The Garden Beyond Chaos– At the Principle Gallery
One man practicing kindness in the wilderness is worth all the temples this world pulls.
― The Dharma Bums
Maybe the simple act of being kind is the only answer we need.
It certainly serves a greater purpose than the all too many examples of hate-preaching I have observed in recent weeks. For example, this past Sunday in a suburb of Fort Worth, a Baptist preacher called for the deaths of all gay people, saying, “They should be lined up against the wall and shot in the back of the head! That’s what God teaches. That’s what the Bible says.”
Now, I’m no Bible scholar nor am I even identified as a Christian, but I don’t believe that is in the book that these folks like to swing around and hold up so high. Doesn’t really seem to be in line with the teachings of their savior, if you ask me.
No, it’s just plain old run of the mill hatred and an incitement to violence. Instead of trying to help their congregation find and spread peace, love, and kindness, they instead seek to sow even more divisions prejudices, and hatreds in this world.
Instead of calming souls, they add to the chaos and turmoil.
And as the good book says, “Chaos begets chaos and that is a plague upon the Lord.”
Hey, I can make up stuff from that book, too. And, hell, mine doesn’t call for anyone to be shot in the back of their heads.
No, kindness, along with love and acceptance, is the simple solution for what ails this world and keeps it in what seems to be a constant state of chaos. Trying to find beauty in and unity with this world and the others in it would appear to be a much more productive way of existing.
That’s pretty much the meaning I find in the painting at the top, The Garden Beyond Chaos, a new piece from my current Principle Gallery show. It’s about how beauty and coexistence with all beings provides a barrier against the chaos that swirls around this world. About how kindness, love, and beauty create a form of order that is a yin to the yang that is hatred and chaos.
It might appear to be a naive notion. But I would gladly wallow in that form of naivete to the end of my days rather than live in a world filled with nothing more than hatreds, judgement, and prejudices.
Redtree Times 
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