How Devotion Cultivates Insight
I’ve been a creative person my entire life. As a child, I was the kid who would go through the garbage before it went out for collection to see if there was anything in there that I could make something with. I rescued many toilet paper rolls in my day.
Even from a young age I had a deep appreciation for the power of creation and the focused intention it took to create. Many would call this state flow, but for me, its always been a devotional practice to the energy of creation itself — our inborn ability to create in real form that which exists as thought or idea.
I’m currently working on a large scale art piece for a juried show called ArtPrize held every two years in the city of Grand Rapids in Michigan.
This large paper piece will consist of 144 paper tiles measuring 12" x 12" each. They will be connected together to create a 12' x 12' piece.
I am hand punching and stitching this work. It will eventually be a layered piece, much like a topographical map of sorts, and is an homage to the energy of creation, expansion and abundance.
I’ve stitched the background of 77 tiles thus far, and while I have so much work yet to do, the devotional practice has been incredibly shifting and affirming for me.
To begin with, taking on such a large scale project has cultivated a level of commitment and trust that has surprised me. As a juried show that has yet to open for submissions, I don’t even know if my work will be accepted, and yet I’m compelled to continue and trust in the process. The tasks are repetitive, and as I punch one hole at a time with a piercing tool and finishing hammer, a sort of meditative state ensues.
During this form of waking meditation, ideas and insights drop into my mind with seeming ease and grace. If I begin punching holes or stitching with a question top of mind, 9 times out of 10 a solution will present itself during my creative time. Even when I’m not deep in inquiry prior to beginning, ideas will percolate to the surface of my awareness.
More than anything, this project is connecting me profoundly to that which is beyond my intellectual knowing. In many ways, this work seems irrational — who creates a 12' x 12' piece of art without even knowing if it will have an opportunity to be exhibited? I persist with deep devotion, for the treasure is in the process, in the profound opening and expansion of my heart and mind.
As I fully surrender and allow myself to be guided by a force greater than I, the lived experiences of my life feel magical. Devotion builds a capacity within us to live our lives in the mystery of the not-knowing and to trust that we are held and loved by creation itself . It affirms that we are a part of the creative force that manifests all of life into reality.
