Grasp The Moment

I had lived on Iona for a year leaving to return to Edinburgh. Here I was hoping to progress my studies further and gain University entrance. I was given the opportunity to join a commune, so I had accommodation all I need now was to find a means of earning enough to survive, (never had I accepted social welfare). I also need to find a way to finish my studies in the time scale. Both problems were within days in the most unexpected way.


Never being one to miss the opportunity of getting to know interesting characters, problem two was solved. Walking along the famous Princess street in Edinburgh with the castle towering above me, I noticed a newspaper vendor making conversation with customers, not something they normally did, and also reading what looked like a weighty tome. I engaged him in conversation and we seemed to strike up empathy for one another. He was a surgeon who had become an alcoholic and here he was selling newspapers. He offered to help with my studies if I helped him to increase his sales by taking some of the papers round the local hostelries. We almost doubled sales in a very short time and my studies progressed in the evenings. He had a wonderful way of imparting knowledge.

A couple of days later we had popped into a large store where we were going to have a meal, macaroni cheese, I can remember it to this day. While in the store I saw a man taking a bundle of bamboo poles out through the back door. I had an idea, and followed him out to find where he was taking them. I managed to come to an agreement that I would collect these poles for a very nominal payment. They were used to roll carpets round for delivery to the store.

Somewhere in my mind I remembered seeing bamboo that had been scorched and had looked like ebony. With a small saw I cut the bamboo into varying sizes of squares and oblongs. With a red hot blade I burned it turning it to the effect I remembered, its own natural oils creating a beautiful sheen. With a red hot knitting needle I made holes at each corner. With the use of leather thong I was able to produce belts, necklaces and bracelets. They sold like hot cakes from the newspaper stand.

What has this to do with Tao? It is a story about grasping the moment. It is about being alive to opportunities that moment by moment come our way. We have to be aware that in every encounter with another fellow human being, there is a person with a story to tell. The artist must be alert and alive to the stimulus of everyday moments.

This is the way of Tao.

Preparation

My first ever run was about 150 yards before I collapsed in an unhealthy heap. Encouraged by my daughter I managed to accomplish this three times in the next week. As the days progressed I went slightly further each day. My aim was to do be able to do a great enough distance to leave the house and reach the woods at the edge of the village before collapsing. Eventually the day arrived. Not one to do anything in small measures, I donned a pair of rainbow coloured lycra leggings and running top and set off. Mission accomplished I reached the woods and took a breather before running home. A few months later I finished my first half marathon (of course I knew I would I had already done two preparatory runs of the course).


I had a friend who enjoyed woodworking. He had a shed with a lathe where he made beautiful wooden bowls and lamp stands. Before beginning he would sharpen all his tools to a keen edge and lay them out on his bench in the order he would use them. (He was like the surgeon preparing to perform an operation.) The wood was then made ready various types bonded together and left until it had dried and would not separate in the process. Then the turning began and the finished article was always a thing of beauty. It felt tactile to the touch it had the aroma of the many woods used. Sadly I remember, somebody saying, “All that work and time, they can make them just like that in plastic for less than half the cost.”

We live in an age of instant and now. Why waste all this time when we can do things easier and faster? Why take the time to make a mortise and tenon joint when we can nail it together and put a cheap metal clamp on it?

I ponder the ancient art of wall painting that has lasted for centuries and it still makes me feel an inner joy today. I wonder if they just came into the cave and threw some colours at the wall. I suspect not, I suspect they ground the rocks to make the colours with great care. Mixed them carefully and with thought and time prepared themselves to decorate the walls for all to see and enjoy. The time taken has stood the test and is still there for all to marvel.

How many artistic creations have been spoiled because the initial preparation was hurried? The canvas unprepared the drying times ignored. One artist said to me, “I never bother with all that gesso and stuff. I just want to get on with the painting. None of that stuff is ever seen.” But of course it will be seen. It will be seen in the finished work. It will not stand the test of time and it will lack the hidden depth and strength. It is on good foundations that the best buildings are erected.

And so with life, without foundations and preparation we will fail. To make ready is the first step of Tao.

he Story Behind the Art can be seen at:- http://ralph-theartofataoist.blogspot.com/

Walking and Running

Spring brings thoughts of longer days and daylight runs. If you have ever gone running in the streets you will be aware of the many hazards that this activity brings with it. The unseen potholes ready to trip you up, the dogs that run at you and frighten the life out of you. Then there are those who either cannot run or choose not to run or who are too lazy to make the effort but still feel they have to shout comments at those who do. The favourite seems to be, “Keep on running.” It used to annoy me but no more. Now if they shout that at me I am just so happy that they notice I am not walking.


Hold that thought in your mind.

Every year the new intake of students where I taught would have heard enough about Mr. T. to know that he could take a joke, so there was always some who wanted to point out my white hair and their youth. My way of overcoming this was to lay down the challenge of a race, a short but hilly six miles. There was always the odd few who were foolish enough to try. One year was different. On my giving out the challenge a voice was heard to say, “Don’t be silly, he took my big brother out for a run and he was in bed for two days after it.”

