Statute of Woman and Man

Article I.
It is decreed
that life now has value,
that truth now has value,
and that offering our hands
we will all work
for true life.

Article II.
It is decreed
that all the days of the week,
including the grayest of Tuesdays,
have the right to become
Sunday mornings.

Article III.
It is decreed that,
from this very instant,
there will be sunflowers in all the windows,
that the sunflowers have the right
to open within the shadow;
and that the windows must remain open
all day for the green
where hope grows.

Article IV:
It is decreed that man*
never more will need
to doubt man.
That man will trust in man
as the palm tree trusts in the wind,
as the wind trusts in the air,
as the air trusts in the blue field
of the sky.

Man will trust in man
as a child trusts in another child.

Article V.
It is decreed that men will be free from the yoke of lies.
Nevermore will it be necessary to use
the shield of silence
or the armor of words.
Man shall sit at the table
with a clear gaze,
for the truth will be served
before dessert.

Article VI.
It is established,
for ten centuries,
the practice dreamed by the prophet Isaías,
and the wolf and the sheep will graze together
and the food of both will taste of dawn.

Article VII.
By irrevocable decree,
the everlasting kingdom
of justice and clarity
is hereby established.
And joy will be a generous flag
forever raised
In the soul of the people.

Article VIII.
It is decreed
that the greatest pain
has always been and always will be
not being able to give love
to whom you love,
knowing that it's water
Who gives the plant
the miracle of the flower.

Article IX.
It is hereby permitted
that the daily bread
have in man the sign of his sweat.
But above all
that it always have
The warm taste
of tenderness.

Article X.
It is hereby permitted
to any person,
At any hour of life,
The use of the white dress.

Article XI.
It is decreed,
by definition,
that man
is an animal who loves,
and that for that reason is beautiful,
much more beautiful
than the morning star.

Article XII.
It is decreed that nothing
will be obligatory or banned.
Everything will be permitted,
even playing with rhinoceroses
and walking in the afternoons
with an immense begonia in the lapel.

Only one thing is prohibited:
to love without love.

Article XIII.
It is decreed that money
nevermore will be able to buy the sun
of future mornings.
Expelled from the great coffer of fear,
money will be transformed
into a fraternal sword
in order to defend the right to sing
and the feast of the day that dawned.

Final Article
It is hereby forbidden
to use the word Freedom,
which will be excised from the dictionaries
and the treacherous swamp of mouths.
From this moment on
freedom will be something alive and transparent,
like fire or a river,
or like a seed of wheat
and its dwelling will forever be
the heart of man.

by the Brazilian poet Thiago de Mello (1964) translated from Portuguese to Spanish by Pablo Neruda and from Spanish to English by FTS.

* When you read or speak the word man also hear the word woman, in the sense of this poem it is my view there is no intended seperation.

The Unconscious Unknown

"Psychoanalyse helped me to understand some of the roots to taking an inner life properly seriously. And saying it is after all the thing from which all the rest emerges. Even though the work does not give it biographical space in the same way perhaps other artists do, it's that curious balance of saying without it it's nothing, on the other hand it's not on display."

"There is this serious element of the unconscious operating in a lot of this. It seems to me that there’s no other reason to be an artist."

"If I know what I know and you know what you know and I tell you what I know, who cares?"

"My instinct is that making work is about, I’m daring to go to something I don’t know and hoping that in going where I don’t know, you the viewer can go where you don’t know too."

"The route to meaning may not be direct."

"Just as you can’t make something beautiful or set out to, you also can’t set out to make something spiritual. What you can do is recognise that it may be there. It normally has to do with not having too much to say. There seems to be space for the viewer and that’s something that we sometimes identify as being spiritual, and it’s all about space."

Quotes from BBC documentary Imagine on Anish Kapoor (2009)

Hebers Ghyll Net

" ... in the ultimate dimension there is no birth and death, beginning and end, this and that, being and non-being. The ultimate dimension cannot be described in words and notions that by there very nature serve to cut reality up into separate pieces.
Of course to communicate with others we have to use words, ideas and notions. In the end, however, we have to remove all these notions in order for the true understanding to be possible ... As long as we are caught in notions, ideas and words, we cannot arrive at true understanding and we will not reach the ultimate dimension.
Using the teaching of interpenetration we can unlock the door of reality and get rid of our notions concerning the world ... You don't have to go on a long journey to discover this. You don't have to meditate on many subjects to obtain this insight. If you can perceive deeply the true nature of any mental form, whether wholesome or unwholesome, you can reach full enlightenment. Just shed light on one thing and you can understand all that exists ... We don't need to learn everything. If we learn one thing deeply, we can understand all the teachings ... All we need to do is transform our forgetfulness into mindfulness." (p.19)

Thich Nhat Hanh (2009) Indra's Net, Resurgence, no.256, pp.18-19.

Journey into wholeness

"As we are all spirit beings having a human experience, perhaps it is time for us all to reclaim our power and awaken our own inner shaman or teacher? Everyone of us has the ability to communicate with Spirit in a myriad of ways. Although it is appropriate at times to seek assistance and advice from others as part of our growth and healing process, nothing and no one can make you better without your willing participation (both consciously and subconsciously) to release the cause of the problem. True healing involves uncovering the myth of who you are and what you are not. You could spend a lifetime searching externally for many things - perfect health, true love, lots of money, inner happiness, etc - to fill the void within and make you whole again. Yet, each and everyone of us has the potential to heal and be healed at anytime - the two go hand in hand, for when you heal another you heal yourself ... when you heal yourself you heal the world. There is no separation. Such is the wisdom of our ancestors, if we will only listen. " (p.17)

Karen Sawyer (2008) 'Healing the Soul: the way of the shaman', Caduceus, issue no.75, pp.14-17