“Who is that old guy?”
I did not recognize myself. And it was liberating.
Peace does not come to me by adding possessions and acquiring prestige or other ego-indulging trophies.
The more I subtract or let go, the closer I get to serenity.
I'm letting go of anger, ambition, pride, vanity, envy, and resentment, and in this subtraction, I feel like I'm adding to my human experience.
Subtraction Formula: Minuend – Subtrahend = Difference
In this equation, for me, "My idea of the totality of myself" is the minuend, my ego is the subtrahend, and my bliss is the difference. Only love and acceptance remain.
I see now that my preoccupation with the corruption of society's elite and institutions is honestly a projection of my own shadow self.
My accusations are confessions. My obsessions were subconsciously designed as ways for me to avoid my own deficits and demons.
C.S. Lewis said, "The gates of Hell are locked from the inside."
We can free ourselves from suffering at any time. We have always had the keys to the prisons we find ourselves trapped in because we built the damned things.
I see that the purpose of life is life itself. To experience the profound rapture and miracle of existence is the point. To replace the rapture with fear is the gravest sin.
"No eternal reward will forgive us for wasting the dawn." -Jim Morrison
If a sunrise or sunset only happened once every decade, people would fly halfway around the world to see one.
As my body degrades, my spirit soars. I am not the lightbulb, but the light that it produces.
“God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made.”
We are fractal expressions of the divine and sentient cosmos.
We are ALL-ONE, and this means
We are A-LONE.
Each dimension or universe may be a singular and separate entity, completely alone in its time-space.
This idea is at once terrifying, comforting, and thrilling.
Like life.
I painted this vintage dollhouse as a symbolic self-portrait. It’s a work-in-progress.
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