Hold that thought in your mind.

I remember running with a very good athlete on a training run. As we ran he said, “This is lovely you should always run at a pace where it is still possible to hold a conversation.” I replied, “I hope you notice then that this is a one sided conversation.”

Hold that thought in your mind.

Now have you noticed what I have done? You are now trying to hold three thoughts in your head and wondering what one to think about first. You are now multi-tasking with the brain. I am sure you all know that multi-tasking is a female thing; men don’t do multi-tasking. So I am continually informed.

The Toa says when you walk, walk, when you run, then run. In other words, one thing at a time and that one thing to the best of your ability. Who am I to suggest that multi-tasking is not possible. But if something is to be done to the very best of ones ability it requires all of the thought process for that one action. If the artist is to produce a meaningful piece of art then it calls for the full interaction of the artist with the work in hand. Recently I was struggling with two paintings. A fellow artist said, “Lay one aside and just look at the one.” So simple but it worked both were soon completed. If this is true for the artist it is true for everything else in life. One thing at a time done well.

This is the way of the Tao.

Bowing and Respect

I was brought up from a very early age to believe that all people were equal and of value, and that therefore all people deserved respect. I learned this on my regular Sunday walks with my father, the highlight of my week. Being the kind of person I am, I took this to heart, and on more than one occasion it landed me in trouble. I remember my first day at school. The class were All told to stand to be introduced to our teacher, and we were told that when she entered the room first thing in the morning and afternoon we were to bow and say, “Good morning/afternoon Miss and then her name.” I had no objections at all to saying good morning but I had real problems with the bowing. If we were all equal why am I bowing to her I wondered? The teacher in her wisdom made no comment, but the head teacher on noticing my head upright took me aside and we had a “discussion.”


Later in life while taking part in the “crowning of the gala queen” event somebody noticed I did not bow to the gala queen and raised the issue in the local press. I have been introduced to real royalty on two occasions and on neither did I bow, but was aware that they did not take issue with its absence.

Age has made me do a rethink of many things and the more I see the diminution of respect the more  I now believe that the lesson of bowing, and what it signified is maybe a lesson we should not forget. Even if we set aside the physical action. It is said that respect has to be earned, that may be true. But if respect is offered then this could be the impetus to greater things from the one respect is shown to. At the end of all bouts in martial arts the combatants bow to one another as a mark of a shared respect. In Buddhist communities the master bows to his students to say to them, “I am merely the messenger of the teachings.” The students bow acknowledging his wisdom. From this shared respect grows even more worthy lessons.

I frequently take time out from the bustle of painting to pay my respect to the masters who have gone before. When visiting a gallery, if I come before a work that moves my inner being I stop, and though not physically, internally bow before the master. It says quietly and without fuss, “I respect you.”

No matter how great we may feel our art has become it is wise always to remember that there are those greater than ourselves. We are all equal and worthy of respect but there are those who have earned just that little bit more to which maybe a bow is appropriate. They have earned such respect.

I bow without show because this is the way of Tao.

Masters and Learners

There are a large number of cookery programmes available to view in the weekly television schedules. Many of these programmes take the format of the masters sharing their knowledge and in the process achieve the status of celebrity. The ones I prefer to watch are those where the cooks are not the masters. They cook and are judged by the masters who make comment and decide which cooks progress to the next round and who go no further. The mistake made by many of these cooks is that they try to impress too much and flood the plate with so many flavours that the palette is in a whirl. The person who progresses is so often the one who had only two or three items that could each be savoured and tasted to the full.


It is not only in cooking that this is true. I remember our annual flower festival. Flowers were arranged on a theme with each floral artist making their own interpretation. Those new to flower arranging had large numbers of blooms for their arrangements, others just two or three magnificent blossoms. One arrangement I remember vividly was one that contained only one bloom some greenery and some lovely bark and twigs. I can still see that arrangement vividly as if it was only yesterday, such was its impact.

Often at momentous occasions in life people feel the need to express their inner feelings in words. Maybe it is a poem about a loved one who has died, or a recitation about the bride or the groom at a wedding. So often these poems are lengthy and very wordy. I remember clearly though one such that spoke volumes in four lines and no rhyme.

I remember one summer when I was on vacation visiting attending a church service. The preacher was not long out of university. As we were leaving the church he recognised me and asked my opinion on his conduct of the service. I gave him my honest opinion, it was excellent but he had enough material in his children’s talk and sermon to get three of each. he needed to be more selective.

The artist so often feels the need to paint and paint. Long after they have reached the point where the painting is making a full and wonderful statement we continue to dab and change and tinker. We feel the need to add just a bit more detail another tree or flower, more grass, another pattern and often worse, another colour.

When I look at the work of Turner I see everything and yet there are so few brush strokes. The masters had that magnificent ability to express much with just the odd dab of paint. I on the other hand often feel the need for one more flourish. I am told by many other artists they have the same tendency.

Those who follow the Tao know when to be spare in what they do and to seek quality. They know that little is often more.