Ecstatic Art is an artistic expression based on having 'found'. It is not based on the troubled 'search' for what may resolve or fulfill or provide an 'answer'. It is not a conceptual form or exercise of the mind over and even against the world and the history of art itself. Each work is the result of a living relationship with creative consciousness Itself and thereby leaves a potential 'fragrance of connection' for the viewer to the ecstatic connection established in the making of the piece. Ecstatic art is that which is the result of the conscious relationship with Transcendental Realism.
The apparent paradox of individuated being in a unified field of conscious light.
Art at its best is the transmission of truth and the revealer of the mystery in everything that is thought to be known. All that is known, is thought, and the knower of thought is in fact an illusion. The origin of thought is not the 'I' that we all think of as ourselves, 'you' can have a thought, but you have never constructed a thought to 'have', it simply arose.
Adi Da Samraj, (in the painting) the great spiritual teacher, has described Himself as a doorway. 'I' have seen that beyond this doorway, there is no 'I'. Beyond what is known is Reality Itself and that is a wondrous mystery.
Adi Da Samraj, (in the painting) the great spiritual teacher, has described Himself as a doorway. 'I' have seen that beyond this doorway, there is no 'I'. Beyond what is known is Reality Itself and that is a wondrous mystery.
Introducing the creative relationship with Reality Itself
The Truth cannot be merely 'said' and therefore be possessed and understood and that's that, it is far greater, simpler and much more mysterious and fulfilling than that.
My 'art' now is a creative relationship with that Reality, and by sharing it I hope to creatively infuse you with the presence and Reality of that which was revealed (and continues) to be revealed to me in ecstatic relationship with Reality Itself, with Art, Consciousness, Love and with Adi Da Samraj, the one who has realized this to the fullest extent. It is the convention of language that seems to create a sense of separation between art, consciousness, love, you, me and even great realisers like Adi Da.
My 'art' now is a creative relationship with that Reality, and by sharing it I hope to creatively infuse you with the presence and Reality of that which was revealed (and continues) to be revealed to me in ecstatic relationship with Reality Itself, with Art, Consciousness, Love and with Adi Da Samraj, the one who has realized this to the fullest extent. It is the convention of language that seems to create a sense of separation between art, consciousness, love, you, me and even great realisers like Adi Da.
'JYM' does not exist, in any permanent and separate sense from that which Actually Is.
Art is like a crack in the darkness, if you follow it there is an exponential increase in 'Brightness'. I was born able to draw fairly well but art didn't 'happen' to me until I was about 14. I became enraptured and truly ecstatic about a painting, so much so that I ran around the house screaming for joy. In that moment I knew something fundamental and true, I had no idea what that was and somehow I knew that I never would, indeed that was part of the unbearable joy of it all. From that moment I became more conscious of the shockingly beautiful and unknowable state of 'being' itself and I could barely contain it. Of course I couldn't contain it, at least not for very long. Since then life's great sea has thrown me from its highest tips to its greatest depths, becalmed me to the point of delirium, spun me in perplexing swirls of dreamlike events reflecting me all the while in its liquid hall of mirrors through a forest of distortion and all the while I madly sought that ecstatic union again and again. The search was on and led me round and round like a terrier chasing his own tail, and was just about as useful. During this search, or this time of staring into the pond of Narciccus, simultaneously hypnotized, horrified and fascinated by the distorted and unrecognized reflections of the contents of my egoic 'self', like Narcissus I heard a voice calling. There was a growing awareness of a felt presence that was at once familiar and yet held that shock of the new, it was apparent that art was its nature, revelation its gift, it was a rip, a tear, a crack in the realm of form and reason and led me to the place and person that is always already prior to any realm or world or appearance at all, where truth stands apparent and simple and it hit like a fall of stars that there is no thing or person separate from this. (The image is from a drawing I made for a show "Catch Me' and the circle refers to Adi Da's 'Midnight Sun' or as He calls it 'The hole in the universe')
The further paradox of self portrait in an infinite pool of ecstatic and conscious light
There was a tremendous feeling of claustrophobia, that 'I' was trapped in this limited self, this armed and legged form, and all the while desperate to grow beyond that. Could the mouth hatch new words to generate seeds of gold to enrich me beyond my self, could I paint myself into a new sphere, or at least out of the one I felt so limited in?
Adi Da talks about the state 'we' are born into, the state of 'Narcissus'. We are ego born, staring into the pond or reflection of our own selves. He mentions that the whole universe is in that reflection, that no matter what we are looking at in this universe, we are only seeing ourselves.
I was trying to find the real by staring even harder at what was unreal. The body painted on that canvas there will die and on the way to death will change, moment by moment cells will die, bits will fall and float away. Each seven year cycle there is nothing left of what was there before, all will have been replaced, down to the bone. So what is the 'self' in this portrait?
