby in her arms and went from house to house begging all the people in the town for news of a way to bring her son back to life. Of course, nobody could help her but Kisa Gautami would not give up. Finally she came across a Buddhist who advised her to go and see the Buddha himself. When she carried the dead child to the Buddha and told Him her sad story, He listened with patience and compassion, and then said to her, "Kisa Gautami, there is only one way to solve your problem. Go and find me four or five mustard seeds from any family in which there has never been a death." Kisa Gautami was filled with hope, and set off straight away to find such a household. But very soon she discovered that every family she visited had experienced the death of one person or another. At last, she understood what the Buddha had wanted her to find out for herself — that suffering is a part of life, and death comes to us all. Once Kisa Guatami accepted the fact that death is inevitable, she could stop her grieving. She took the child's body away and later returned to the Buddha to become one of His followers.  Copyright 2008 BDEA/Buddhanet Buddhist Studies for Secondary Education, Buddha Darma Education Studies..

Art and the Unconscious

Art and the UnConscious

To quote Karl Jung "often the hands know how to solve a riddle with which the intellect has wrestled in vain." Karl Jung, like the Buddhas, believes in two levels of consciousness; the conscious and the unconscious. He believes the only way for the collective unconscious to be assessed is through dreams or art.

"The collective unconscious shows no tendency to become conscious under normal conditions nor can it be brought back to recollection by any analytical techniques since it was never repressed or forgotten." If anything in our conscious life is devalued and perishes -- so runs the law there arises a compensation in the unconscious."

According to Jung, "That is the secret to great art and its effect upon us. The creative process, so far as we are able to follow it at all, consists in the unconscious activation of an archaetypal image and in elaborating and shaping this image into the finished work."

Thus by giving it shape we are able to understand how the artist translates it into the language of the present which helps us to find our way back to "our deepest springs in life."

Jung believes "the social significance of art is constantly at work educating the spirit of the age, conjuring up the forms in which the age is most lacking." The artists relative lack of adaptation turns out to be to his advantage; it enables him to follow his own yearnings far from the beaten path and to discover what it is that would meet the unconscious needs of his age.

What is the relationship between art and psychology? The close connections that exist arise from the fact that the practice of art is a psychological activity. "Analyisis of artists consistently shows not only the strength of the creative impulse arising from the unconscious but also its capricious and willful character."

"The biographies of great artists make it abundantly clear that the creative urge is so often so imperious that it battens our humanity and yokes everything to the service of the work, even at the cost of health and ordinary human happiness."

Jung believes "the unborn work in the psyche of the artist is a force of nature that achieves its end either with tyrannical might or with the subtle cunning of nature herself, quite regardless of the personal fate of the man who is its vehicle." The creative urge lives and grows in him like a tree in the earth from which it draws its nourishment.

Joseph Campbell, author of The Portable Jung, believes we would do well therefore to think of the creative process as a living thing unplanted in the human psyche.

The psychological interests of the present time is an indication that modem man expects something from the psyche which the outer world has not given him. Perhaps that is why so many people turn back to their art or develop their art in the afternoon of their lives..40 years and beyond..

Why Stream

Why Stream ..

because that is how IDEAS, ideally, should flow..I have heard that it is important to unleash your creativity in any manner that you can. Creativity is the gift from the heavens that we all must use in order to feel fulfilled emotionally.. and if that cup is full, all else will flow..

Some feel the process of writing will bring out our creative self as we get to know our inner self through the writing process. The physical act of writing or drawing also increases our happiness somehow; the actual movement of writing, drawing, painting, creating makes us all happier.

Get cooking, baking, gardening, writing, painting or draw just for a few minutes each day

and it may just be the thing you need to cheer you as well as spark your creative juices!

I will be writing positive thoughts to fill our wells.. and will leave you with a beautiful quote for the day

"Love is like a butterfly, It goes wherever it pleases and pleases wherever it goes."

jmc

ART THERAPY

Art Therapy, or art as therapy, allows modern man to turn his attention from the outer world to his own inner processes. The exercise of art has great intrinsic value as it is truly a healing method.

The American Art Therapy Association believes "through creating art and reflecting on the art process and product, people can experience increased awareness of self and others, can better cope with distressing symptoms, stress, traumatic experience, enhancing cognitive abilities and enjoy the life enhancing process of art."

Margaret Naumberg, facilitator of the Art Therapy undergraduate program at New York University and founder of the Walden School in New York City, viewed art making as a "technique equal to verbal therapy in its natural and evocative power to unlock repressed material."

Feelings and thoughts expressed through images may flow more freely than words.

Influenced by John Dewey and Karl Jung, Naumberg felt "that the art can become a bridge between the self, the outer world and one's relation to the world."

With time and reflection, one's art brings a deeper understanding of the emotional state, the self perception and perhaps even the pain.

Thomas Merton, the American Catholic Writer, summed it up best when he said "Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time."