Quicksilver

No Lines

The primary benefit I gained from art classes was training in how to see things. It may seem daunting to paint a flower. It's less daunting to paint the specific shape of one petal, then another, then another, then the long shape of a stem, all while paying attention to relative placement as well as light and shadow. Before you know it, there's a flower.

The single most important lesson, to me, was the revelation that there are no lines in nature. We may sketch and use lines to define areas, shapes, objects, but they do not exist in nature. There simply are no lines. There is nothing between the skin cells of my hand and the air flowing across them. There is no line between the soles of my feet and the grass upon which I walk barefooted. There is no line to separate the windshield of my car from the sunshine flowing through and reflecting from it.

I think we need to see that even though we all look and act so very differently from each other, there are no lines. We try to use lines perhaps to help define us or to differentiate us, but ultimately we're all together. We're One. We're individual sets of atoms and cells and each has a spark of life/energy/spirit which is unique but we exist together in the same infinity and we affect each other on levels we find it difficult to grasp from this mortal frame of reference.

I believe that every atom, every creature, every thought, every blip of energy is valuable. We cooperate, make exchanges, continue to experiment, to discover, to learn, and create the whole Universe together. I'm so glad that, as sentient forms, we are finally learning to recognize consciously that there are no lines.

07.30.2001

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