Virtue 3: Love of Reality / God - The 12 Virtues of the Primordial Artist

This is the third in a series exploring 12 virtues that can liberate artists from cultural enslavement.

ATTEND

I went walking with a friend at the beach and there was this enormous proliferation of tiny little snowflake-like things on the beach. We looked closer and it was jellyfish – desiccated jellyfish. A few of them were still wet, just deposited on the beach, but most were so dry they blew around like sea-foam. They were everywhere, and there were sea birds everywhere – I thought it must be quite the feast for them, like thanksgiving. And it really occurred to me that this is the Terrible Law – the terrible wonderful law of life, that thousands, millions of jellyfish will die, yet it will be beautiful, and the birds will be happy. And the tragedy is transformed into beautiful symphony. And God is happy.

We are surrounded by scenes like this every day, yet our habit is to gloss over them, ignore them, compartmentalize them, or let them depress us. Our human persona world is quite small. We have our house, our clothes and furniture. Our food in our fridge, never enough, always spoiling. We have a house that’s never big enough or clean enough. We have a neighbor who is so annoying. We have a job that doesn’t appreciate us. We have loved ones who could be better. We live in a small world. Our neighborhood. Our commute. Our needs not quite being met. Our ambitions thwarted.

What is not the love of reality? Thinking this is not good enough. And not being grateful for this at all. The weather sucks. There’s a hole in the ozone and the glaciers are all melting. The wrong party is in power. The government’s corrupt. My stuff sucks, it’s not good enough. It’s cheap and breaking and no matter how hard I clean it’s still filthy. Never really clean.

This is bad. This sucks. I hate this. This is annoying. The world sucks. The vice shadow of the virtue is: “This isn’t happening. This isn’t real. This isn’t fair.”

Crucially for the artist, we have been conditioned to see art as service to human beings and to human markets. This is only good IF it sells. This is only good IF they want it. We have been asked and forced through conditioning to filter our work to what will be accepted, what will sell, what will be successful, what will bring us fame and fortune and everything that goes with it. We have lost our direct connection with reality as a holy communion and have therefore lost most of our direct access to creativity itself.

ENVISION

Gratitude. I am grateful for… this can of bubble water. I am grateful for – these sunglasses. I am grateful for… the blue sky. I am grateful for… this music I am listening to, thank you. I am grateful for… this little plant on this table. I am grateful for… that little white butterfly. I am grateful for… all those dandelions that are popping up, that one, that one, and that tall one over there.

The gratitude for small things is a practice, and is a kind of antidote to the “never good enough” spiral of our evaluating minds.

Does it feel challenging to consider small things worthy of gratitude? Does it feel insignificant and petty? Or naive?

This gratitude for the small things that surround us create the support structure to start feeling gratitude for the larger things – and not just the things that benefit us personally.

There’s a definition in dramatic theory that Comedy is where the lovers win, Tragedy is where God wins.

The deeper, spiritual truth is that God always wins.

In this chapter and in the rest of this framework I’ll use various words for this transcendent energy. God, Nature, the Primordial, Truth, the Muse, Mystery, the Great Mysterious, the Primordial. It’s for you yourself to choose the word that makes sense to you. As artists we are doing something that touches something beyond the every day. Beyond the pretty pictures. Beyond color theory, beyond aesthetic unity. Beyond proportion and rhythm. It’s the thing that connects all of these things. It’s the transcendent force that guides and informs and breathes through all that we strive for as artists. Campbell quoted Joyce and said that art is “this and beyond this.” Yes it exists, it is physical, it is here, in time and space. But it is also transparent to something beyond this. Choose your word, no word will be the thing anyway – “the Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao.”

Love of Reality / God is not easy for humans. We are very smart. Very evaluative. Very comparative. The grass is always greener. That we would feel our grass is not green but others is is the antithesis of love of reality.

Love of Reality / God is really a spiritual act. It is going beyond our selfish needs and our selfish perspective and it is rising to a higher perspective, one of humility. Maybe I can’t personally see the benefit of this, but I can trust that there is benefit. That this is good. “This is good”. “I love this.”

Spinoza, a 17th century Dutch philosopher, developed a concept he called Natura Naturens. Meaning Nature being itself, doing itself, without interference, without interdiction. Nature can simply be itself, and this being is good. It doesn’t need to be trimmed, pruned, fixed, or developed. It certainly doesn’t need to be exploited. It is – and it is holy in its beingness.

Virtue 3 is not about religious faith in the traditional sense, especially since it is not inviting an intermediary (priest) to interpret realty for you. It is asking for a shift in the way we as artists relate to reality itself.

It is also creating an active relationship to reality. Improvisation handles this elegantly with the concept of Yes, And. Yes – this reality is good. Yes, I accept this reality as it is. And, I will act. And, I will contribute. And, I will be a part of this symphony, I will participate.

Mamet called it “Deny nothing, Accept everything.” You need not deny your impulses, and you must not deny the reality that is around you. Let it be, let it develop, let it thrive, and let yourself thrive too. As a member of this reality.

We must restore a direct relationship with unfiltered reality. One that is not mediated at all by anyone else, and eventually not even mediated by our ego. We need to be able to see this moment, this time, this set of circumstances, this set of resources, as the “perfect” starting point for creation.

This moment is providing everything we need and more to begin, to create, to sustain.

