Creating from seeing
To be human is to dance between fear and hope, light and shadow. Which easily makes us forget about space in between. It wants nothing. There we simply are.
Sometimes books lead me to insights that must have lurked somewhere inside me. Until I read this sentence, I «knew» nothing about a space that wants nothing from me. Everyone wants something from me – most of all myself.
«It’s about paying more attention to the space around us. If you do this, a feeling of trust develops that space exists in front of our eyes and that it is not demanding anything.» says Chögyam Trungpa in «True Perception – The Path of Dharma Art».
Light, dark and something in between
This picture has accompanied me through 2020. There is this space inside me that I can enter. For me it lies between the polarities that shape my life in the same way, making it alive. As a human being, I am thrown into this world of all appearances and emotions.
When I stand in front of a new sculpture, there is first of all hope: it should become a masterpiece. This immodest anticipation often tips over into fear: is that even possible? And what if I make the wrong cut now?
Now I could oscillate between fear and hope, roll around concepts, do nothing at all. Or try to take hope back a little so that fear might disappear. Subdued light, subdued dark, and everything becomes a little easier?
Creating from seeing
For me, the first step out of any avoidance or stress strategies is awareness. So ideally, I remind myself of the room that wants nothing. To enter it, I first have to take a step back. Sometimes a few conscious breaths are enough for that. Or I have to get out of the room in which I am standing. Anchor me in nature, seek silence.
Where I want nothing from myself, I can see. Fear and hope have their place there, they are. I see them, explore their sources, recognize their liveliness. They make me alive as long as I don’t freeze or cheer them. The space that wants nothing is full of love, unintentional.
From this space, I want to create. My art, my relationships, my life. Because there begins a seeing that does not evaluate.
