Questions December 3, 2017
As my life unfolds I have more and more questions. I know people throughout history have asked these questions before me.
From the universal questions of ‘Do we have a collective purpose?’ to the personal question of ‘What is my purpose’? We try to find fulfillment through our work, our children or our marriage. We are not satisfied just being, we have this need to know that there is something else greater, bigger, better and it’s out there somewhere.
I love this poem by Rumi written in the 13th century:
‘All day I think about it, then at night I say it.
Where did I come from and what am I supposed to be doing?
I have no idea.
My soul is from elsewhere, I’m sure of that,
And I intend to end up there.
[…..]
Who is now in my ear who hears my voice?
Who says words with my mouth?
Who looks out with my eyes? What is the soul?
I cannot stop asking.
If I could taste one sip of an answer,
I could break out of this prison of drunks.
I didn’t come here of my own accord, and I can’t leave that way.
Whoever put me here will have to take me home.’
As our consciousness has shifted and our religious beliefs transform; we refuse to believe that paradise is waiting for us after death. Now the collective consensus is that we are all part of God, that God is within us and we have the power within ourselves, we are no longer the helpless, lost lambs that need salvation.
My paintings speak of this moment in our history when humanity believes in it’s own supremacy. The angel wings represent the idea that we are part of God and that all we need is within us.
However, my paintings are a far cry from giving an answer to the eternal questions.
I am aware that in 500 or 1000 years, if humans will still be around, we will have different answers to this questions and different beliefs.
There is a brilliant book out, ‘Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow’ by Yuval Noah Harari, which I highly recommend. It talks about how we arrived at this point where we don’t seek God anymore, we believe we are God and we now seek those goodly qualities, eternal youth and eternal life.
