In the farmer's market
each booth creates a world of smells,
a little universe of color, root, and leaf,
a song of music or of thread,
the scent of flowers, the smell of bread.
Each center breathes out its own creation
ringing out and overlapping every other,
a world of worlds to every other world singing.
And so among the people as they stroll
and as they go, and as they work and walk
accustomed streets and subway platforms,
each creates a little world that ripples out
and fills the world, a world of worlds.
Each one chooses, as you do, their colors,
gravities, aromas and their givens..
The world you live in others do as well.
Be mindful of its song, its light, its smell.
from Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
Regardless of which shoes we are wearing, how we present ourselves, what we see and hear (distorted or clearly, from within or without), who we love, what we hate and whose accent we most despise; in the long run, we’re all in the market together, each choosing, as we do, our colors, levities, gravities, aromas and givens. While the size of the booth, stall, post or canvas may vary and be a part of what matters, what comes in and what rolls out from us in ripples and waves is what matters most.
The image below, of Corot’s small painting of the Cathedral of Chartres, is posted here as the result of mention made by ricpic in comment on another thread. When I looked the painting up, I was intrigued by all it held and conveyed, the composition and the content, along with the invitation to see, acknowledge and understand the heart of the creative process. It not only affirmed the words above which arrived just ahead of my first view of this work, it fit with the quote below read yesterday in the book, The Creative Connection, Expressive Arts as Healing by Natalie Rogers.
As I prepare to travel across the Lake by high speed ferry to attend a week long painting class in WI, I will be carrying with me the thoughts and encouragement generated by these encounters.
“Let’s look at the profile of the conscious creative person. This individual:
- has self awareness and self esteem
- is self-empowered, which means taking risks to think and act independently
- looks for new solutions to old problems, uses intuition as well as logic, playing with ideas, being inventive, and thinking holistically
- can lead yet be co-operative
- listens to, understands, and empathizes with differences while maintaining his/her own value system.
- facilitates communication between individuals of differing views by helping the parties involved hear each other at a deep emotional as well as intellectual level
