Sunday, August 10, 2008

Prairie coneflowers

I have been re-visiting a favorite book of mine, Zen in the Art of Archery.  I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Eastern philosophy or mind training.  In the forward, D.T. Suzuki writes:
"One of the most significant features we notice in the practice of archery, and in fact of all the arts as they are studied in Japan... is that they are not intended for utilitarian purposes only or for purely aesthetic enjoyments, but are meant to train the mind;  indeed, to bring it into contact with the ultimate reality.  If one really wishes to be master of an art, technical knowledge of it is not enough.  One has to transcend technique so that the art becomes an "artless art"  growing out of the unconscious."

To use a western phrase, being in the flow.  The painting paints itself.  Something to strive for.

available 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Love the bright little yellow winged fairies!
You describe the thing that is so hard to articulate... but so easy for artists to understand.