Heart becomes earth with slight shift of breath

In today's North Bay Practical Spirituality Examiner, Amara Rose writes, "The art of awareness: painting your aliveness on life's canvas" She opens with, "As we move into the next phase of our global renaissance, copious creativity is the key on which our elevation will turn. How deeply are we willing to tap our inner reservoirs? And, can we expand our perception of what constitutes "art"?" Rose presents the ideas of Jose Argüelles and cross-cultural exchanges based on "art." She includes,

"The universal urge toward the aesthetic is coded into our DNA. Theologian and author Thomas Moore writes, in Care of the Soul, "Children paint every day and love to show their works on walls and refrigerator doors. But as we become adults, we abandon this important soul task of childhood." When we relinquish this soul expression to professional artists, "we are then left with mere rational reasons for our lives, feelings of emptiness and confusion, and a compulsive attachment to pseudo images, such as shallow television programs. When our own images no longer have a home, a personal museum, we drown our sense of loss in pale substitutes, trashy novels or formulaic movies."

Because art arrests our attention, living "artfully" might require of us something as simple as pausing: taking the time to shift from acquire to inquire, to let go of buying more in favor of being more. This is what honoring our collective creative impulse can do for humanity: restore us to wholeness, holiness, health. "Whole", "holy" and "heal" all spring from the same root. To be whole is to be balanced and harmonious in body, mind, soul and spirit."

After providing links to additional resources, Rose concludes, "And if we make a subtle shift — move the "h" in heart from the start of the word to the end — we create "Earth". We live in a heart circle. Earth Heart. The beat goes on."