SILENCE

Have you, like me, not awakened at four in the morning? Before the birds & the ever-echoing Song. The Silence commands attention. Deep Silence. Stillness. The Divinity of our Universe resides beyond the edge of that stillness. In the Silence. For those who have ears let them hear. Hear the Silence. Feel the Stillness. Know the serenity of Emptiness. Herein lies the source. The Outpouring. When the Snake sheds every single skin. Beyond the Pearl of Great Price. Joy. Bliss. Before words. Silence......

STOP THINKING

The number 5 surfaces into being from my doodles. Like my brilliant brain child it demands to be highlighted. IN RED. There has never been proof that the brain is the seat of the mind. That is a very modern concept. To me the brain seems a bit like the radiator under the hood of my 1969 Mustang. A cooling device. At best it is the plastic & metal of the motherboard. Perhaps, & probably more likely, the brain is an encrustation in the flow of mind with a small “m” which flows in the ocean of Mind with a capital “M”.  The only thing faster than the speed of light is the speed of thought.  I try to understand the difference between what is not yet thought & what will be thought. I look at the RED 5 hovering into being. I stop thinking. Stop thinking. Stop.

5

Why paint 5? I am a firm believer in the ancient runic mystery of the power of the letter itself. My ancestors, the Vikings, carved single letters on swords & stones. In the Bible the great legal Talmudic scholars spent hours studying individual Hebrew letters in the Kabbalah. A single numeral holds great meaning. 5 are the points of the pentagram & the pentacle, symbols of great meaning. 5 is the age at which humans reach their highest point. I could talk to a 5 year old forever & constantly be brought back to my purest humanity. The fifth is the position on the scale that finished any major work of music. In fact, the number 5 looks like a musical note. 5 fingers. 5 toes. I could go on. 5 is a number of great mystery to me personally. Two lines. A semi-circle. 5. What else would I wish to paint?

Five

Why five? There are two poles in the Human Experience... the Dionysian & the Apollonian. Named after the God of the Sun, Apollo (Jehovah, Daddy, the Pope, Paul McCartney) & the God of Mystery, Dionysos (Shiva, Mommy, Osama Bin Laden, Mick Jagger). The two poles pull us in opposite directions: one toward order & principle & reason, the other toward chaos & freedom & passion. Balance is always the tricky part. In painting there are two paths, into the anarchy of abstraction or onto the grid of composition. The number five is immediately recognizable, especially framed in a square. With the image anchored in the symbolic, my paint brush was free to explore the wild seas of colour. Dionysos, the God of Mystery.  Apollo the God of the Sun. My friend, who do you pay homage to today?

WAHBA

People are  down on the Art & Science of Modern Medicine. Know that the craft ofMedicine is at its apogee today. Meet some of the physicians I work alongside. I name this painting "Wahba" after a great friend of mine who happens to be one of the best doctors I know. He wears the number "5"  while playing hockey. All the attributes that make a great healer are catalyzed in the heart & soul of Mark. Kindness. Thoroughness. Enormous Intelligence. Oceanic knowledge. Fluidity. Openness to new ideas. Compassion. Teaching. Innovation. Teamwork. Leadership. Above all a rational approach to understanding illness. Memento Mori. Yes. The Great Lesson. Learn to die. Dr. Mark Wahba shows you how to live. I give you "Wahba"