What Qualifies as Artistic Enlightenment?

If Buddha was an Artist what would he have painted?

This exhibition does ask the question: in what state our minds are when we make art and how much of the Truth is manifested from a troubled mind.

—Karen Armstrong from ‘Buddha’

Artists, poets and musicians can only become fully creative if they work from this inner core of peace and integrity. Once a person has learned to access this nucleus of calm, he or she is no longer driven by conflicting fears and desires, and is able to face pain, sorrow and grief with equanimity. An enlightened or awakened human being has discovered a strength within that comes from being correctly centered, beyond the reach of selfishness.

There is subjectivity even in criticism. I think when the mind is centred and all mind spaces discovered and the mind is truly in control of itself – Is there still a reason to make art? Art in itself has its purpose as in any creative process to have a dialogue with the inner self to prise out itself and expose the limitations of the mind: self knowledge. So what is its value if not just a decorative item on the wall or does it have its place in our minds as an item that depicts an image of the Truth not found.

Jiddu Krishnamurti’s views on creativity:

The freedom to create comes with self-knowledge; but self-knowledge is not a gift. One can be creative without having any particular talent. Creativeness is a state of being in which the conflicts and sorrows of the self are absent, a state in which the mind is not caught up in the demands and pursuits of desire. To be creative is not merely to produce poems, or statues, or children; it is to be in that state in which truth can come into being. Truth comes into being when there is a complete cessation of thought; and thought ceases only when the self is absent, when the mind has ceased to create, that is, when it is no longer caught in its own pursuits. When the mind is utterly still without being forced or trained into quiescence, when it is silent because the self is inactive, then there is creation.
From EDUCATION AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF LIFE
Art divorced from life has no great significance. When art is separate from our daily living, when there is a gap between our instinctual life and our efforts on canvas, in marble or in words, then art becomes merely an expression of our superficial desire to escape from the reality of what is. To bridge this gap is very arduous, especially for those who are gifted and technically proficient; but it is only when the gap is bridged that our life becomes integrated and art an integral expression of ourselves.
From “Life Ahead”
You may be a potential writer, or a poet. or a painter. Whatever it is, if you really love to do it, you are not ambitious, because in love there is no ambition.

Krishnamurti (K) was not much of a fan of image making by the conditioned mind. As for the artist and art he had a few things to say in his time. His approach to the arts was that the artist and his work should be holistic in nature.

Who is that person that you call an artist? A man (or woman) who is momentarily creative? To me he is not an artist. The man who merely at rare moments has his creative impulse and expresses that creativeness through perfection of technique, surely you would not call him an artist. To me, the true artist is one who lives completely, harmoniously, who does not divide his art from living, whose very life is that expression, whether it be a picture, music, or his behavior; who has not divorced his expression on a canvas or in music or in tone from his daily conduct, daily living. That demands the highest intelligence, highest harmony. To me the true artist is the man who has that harmony. He may express it on canvas, or he may talk, or he may paint; or he may not express it at all, he may feel it. But all this demands that exquisite poise, that intensity of awareness and, therefore, his expression is not divorced from the daily continuity of living’ (Total Freedom: Krishnamurti foundation of America)

Besides being holistic, there is also that question of ‘purpose of life’. At some stage in the artists career he is going to ask himself this question. When I asked the artist John Hoyland in his studio, when he was in his 70’s, (see previous article ‘John Hoyland: Today’s Turner’ from siriperera.com) as to why he still had to keep painting: he said because he just had too. There is something of the Truth in this answer if he is to follow the ‘movement of creative thinking’ as Krishnamurti points out. Once you are riding on its wave, you know you have to keep going, to keep looking, to keep creating because with it you are fully in touch with the very process of creation and existence. ‘Fully alive’ as K points out later in this text. But first there does not seem to be common ground in our search for purpose.

The artist is looking for it through his art:

‘(he) will tell you that it is self-expression through painting, sculpture, music, or poetry; the economist, if you ask him, will tell you that it is work, production, cooperation, living together, functioning as a group, as society; and if you ask the religionist he will tell you the purpose of life is to seek and to realize God, to live according to the laws laid down by teachers, prophets, saviors, and that by living according to their laws and edicts you may realize that truth which is God. Each specialist gives you his answer about the purpose of life, and according to your temperament, fancies, and imagination you begin to establish these purposes, these ends, as your ideals.’

