This is a new painting, a still untitled 12″ by 12″ canvas. Normally when I look at such a piece I see in it something hopeful, forward looking toward a distant horizon. Destiny bound. But while I was looking at this piece, absorbing it and trying to take in its feeling, something I had read at some point came to mind. I can’t remember who said it but the gist of it was that you can’t connect the dots of destiny by looking forward– you can only connect them by looking backwards.
In other words, you can’t plan your destiny. But you can see how you arrived where you are.
This idea of connecting the dots by looking backwards was no stranger to me. That was the central appeal of genealogy for me, being able to find the trail that brought us to where we are at this moment. To see that path in some sort of view that takes what might be very mundane lives when seen individually and places them in a grand and sweeping perspective. Doing this made me feel connected with my humanity, able to see that I was not some sort of alienated being but was a part of that sweeping vision. Would I be a noteworthy part? That I could not tell.
As it was said, you can’t plan your destiny.
So looking at this piece with this thought in mind, I no longer see it forward looking. I view it as the perspective of someone who has turned around on the trail and is looking back at from where they came. And there’s a certain synchronicity in this. The sun and the water represent our evolutionary beginnings and the path, our trail though the ages.
Strangely, it doesn’t lose any of its hopefulness by taking on this perspective. In fact, I now find it comforting from this perspective, that I have a purpose and responsibility as the recipient of a task that must be carried forward, at least for my short stint here on the trail.
The dots are connected and now I can look ahead…
Whenever I see one of your paintings pop up on my Reader, it always makes my heart smile. Your work is so rich and beautiful. Thank you, always, for sharing what you do. This painting immediately made me think of the journey on my Yoga mat. The ups and downs to get to bliss … the sun… so I was looking at it forward before I read your post. Now, your explanation has me thinking about it backward … which means, I now have to unroll my Yoga mat and have another look from the backward perspective … and try to find the joy in evolution, and not the melancholy that sometimes comes when we look back and see the things lost or left behind. Thank you!
That was lovely. Thank you for sharing that.
On Thu, Apr 17, 2014 at 8:38 AM, Redtree Times wrote:
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The saying is a variant of one of my favorite quotations from Soren Kierkegaard: “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
Exactly. On Apr 17, 2014 12:08 PM, “Redtree Times” wrote:
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As I looked at this lovely painting, I thought “Out of the Blue” seemed apt, but that was with lavender as the destination. And then there was that Dylan song about being tangled up in blue . . .