Sculpture

So this is probably the only piece from my figurative sculpting class that I'm happy with. (The pics of the piece, I'm not so happy with.) As for the sculpture there are still some lines that are quite "off" and my sense of proportion certainly needs to be improved but overall I'm pleased with how it turned out.

There is an energy in pure concentration that makes participating in art-making worthwhile-- the results, much to my surprise, proved to be of a secondary importance. The state-of-mind I attained while creating-- that sustained level of singular focus and awareness, was so wholly rewarding.

Edm Winte (2010): Flickr Set

"God's greatest gift is a teacher...": Emerson

God's greatest gift is a teacher & when will he send me one, full of truth & boundless benevolence & heroic sentiments. I can describe the man, & have done so already in prose and verse. I know the idea well, but where is its real blood warm counterpart... I may as well set down what our stern experience replies with the tongue of all its days. Son of man, it saith, all giving & receiving is reciprocal; you entertain angels unawares, but they cannot impart more or higher things than you are in a state to receive. But every step of your progress affects the intercourse you hold with others; elevates its tone, deepens its meaning, sanctifies its spirit, and when time & suffering & self-denial shall have transformed and glorified this spotted self, you shall find your fellows also transformed & their faces shall shine upon you with the light of wisdom & the beauty of holiness.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson (Letters, 1, p.376)

thought to word, word to deed, deed to habit, habit to character

The thought manifests as the word;
The word manifests as the deed;
The deed develops into habit;
And habit hardens into character;
So watch the thought and its ways with care,
And let it spring from love
Born out of concern for all beings...

As the shadow follows the body, as we think, so we become.

(from The Dhammapada)

---
One of my favourite teachings from my favourite Buddhist scripture. And yet another example of incredible wisdom within the doctrine of 'dependent arising.'

awake enough...: Henry David Thoreau

 

"The millions are awake enough for physical labor; but only one in a million is awake enough for effective intellectual exertion, only one in a hundred million to a poetic or divine life. To be awake is to be alive. I have never yet met a man who was quite awake. How could I have looked him in the face? We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical means, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us is our soundest sleep. I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor."

- Henry David Thoreau (Walden, page 81)