The way I perceive things is due to where I was born and what happened to me and of course my reactions to what happened, so if 'I' am a fabrication made up of circumstances and experiences divided by my reactions to them, then what is being portrayed in the portrait? a kind of circumstantial ghost, an alabaster actor dressed up as mist? Self portraiture is a jitterbugging bag filled culture endeavor, a flange light exploitation of that which really 'Is'.
Adi Da talks about the state 'we' are born into, the state of 'Narcissus'. We are ego born, staring into the pond or reflection of our own selves. He mentions that the whole universe is in that reflection, that no matter what we are looking at in this universe, we are only seeing ourselves.
I was trying to find the real by staring even harder at what was unreal. The body painted on that canvas there will die and on the way to death will change, moment by moment cells will die, bits will fall and float away. Each seven year cycle there is nothing left of what was there before, all will have been replaced, down to the bone. So what is the 'self' in this portrait?
The way I perceive things is due to where I was born and what happened to me and of course my reactions to what happened, so if 'I' am a fabrication made up of circumstances and experiences divided by my reactions to them, then what is being portrayed in the portrait? a kind of circumstantial ghost, an alabaster actor dressed up as mist? Self portraiture is a jitterbugging bag filled culture endeavor, a flange light exploitation of that which really 'Is'.
There is only One artist in the Transcendental Realism movement
_Originally Transcendental Realism had its roots in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and refers to a form of transcendentalism that permits the subject to be fully cognizant of all limitations in their mind, and thereby see all things as they really are in *Reality Itself (this he called the noumenal realm). Kant was himself not a transcendental realist, but rather a transcendental idealist. That is to say, he did not believe one could ever understand the noumenal realm. Adi Da has revealed this to be true, that one cannot understand the 'noumenal realm' fully unless there is full Realization of Reality Itself, in which case there would be no 'one' looking at or inspecting Reality Itself, Reality Itself would Self abide As that which Truly Is. This is full or seventh stage enlightenment which is Adi Da's very state and therefore any real Transcendental Art can actually only be made by Adi Da Himself. The new and radical art form of Transcendental Realism therefore cannot be claimed as an art form practiced by any individual artists, but an artist can testify to their relationship with this art form, or in other words, their creative relationship with Reality Itself, therefore with Adi Da who has realized Reality Itself to the fullest extent and is therefore not an 'other' to it. His statement that "There is no separate self" comes from this realization.
To illustrate, experiments in Transcendental Realism by Jym reveal subjects not as they are but as they reflect or reveal something about Jym's relationship with Transcendental Art and therefore with Adi Da Himself. This is expressed by Jym both as an artist and as a devotee. "I always felt that the life I was experiencing through the senses, through dreams and mind perceptions, although fascinating and very realistic, may not actually be Reality Itself, my relationship with art has now revealed itself to be the relationship with Adi Da Samraj which is in fact the relationship with actual Reality Itself," jym on art and spirituality.
*(Adi Da's use of capitalization… He is indicating that the word refers to the Unconditional Divine Reality, rather than the conditional (or worldly) reality.) Image from a larger ackrylic piece by Jym.
To illustrate, experiments in Transcendental Realism by Jym reveal subjects not as they are but as they reflect or reveal something about Jym's relationship with Transcendental Art and therefore with Adi Da Himself. This is expressed by Jym both as an artist and as a devotee. "I always felt that the life I was experiencing through the senses, through dreams and mind perceptions, although fascinating and very realistic, may not actually be Reality Itself, my relationship with art has now revealed itself to be the relationship with Adi Da Samraj which is in fact the relationship with actual Reality Itself," jym on art and spirituality.
*(Adi Da's use of capitalization… He is indicating that the word refers to the Unconditional Divine Reality, rather than the conditional (or worldly) reality.) Image from a larger ackrylic piece by Jym.
