Inaugural Post - Dreaming Into Being

I suppose it's fitting that my first post here is to recount a dream of a few night's ago. After all, dreaming is a crucial part of being whole, partaking in the whole of life's experience. For traditional Iroquois the dream is at the heart of life, opening the way to vision and guidance for using 'orenda', life animating force, for how to walk well on this Earth. For them, and many others including myself, dream messages are mostly cryptic, only sometimes crystal clear, but are always to be honored in some way whether through ritual act, journal entry or simple sharing with another. And so I share this inspiring dream with you.

My dream finds me at what best resembles a book fair, tables under tents are lined with rare and unusual books, all of it under the canopy of stately trees set between buildings evoking a college campus. I walk between the tables and come upon a large tent where table after table is covered in uniform volumes, there are hundreds of 3 inch thick binders bound in green jackets with gold leaf letters. At the bottom of each binder spine is a volume number and in the middle, in bold caps, is one word - TOTALITY.

I wake up marveling at the vision; the vastness of knowledge represented and implied abundance of many kinds, but also, the open ended paradoxical nature of 'totality', what it means to be whole. I get a good feeling, though, seeing something so comprehensive is so well organized. For me, the green of the binders signifies plenitude in this world. I think of greenbacks, a spring pasture or a forest in full leaf. The gold leaf denotes a high ideal, scholarly in its approach and accomplishment. And so it is, the heart of this mission, this art making and this blog, for me to attempt to contain something uncontainable, unlimited information presented in a limited way with heart, spirit of adventure and no small measure of fun as we take the next step to arriving at TOTALITY.

Gravity Warps - acrylic on papered panel, 6x6 inches, 2016

It's time then to ask, what is totality? As your guide I will tell you, that's a good question. We'll take that up in the next post.

At Left: Artwork depicting a stylized notion of gravity's influence on the space/time continuum.