The Understanding– At the Principle Gallery
Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.
–Marie Curie
This is a new painting that is headed to the Principle Gallery in Alexandria this coming week for their annual Small Works exhibit which opens Friday, December 4. It’s on the upper end of small, coming in at 10″ by 20″ on canvas mounted on aluminum panel.
I call this piece The Understanding. The thought behind this title is very much in line with the words at the top from Marie Curie, the legendary scientist and first woman to win a Nobel Prize.
And her words certainly apply any periods of great unrest and trouble throughout history.
Fear is our greatest enemy.
It lacks knowledge and, most importantly, it lacks the understanding of how things operate and occur. This in turn prevents one from addressing the problems at hand, from diagnosing what has happened, how to repair the damage done and how to move forward without the problem arising once more.
Sounds like the work of a mechanic, doesn’t it? And maybe in simple terms it is a good analogy.
A mechanic, after all, has understanding of how things are put together, how things operate. The mechanic can look at a problem and know immediately what may have caused the problem and affirm that with a few tests or by examining the potential problematic element. He can then figure out what went wrong and what needs to be done to fix the situation.
Everything is done with clarity and calmness because the mechanic has an understanding of his field.
None of the fear and worries and hand-wringing that someone without this understanding goes through when faced with the problem at hand.
When we experience fear, it is generally because we lack the understanding of what has brought about the situation, how it must be dealt with, and how to prevent it from re-occurring at some later time.
In may cases, we have become so used to others– other mechanics, if you will– taking care of our problems without us needing to understand anything, without us lifting a hand to help things along. But sometimes, the problems are large and require time and patience. These are things that we often fail to grant without at least a basic understanding of how things work.
Without it, we become anxious and fearful. Reactionary and impulsive. We begin to question the knowledge and honesty of the mechanic, demanding fixes that don’t fit the situation.
Okay, it’s still before 7 AM so maybe I am torturing this analogy a bit. It feels like it’s one that could be played out into infinity. Let’s put this one to rest, okay?
But it seems to me that so many of our problems result from so many folks are stirred to fear because they have little or no understanding of how things operate. Nor do they have the willingness to try to obtain true understanding. They want things to go as they desire without their input or assistance.
The idea, or at least the feeling, behind this painting is that when one has patience and a bit of understanding, the way the world operates and is put together becomes more apparent. As a result, one becomes less fearful and more open to gaining even more understanding.
Understanding shows us the answers, gives us ways to move forward.
Fear is a hammer that breaks everything apart. Understanding is the glue that holds this whole crazy contraption together.
Understanding is fearless…
Thank you for your patience and understanding this morning!
Redtree Times 
I think the analogy is quite apt. We need mechanics more than ever now as spread of fear is rapidly outpacing the pace of understanding. (Much as mechanics are struggling to keep up with the changing technology of vehicles…)
Thanks for sharing Gary. Hope you have a fearless day!
With the world now facing the OMICRON variant of Corona virus this could not be more pertinent. It has 50 points of variation; 32 in the spike alone. It is more virulent, more contagious and our current vaccines may be ineffective. A Pandemic usually lasts 5 -10 years, so we are still in the early days. A bit annoyed I was only double vaccinated on Thursday! Though it may be irrelevant. But Pfizer says it may only take 100 days for a new vaccine addressing the variant…Science is our hope, panic & fear our enemy as in this, as in life.
Yes, this post did, in large part, refer to the covid situation. There is so much misunderstanding and misinformation, much of it intended, that prevents us from uniting in an effort to move past this. The very people who complain most about their so-called lost freedoms and rights are responsible for this pandemic’s persistence. Without real understanding of what needs to be done, I have concerns that you may well be correct in saying that we could be looking at 5-10 years, that maybe we haven’t even hit the low point yet.