The Endless Cyclic Nature of physical being explained by a dead fish
'Hardly a great world of infinite joy and limitless blessings', I thought watching the mackerel's head banging off the seat on the little row boat we bobbed about in out on the cold dark blue sea off the Atlantic coastline. My uncle, who normally had a permanent smile on and an endless stream of jokes for us kids was the one bashing the life out of the poor silvery creature. It seemed to take an enormous amount of time before the creature stopped it's flashing and thrashing about in my uncles hands. "its all right, they've got no nerves" announced my uncle as he whacked it once more off the seat sending a dark splash of blood across the thick light grey paint of the boat seat. This statement must have been in response to the open mouthed look of horror on my face starring up at him as the blood and scales flew about me and stuck to the thick oilskin I was wrapped up in. Wondering how a creature could exist without nerves, a couple of things occurred to me,
one was that this was a much more dangerous world than I had been led to believe it was by Sesame Street, my mother and Enid Blighton
two, Adults are quiet prepared to lie to kids about it. I felt compelled to find out why and as quickly as possible before that was my own head being broken on the boat seat. I knew little boys had nerves, I had been given the Chinese burn by the fat kid, also the 'know it all' kid with taped up glasses, and the religion teacher. I had also suffered the measles, several bouts of flu and gotten stuck in an overflow pipe for a very long time. This was a great moment of awakening from the cotton wool world idea woven by the benevolent lies of concerned parents into the blood and guts revelation that we are actually in a giant killing bowl where everything is some other things next meal. I could feel the worms awaiting my flesh whenever it would be laid down in the ground just up beyond the football pitch behind our house. It would keep me awake at night and led to another series of important questions, like, was 'I' actually this body or was I just using it until it became the breakfast of the many wriggling things that awaited me in the earth of the cemetery or consumed by the flames of the crematorium? (which was an option growing in my head as my imagination played out the worm thing with a startling vivid quality that would give today's HD a good run for its money) Considering the drastic nature of what was in store for bodies in this world, was there an equally weighty ultimate reason for all of this, or did I just happen to appear in a random series of unrelated and meaningless events? and the biggest question of all at that moment, was 'I' in fact this body or was I not. (The image is from one of my lino prints which I then took into the computer)
one was that this was a much more dangerous world than I had been led to believe it was by Sesame Street, my mother and Enid Blighton
two, Adults are quiet prepared to lie to kids about it. I felt compelled to find out why and as quickly as possible before that was my own head being broken on the boat seat. I knew little boys had nerves, I had been given the Chinese burn by the fat kid, also the 'know it all' kid with taped up glasses, and the religion teacher. I had also suffered the measles, several bouts of flu and gotten stuck in an overflow pipe for a very long time. This was a great moment of awakening from the cotton wool world idea woven by the benevolent lies of concerned parents into the blood and guts revelation that we are actually in a giant killing bowl where everything is some other things next meal. I could feel the worms awaiting my flesh whenever it would be laid down in the ground just up beyond the football pitch behind our house. It would keep me awake at night and led to another series of important questions, like, was 'I' actually this body or was I just using it until it became the breakfast of the many wriggling things that awaited me in the earth of the cemetery or consumed by the flames of the crematorium? (which was an option growing in my head as my imagination played out the worm thing with a startling vivid quality that would give today's HD a good run for its money) Considering the drastic nature of what was in store for bodies in this world, was there an equally weighty ultimate reason for all of this, or did I just happen to appear in a random series of unrelated and meaningless events? and the biggest question of all at that moment, was 'I' in fact this body or was I not. (The image is from one of my lino prints which I then took into the computer)
The revised Renaissance spits a truthful David upon............. the tarnished ground of ego's fancy
Alabaster God's and Holy objects burned slowly in the local memory store of humanities small town holding on the edge of its own desert. It was the Renaissance. It was a time when the statue of David was a finger to anything above, greater or higher than man itself. No longer did David face a mere giant, but stood as a defiant and definite denial that there is or could be anything for him to bow to ever again.
A perfectly natural stance to take, as natural as the two year old who thinks everything is 'mine'! As the two year old grows to understand that indeed some things are his and many many other things are owned by 'others', humanity could now choose to comprehend its position relative to Reality Itself. That is that of course this fleshy and always dieing body and limited sense of self is not and cannot ever be the whole picture.
This is a revisited drawing of mine where Leonardo's drawing of a fetus is pulled from the past and reborn as a more honest vision of David. A fleshy and bloody self-replicating machine that abides in and as this mortal coil forever losing its head to the process of infinite possibility, searching and seeking eternally for something it cannot remember, inserting random goals into this ever hungry slot until the illusion of satisfaction wears away to reveal a chasm, a void to be filled again with a new and better goal.
Is this all there is to advise and guide our appearance here on this plane of cause and effect? If looked at from the point of view of David, or the image of man as god, then that is all that is left to us. If there is an awareness that 'prior' to the appearance of man, statue or anything at all, consciousness abides as the entire 'person' of anything that has or will arise and that the surrender of David to that reality brings an ever increasing and ever more depth full relationship with that which is greater than 'you' and yet in Reality Itself, 'you ' are not separate from It.
A perfectly natural stance to take, as natural as the two year old who thinks everything is 'mine'! As the two year old grows to understand that indeed some things are his and many many other things are owned by 'others', humanity could now choose to comprehend its position relative to Reality Itself. That is that of course this fleshy and always dieing body and limited sense of self is not and cannot ever be the whole picture.
This is a revisited drawing of mine where Leonardo's drawing of a fetus is pulled from the past and reborn as a more honest vision of David. A fleshy and bloody self-replicating machine that abides in and as this mortal coil forever losing its head to the process of infinite possibility, searching and seeking eternally for something it cannot remember, inserting random goals into this ever hungry slot until the illusion of satisfaction wears away to reveal a chasm, a void to be filled again with a new and better goal.
Is this all there is to advise and guide our appearance here on this plane of cause and effect? If looked at from the point of view of David, or the image of man as god, then that is all that is left to us. If there is an awareness that 'prior' to the appearance of man, statue or anything at all, consciousness abides as the entire 'person' of anything that has or will arise and that the surrender of David to that reality brings an ever increasing and ever more depth full relationship with that which is greater than 'you' and yet in Reality Itself, 'you ' are not separate from It.