You can probably see that I’m starting to lay the groundwork for a more transcendental system. It’s not just about making “better art”. It’s about having a better relationship to what art is all about.

“This is good.” This is good means we are affirming and accepting and appreciating this which is. It is related to gratitude, it is holding hands with gratitude. But it is also a positive affirmation. It is a joining-with the reality. This is good. I like this. I wish for this to be happening as it is.

There is an enormous mystery existent and we are at the tip of the iceberg right here right now. This is the moment, now. We are literally living at the crucial moment – the moment of revelation.

By orienting to reality as the source of creativity, we as artists liberate ourselves from human masters, human preference, human market trends. We are connecting to something that is beyond these things.

Love of Reality / God means making that love connection with the great mysterious itself. A connection of abundance, reciprocity, humility, devotion, appreciation, discovery, curiosity, delight.

Love of Reality / God is the largest version of what we’ve been developing. It en-wraps it all. It en-wraps love of other and love of self. We are all in this together.

In the Inca mythology, the supreme creator is called Viracocha. After having crated humanity, Viracocha is heartbroken by the pains and mistakes and vulnerabilities of the creatures they have created. Viracocha weeps – and is often depicted weeping in Inca art. The tears of Viracocha over human tragedy, according to the mythology, are the waters that replenish the seas. They are in fact the water of life.

It is simultaneously large and small. It is love of the universe in all of its infinity, and love of our glass of water on a hot day. It is love of the surprises that come to us – like loosing a job, loosing a client, gaining a collaborator, gaining prestige – as the many facets of god’s reality. All having different flavors and colors but ultimately part of one larger “law.”

Channeling art from this source lays the foundation for art to be much more than entertainment or decoration – the work of art becomes a diviner to deeper truths from an infinite well.

How does it feel to consider art as a channel to the creative source of life and the universe?

DIRECT

Solo

The I Love This Mantra

Simply repeat the mantra, “I love this” as you look around and reflect on what you see. Your clothes, your surroundings, the weather, the simple unfettered reality that surrounds you.

Integration: What shifts with this act? How might this affect your work as an artist? How does this affect your sense of resource availability to do your work?

The Grateful flow (Stutz)

Say “I am grateful for…” and name something quite small. then find another thing. Keep going and keep finding new things. Repeat this exercise periodically throughout the day. Eventually, you should be able to say “I am grateful for…” and then say nothing but hold that sense of gratitude open.

Integration: How is it to express gratitude for these small things that surround you?
Is it challenging to choose small things? How might this serve your work? How might this connect you to the small tasks and small victories of your practice?

The “This is good” game

Walk around a room, and say “this is good.” Notice a chair, say this is good, a table, etc. Make a habit of noticing things, anything, and say – this is good.

Integration: How might this affect your relationship to your means? Your available resources? Your working environment?

The Tragedy – tears of Viracocha

Reflect back on a tragedy in your own life. In what way did this event of pain and loss create new life, new knowledge, new opportunity for you? Tragedies are defined as times when despite your best effort and best preparation, a catastrophe occurred.

Integration: Is there a higher perspective that acknowledges loss and grief, but can also see a larger growth pattern? How do you honor grief while also seeing the higher perspective? How might a connection with tragedy affect your art?

The Nature Bath

Go to a natural place, or a place with as much nature as you have available. Be cam and centered in that place and feel how the nature affects you. The wind, the temperature of the sun, of the air, of the ground. The sounds. The smells. Let it permeate you. Express gratitude for this place and this experience.

Integration: How does nature inflect your art? Is there any relationship? What beauty do you see here that can be brought to your work?

The This is enough collage

Get a random assortment of objects.
Make a piece of beauty from these objects.

Integration: How is it to accept that these objects are enough to create?

PAIRS

The This is good – duos

Name things that are good and trade off with your partner. Let their love of reality affect you. Complement you. Share it and build off of it together.

The “I love what you’ve done with the place” Game

Play a scene where you come home and your partner has done all sorts of terrible things to the apartment. Set things on fire, there was a flood from the bathroom, they sold your TV, etc. Your response is “I love what you’ve done with the place” in one form or another. Find your way to really feel the reality of that love – of love of what is.
Switch roles.
Switch between “I love what you’ve done” to “I hate what you’ve done.”

Integration: What is your experience when you shift from “I hate what you’ve done to the place” to “I love what you’ve done with the place”? How might this affect your collaboration in art? How might this affect your relationship to your community, your town, your city?

CURTAIN

Love of Reality / God is a major unlock and has profound implications for the artist. With this there is the foundation for direct contact with reality, with Mystery, with the divine, with the creative source. No longer is there need to have mediation from experts or teachers or authorities on reality. You are your own authority. You are the agent. You are the artist. You have connection. That is your birthright. You get to have a relationship with the great mysterious. You are a child of god.

This culmination of the three love virtues represents our cornerstone. This is what will make all the rest of the work possible and fruitful. I’d recommend you sit with these, let yourself reflect on their interrelatedness. They are different and yet they are all one. It is useful to see the distinctions and also useful to merge them. That’s what The Lover does – the Lover Archetype merges the three into a whole being who can act independently of other human beings and yet connectedly. Who can act from a place of abundance, generousness, magnanimity, kindness, compassion, and transcendent power. The Lover is the beginning of the Primordial Artist.

Next week we’ll see how the three virtues come together as the first archetype: The Lover.