So many things, I am being aware of having known...that I seem to have forgotten...at least, temporarily.
Long before I began painting, I wrote these words in a notebook.
"I AM. THEREFORE I CREATE BEAUTY."
Since childhood, I've prettified my surroundings...
...................arranged colorful pebbles in pleasing patterns as I played by a mountain stream.........
...................redecorated discarded Christmas trees using things I found wandering....bird's feathers, bits of string or paper....and yes, little rocks, which I would balance, carefully,on the branches............
Years ago, as a young mother, I determined that in our home, there would be beauty everywhere I looked! I am a minimalist. I don't like 'stuff' for the sake of having 'stuff.' And I abhor, what I call 'uglies.'
I had a rule. For me to have something in our house, it had to meet, at least one of these criterion.
1. It must be eminently useful
2. It must be of great sentimental value
3. It must be beautiful.
It was the greatest joy to have something which was all three! Maybe this pot isn't beautiful to some. But it is to me. And, it gets used more than any other pan I've ever owned. And, it was my mother's.
I could not be bothered to clean the spills before taking the photo!
I have followed those rules always, the very best I possibly could.
We forget, though, we humans, that we are here to see and appreciate beauty....to feel beauty.....and to create beauty!
The Navajo People have a prayer............
Walking in Beauty: Closing Prayer from the Navajo Way Blessing Ceremony
In beauty I walk
With beauty before me I walk
With beauty behind me I walk
With beauty above me I walk
With beauty around me I walk
It has become beauty again
Hózhóogo naasháa doo?Shitsijí’ hózhóogo naasháa doo?Shikéédéé hózhóogo naasháa doo?Shideigi hózhóogo naasháa doo?T’áá altso shinaagóó hózhóogo naasháa doo?Hózhó náhásdlíí’?Hózhó náhásdlíí’?Hózhó náhásdlíí’?Hózhó náhásdlíí’
Today I will walk out, today everything negative will leave me
I will be as I was before, I will have a cool breeze over my body.
I will have a light body, I will be happy forever, nothing will hinder me.
I walk with beauty before me. I walk with beauty behind me.
I walk with beauty below me. I walk with beauty above me.
I walk with beauty around me. My words will be beautiful.
In beauty all day long may I walk.
Through the returning seasons, may I walk.
On the trail marked with pollen may I walk.
With dew about my feet, may I walk.
With beauty before me may I walk.
With beauty behind me may I walk.
With beauty below me may I walk.
With beauty above me may I walk.
With beauty all around me may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk.
In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk.
My words will be beautiful…
Linguistic Note: The word “Hozho” in Dine’ (roughly translated) Concept of Balance and Beauty. Consideration of the nature of the universe, the world, and man, and the nature of time and space, creation, growth, motion, order, control, and the life cycle includes all these other Navajo concepts expressed in terms quite impossible to translate into English. Some Navajos might prefer the term: “Nizhoni” meaning ‘just beauty.”
Written by Robert S. Drake, for Tom Holm, PhD, University of Arizona American Indian Graduate Studies Program, Native American Religions and Spirituality.
I AM. THEREFORE, I CREATE BEAUTY.
Beginning, once again, to create beauty, is a most joyful part of this New Day Journey I am on.
I pray that I may not forget that truth, again.
No comments:
Post a Comment