Spring musings on oppression and denial and the role of the tapped in artist

Good Morning!

I had the most luxurious and rare moment of laying in a hammock with my daughter last night as the light was changing and the peepers were warming up to sing their song. Just a little chirp here and there as the pink clouds made silhouettes of the  trees  and danced on the black water of the pond.

My eyes were tracing the lines of the branches- discovering the negative shapes that excited me and there was a soft warmth of my daughter lounged across me.

Slowly the spring pond song  filled out- not as loud and shrill as I know it can get, but more constant and active than it had been when we arrived, and the color had settled to the lowest edge of the sky leaving only greys up high.

The trees in my neck of the woods have a deep red mist  amongst their still naked branches. Soon they will have a pale green mist, and then the lush green will flood in- and those beautiful lines of the naked branches will be fully clothed and obscured. 

And the other day the king turkey was strutting so puffed up and slow that I felt a strong urge to bow down and join the gaggle of girls he was protecting, claiming, seducing, charming, hanging out with... So many different ways we could write that story.

And as I sit here, writing to you, there is a very busy squirrel sitting in the birdfeeder looking at me, glaring at me, challenging me, thanking me, fearful of me... (again so many ways we could write that story!) as he chews on the food we intended for the birds. 

It is spring and today is the day to start digging out the space under the deck that I use as my outdoor studio space. And there is a new nest built just over the sliding glass door. This is a conundrum that happens every year. How do I share space with this new family without disturbing them? Why do they have to choose that particular spot?

I am so aware that as humans we have an awkward and paradoxical relationship with nature. Yes we are inspired and nourished by soaking up the beauty. 

But we also separate ourselves from it, in the stories we tell, as if we are not built of the same stuff, as if we are not also part of the living skin of the earth. We have all sorts of ways that we see ourselves as better than, smarter, more important.

We own the land very much like we used to own women or slaves, which gives us the right to use it as we see fit. When I look at it like this, I feel uncomfortable- knowing that I am in the class of oppressors.

I know it takes a lot to shift this way of understanding our place in the world. It takes humility and vulnerability, it takes a willingness to recognize the privilege that we have assumed, and acknowledge the harm we have done, both to the natural world and to the poorer communities around the world who still suffer in service to our consumer needs. 

It takes actively living in the discomfort of pain we are causing until we can no longer stomach taking advantage as we have. 

One of the great skills that we have as humans is denial. We are able to live in a partial truth, in only the part that feels good to us, and ignore the parts that feel crappy as if they do not exist. It is this denial that makes continuing to live in the spoils of oppression possible. If we kept it front and center, we would not survive.

But there is a gnawing from underneath this partial awareness. Is that what causes depression and the internal imbalance that makes it so hard to take care of ourselves? That drives so many of us towards addictive behaviors and lascivious life styles? The gnawing creates a craving for anything that will muffle the pain of our own place in the oppressive and abusive reality of our cultural imbalance. 

What would happen if we could really embrace the idea of being part of the ecosystems?

Would we be able to take care of ourselves with more ease because we would be tapped into the same kind of deep knowing of how to live that it seems that all the creatures and plants have? Would we make decisions about how much and what to consume based not just on our own desires, but on an awareness of the balance of all things?  Would we have a greater sense of balance and health in our selves and our communities? Would the cancer of our consumer and capitalist greed stop growing?

I do not know the answers, and I have only just barely started to articulate the questions for myself. 

The thing that gives me hope is that there are so many people in so many fields who are asking similar questions and dreaming into how we might shift our paradigms, mindsets, ways of being. 

And as artists, we have such important roles to play in this process. We ask question, bring awareness, challenge assumptions, envision possibilities, express healing qualities of being, engage paradox, tap into the creative and collective unconscious to express the things that are at the edge of our own learning, growth and healing.

I do not know all the roles of the creatives, but I know that for me it begins with listening to the peepers and feeling the warmth of my daughters body on mine, noticing the color of the mist in the branches, and the way the evening pink settles to the horizon. It takes looking into the eyes of the squirrel and feeling the pull of the puffed up turkey king and considering the well being of the fledglings who will hatch above my sliding glass door. 

It begins with letting my animal body love what it loves as I feel into being part of the skin of the earth.  (thank you Mary Oliver for your Wild Geese poem!)

I want to invite you to my spring workshop so we can

• feel into the community of creatives who care
• tap into our connection with the earth and all living things
• realign ourselves with the good of the whole as part of the skin of the earth
• gain a sense of the value of each of our particular creative work
• relish in the diversity of our roles

Culturally the arts are often seen as frivolous, relegated to diversion, entertainment and decoration.

As artists we often struggle with an internalized judgment that says that we are not doing real work. Lets untangle those judgements and energize our focus with integrity, honesty and community!