Tag: fine art

the materialistic spell

Posted on by Ajmal

We live entranced by a materialistic spell, deluding us into believing the physical world comprises all of existence. From birth, we’re indoctrinated with a dogma asserting reality begins with matter and ends with our finite lives. Any notion of grander metaphysical forces or the eternal soul is dismissed as mere fantasy. Yet this reductive worldview results from heedlessly imbibing assumptions while failing to deeply ponder our cosmic origins and spellbinding consciousness. To awaken from this materialistic trance, we must bravely scrutinize its intellectual premises through the light of rigorous reflection. As we flex our philosophers’ minds, the ephemeral veil dissolves to reveal the unmistakable hallmarks of a supreme immaterial Reality that preceded space and time. Our existence screams out its Divine authorship – if we’d only break the spell’s hypnotic grip.

shapeshift

Posted on by Ajmal

In a world of artificial boundaries and constructs, we often seal ourselves into limiting identities – daughter/son, employee, citizen. Yet could our attachment to these conceptual molds be obstructing the full blossoming of our most vibrant, dynamically flowing selfhoods? When we cling to fixed roles or self-definitions, we cut ourselves off from the infinite patterns, energies, and potentials that we truly are. Like static photographs, we compress our multidimensional beings into two-dimensional caricatures. True freedom arises when we allow ourselves to shapeshift in perpetual reinvention – honoring the myriad horizons, archetypes, and territories that coexist within our psyches. We become shapeshifters, fluidly traversing all that we’ve collectively dreamed into being across myriad lifetimes.

the perpetual hustle

Posted on by Ajmal

In our productivity-obsessed era, we treat busyness as a badge of honor. Yet could this cultural veneration of perpetual hustle be blinding us to the reasons we’re so frantically trying to outrun ourselves? So often, our ceaseless doing merely covers for an unwillingness to sit with the existential angst catalyzing our restlessness. We drown out the whisperings prompting us towards deeper self-inquiry with a deafening litany of tasks and distractions. But no amount of achievement can ever satiate the soul’s longing for profound meaning, intimacy and homecoming. These soulful yearnings can only be met by courting the very stillness we habitually flee from. It’s within the spacious pauses between our roles and appointments that we seamlessly unfurl into our most liberated altogetherness. Resting in sheer beingness, our obsessive human-doings spontaneously alchemize into simple, compassionate, joyfully integrated beings.

letting souls touch

Posted on by Ajmal

The old man sat on his porch, rocking gently. He watched the neighbor boy dash across the street, shouting to a friend. “You know,” he said to me, “folks don’t listen much anymore.” I waited, sensing more to come. “They’re all wrapped up in their own stories,” he continued. “Can’t hear past ’em.” His eyes crinkled at the corners as he looked at me. “But you, you’re different. You’ve got curious ears.” I smiled, unsure what he meant. “Curious ears,” he repeated. “They don’t just hear words. They reach for the truth hiding behind ’em.” He paused, considering. “It’s not always easy. Sometimes the truth bites. But it’s worth it.” The neighbor boy laughed, a clear sound cutting through the evening air. “That’s the thing about honest talk,” the old man said softly. “It lets two souls touch, just for a moment.” He fell silent then, and we sat, listening to the crickets begin their nightly song.

design language

Posted on by Ajmal

Everywhere we look, there are self-evident signs that our existence is not a cosmic accident, but rather the product of a magnificent design. The complex coded instructions within every DNA molecule. The perfectly tuned universal constants that allow life. The mathematical preciseness underlying natural patterns. The irreducible complexity and interdependent symbiosis within ecological systems. All of it points undeniably to a Supreme Intelligence behind existence itself. To ponder the intricate artistry and order throughout this universe, then conclude it all spontaneously arose by random chance, defies rational logic. For those willing to humble themselves and genuinely reflect, the natural world screams out the reality of its Maker in its very design language. We need only open our hearts to witnessing the obvious.

pursuit of becoming

Posted on by Ajmal

We’re taught that the path to happiness is paved with achievements, acquisitions and checking boxes until we’ve “made it.” Yet could this dogged pursuit of some future arrival be obstructing our ability to feel fully alive in the here and now ? After all, every destination inevitably dissolves into a new departure point once reached. The goalpost perpetually moves, leaving us striving yet again for something else to make us whole. What if we stopped postponing our gratification and entrusting it to some illusive “there”? What if we reconnected with the beauty and magic of the ordinary, unadorned moments that make up the waking dream of our daily existence? In doing so, we realize the greatest prosperities have been here all along – the simple grace of breath, the affectionate gaze of a loved one, the simple brilliance of a sunrise. When we attune to these perennial marvels, life’s richness multiplicities in ways no pursuit of becoming could ever match.

awakening at crossroads

Posted on by Ajmal

“When it comes to the human soul, the real battle is the struggle to truly become oneself. Not the self that others might want us to be, not even the self that we might wish to be; but the deep self and inner soul trying to awaken at critical crossroads in each life.”

Michael Meade