Thoughts on Being

On being an artist

I've been an artist ever since I can remember. I feel that our lives are a form of artistry. We come into this world as blank canvases and create our masterpiece as we add each new experience and insight. My most valuable training has come from mentors who took the time to share their knowledge and encouraged me on my journey. I feel it is especially important for us to be exposed to the arts as children. When I was a gallery docent I was continually fascinated and inspired by witnessing how young people responded to the art they were viewing. I also feel strongly that children should not be judged on their skill of making art but rather universally celebrated for their willingness to share their own unique personal expression.

On being alive

We only get to be alive for a short period of time. I think as living beings we forget how much power we have to make positive change in the world. One day when I was driving to work the anonymous person in front of me on the bridge paid my toll. It was a small gesture but one that made a great difference to me (and years later I still think of it with a smile). Our days are full of opportunities for small gestures that can make great changes. I believe that all beings should have the opportunity to live to their highest potential. This includes the other creatures we share the planet with. In my little corner of the world I am able to provide sanctuary for chickens. These are creatures that are not given much respect in my culture and yet I have found that they have amazing and complex personalities. When one slows down enough to be fully present with another being they will reveal themselves to you- and it is truly an honor. I have been a vegetarian since I was a teenager and personally feel I have no business eating a creature that I am not willing to kill with my own hands and conscience. It is also a choice I hope will help the environment as vegetarians (and vegans especially!) use far fewer resources simply because of their dietary choices. There are more people alive on the planet right now than at any point in history. This means that the choices we make in our lives have much more of a critical impact. It is a special time to be alive and I hope to make the best of it while attempting to do the least amount of harm.

On being dead

I am fascinated with the idea of reincarnation. The possibility that we may have lived many lives and also experienced many deaths would mean we are completely enmeshed with all life energy and matter. For instance I really like the idea that I could be meeting people now that I hung out with in a past life or they could even be the genetic descendants of the people I used to be. It feels important to treat my physical body well while I am in it (being as it is after all, borrowed goods) and when I am done with it I hope it will still be in good enough condition to help someone else (which is why I have signed up to be an organ donor). I don't believe death is necessarily a negative process, I think our spirits just go off and do other things. Some of my favorite places to explore in this world are old cemeteries where the energy of human grief and love come together in a place of beauty and peace. Some of my favorite art pieces are the exquisite funerary objects of ancient cultures. I especially appreciate the annual celebration of Dia de los Muertos where ancestors are honored and the golden colors of marigolds are all around. I truly hope that my death experience will be as rich and fulfilling as my life has been thus far.

On being human

It is a serious endeavor to sign up for the human experience. All of us have felt the exhilaration of love and and it's mirror reflection of the pain which comes with loss. In my experience this pain can be more about the loss of imagined future potential. My suffering is greater when I struggle to hold on to that which is moving on or transforming. Change is an inevitable part of being human. We are told we desire happiness but I have discovered that what makes me feel most alive are those experiences in which I feel passion balanced with those that make me feel at peace. Sometimes it takes experiencing the dark-night-of-the-soul to bring me to the deeper and most insightful places in myself. Being human is both magical and painful but most of all it feels like a process of becoming whole- balancing the physical with the spiritual. The challenge is to live my life as if the material world were a stage with interesting props, but to not forget that props are simply tools for helping me see the deeper aspects of what is truly in the heart.

- Jazelle
1/2009