Hi, I'm Doug motel. And, this is, I guess maybe episode one of Art Spirit Sunday I'm, expecting to do more. But we'll see how it goes.
I just wanted to say "Hi" and just maybe define what I mean by "Spirit". When I say art spirit, spiritual spirituality...
I know a lot of people have different concepts of what that is. And so to me, I look at the root of that word, which is Latin for "breath".
And I think that's really interesting, spirit equals breath and in terms of spirituality, when you look at the way that we define the importance of the breath: there is no life without breath, right? When you're considered to be born, it's when you take your first breath. When you die, it's your last breath. So I love that because to me, what that represents is the essence of who you are. What is essential. Just the breath without anything added without any ideas of who you are in the world. The roles that you play, your gender, your age, or anything like that. \
The bottom line, "the downbeat" or what's what lies underneath of all of that extra stuff is your spirit. Just that.
It's very simple, very primal, very basic. Your spirit, your breath, your aliveness, and your awareness that you're an alive being, conscious that you're alive. You're alive because you're aware.
So I think that leads me. It's spirituality, connection to your spirit. To me, it has nothing to do with religion.
Sometimes religion can inspire you to be in touch with that essence, that breath that aliveness of your spirit. But sometimes religion doesn't do that at all.
Sometimes, the simplest thing like sitting by a pond or listening to a creek or woodpeckers, or watching anything in the natural world doing what it does can lead you back to the essence of who you are before everything gets added onto it.
The role of creative people, I think, is about directing people's attention to that as well. Creating an environment where they can trigger for themselves a return to the moment: beingness awareness, the breath, the spirit.
And I think that when you make art and you keep it to yourself, that is less about sharing an experience in people, but if you make art and you share it, whether you're sharing it on Instagram or whether you're selling your art and making it available for people to have it in their own physical environment, then what you're doing is attempting to extend out your connection to the breath, the spirit, and share it with other people. So extending out is what I'm going to be talking about. I'm going to probably be sharing my take on that and also sharing the take of artists and creative people.
There are some people who are very creative and very intentional around creating an environment to trigger someone else's experience of being in touch with the breath. Another thing I love about the breath is that when you focus on the breath, you focus on the moment about where you're at. In a breath, whether it's the inhalation and then that little pause, little space there where you're not doing anything, and then you exhale. The rising, the pause, and the falling...anywhere along that line, putting your attention on the now the moment, then you connect with presence.
So thank you for spending this little Art Spirit Sunday with me.