The State of the Ecstatic 2006

The previous posting to this section of the website was made over two years ago. I decided not to add any words for a time, my discoveries always being so fragile and elusive that I needed to be gentle with them. But over the past couple of years my experience has expanded and what was formerly very ephemeral is becoming more familiar. And new insights appear continually.

I have found that my experience correlates closely to what in the Hindu tradition is called the Kundalini. A book documenting occurrences of Kundalini called "The Kundalini Experience" by Lee Sannella was the first document I ever read which I feel accurately details what I experience. The spontaneous and involuntary movements that come in these cases are called kryias, a word from the same tradition.I have found that what I do can come away from the art table. I have discovered many things that when I give them my concentration become stimuli to the ecstatic experience. These are functional stimuli that elicit the excitation that makes the experience. The excitation however is always spontaneous. That is the excitation does not come through a direct effort but comes as a reflex like response to the stimuli I concentrate on.

One of these stimuli is a way of looking into my images. I do this to test my response to the image to help me decide what to do next. Some images seem to elicit a stronger response. I also have found that I can see in my images a great depth, a deep physical three dimensional relief. And then sometimes a greater vividness comes which is difficult to explain but has more to do with my relation to the image than the image itself. I try to compose the image to bring this effect as forward as possible. However I have recently done some images that I respond to very strongly but which on an objective level don't seem to be as interesting as others. This is something I am now considering.

This is a list of what I call my approach, a series of reminders to keep my concentration on the stimuli when I work. First there is a highly effective four word prayer of personal construction. Then thinking the word "Gravity" has me imagine a downward force penetrating through my body and my mind to relax them. When I am at the palette sometimes I point my marking utensil towards the opening of a cup while looking into it. I discovered this early on when I found that dipping my pen into the ink well also could bring a response. While painting, thinking the words "Spirit Forward" or "Spirit" brings my attention to that which draws for me. It is a kind of surrender which also incorporates a certain attention to the tip of my marking utensil. "Look" reminds me to view the image in the way I do as discussed above. And recently I have discovered something new which elicits a very intense response when I am present enough to get to it. It is still very elusive and builds upon "Look". I am calling it the "Great Witness" as it entails intensely observing what I do while also being profoundly detached. This yields intense excitation, much movement, distinct perceptional alterations and a welling of emotion, but as if I am watching myself do this from a distant, calm and quiet place. I have repeated this approach so I know it functions.

For me making these images and objects is a practice of eliciting the excitation and the ecstatic experience that comes. That is the central aspect of what I do. I no longer need the art table in order to do this as I now have other ways available to me for eliciting the experience. However I still like the idea of using the excitation to create an artifact as it did when it first came to me. This bridge from the very internal to the external, which seems to bypass my participation in its span, is still very compelling to me. In all honesty though I must add that the results of this practice are varied. There are many things to be concerned with in making an art object besides eliciting an ecstatic experience. Although a physical artifact is always produced the depth of the experience is never as consistently intense as it can be at times. I must constantly work to keep up my concentration and find that things are shown by degree. This flux is part of the practice.

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