K says that we create an illusion, a false environment by conditioning, we live in it, and we look in there for the Truth, the purpose of life. We tend to ‘work towards an end, a purpose. You wade through this turmoil to the goal, to the end, to the haven of refuge, to the attainment of ideal; and these ideals, ends, refuges have been designed by economic, religious, and spiritual experts.’ There is no common ground.

And so for the artist what is his Truth of purpose before he finds his expression. Perhaps it begins and ends in the same place:

‘The very inquiry into the purpose of life indicates the lack of intelligence in the present; and the man who is fully active – not lost in activities, as most Americans are, but fully active, intelligently, emotionally, fully alive – has fulfilled himself.’

What he means by ‘fully active’, ‘fully alive’: with total observation, without conflict in the mind, primed up for watching through being aware of your space, without judgement, without being conditioned, and always remaining in the centre. You have to come to this state of being ‘fully alive’.

If one were to make a diagram of this it could be this to signify being fully alive. Being fully alive is a state of being. To have a state of “being” the mind has to sit a certain way. If one were to make a diagram of it it perhaps might be this to explain what is being fully alive:

The mind has to fall into silence first and to do this one has to stop verbal thinking altogether as it is this that is causing psychological thinking. When verbal thinking is stopped and one can do this by just simply stopping oneself silently vocalising what one is thinking or through meditation. The mantra in meditation just distracts one from silently speaking what one is thinking. I think that is all the mantra is doing. When the mind is silent intuitive thinking comes forward and in time this too can disappear and the mind will fall into a state of observation only. In this state of active being, watching, choiceless observation, with no judgement made with what you observe and feel and experience: “fully active, intelligently, emotionally, fully alive – has fulfilled himself.” – It is a mind space which one has to arrive at, to experience this “fully active, fully being” state of mind. From the chaotic world of verbal thinking to the silent intuitive mind and then to no-mind of “choiceless observation”. A symbol is a 1000 words and a drawing helps to see this state of mind in an instant. And a painting from an artist who’s mind is centred could serve the same function. “Artists, poets and musicians can only become fully creative if they work from this inner core of peace and integrity” from Karen Armstrong. The “new” in you only shows itself from a no-mind in a state of “active being” and observation and not from the chaotic mind of verbal thinking or “speak thinking”.

The enquiry into the end is futile, as Krishnamurti says as there is no such thing as an end and a beginning: there is but the continual movement of creative thinking and more importantly, it is that movement in the present “now”. What you call problems are the results of your ploughing through this turmoil toward a culmination. The ideals you look for are set up by the false environments that you have created for yourself. So essentially what you are doing is already trying to arrive at an ideal, which you will discover, is something not of an ideal after all. They are ‘just escapes from the present turmoil.’ There is only that ‘movement of creative thinking.’ Dealing with the environment as it is just now. The creative intelligence deals with just that, without the experts who create false environments for you to be in and make purpose and initiate beginnings and ends and goals you grind yourself towards.

So according to K, the end purpose and only purpose is learning to be fully in the present. To bring yourself to that point and stay there, you look at the movement that is you, in you, your mind, your daily activities, and watch them without judgement, to be in complete awareness, to only observe, to watch the cycles that repeat themselves because of lack of observational understanding and see how they come to an end when you follow them and see them clearly.

If you have to silent the mind you have the tools. Silent the mind with “speak thinking” and have better access to the other spaces in your mind and use them individually and see what you can discover.

Your thoughts are the barrier to having better access to the cosmos and knowing your full potential.

‘The observer is the observed’: what you observe is you and not outside of you. You are not separate from it. There is no method in the process. It is a naturally occurring process of observation, just as you are, watching your mind and everything around you. Bringing to an end the unnecessary process of psychological thinking and protest, so it does not get into the structure of the image. The noise of the mind then flattens out when these are gone. You are then left with pure awareness, just observing, completely understanding every movement, both externally and internally. Being complete and one with the environment and hence living in complete harmony with the vast space of the universe. And making art from here and understanding the art of life and its processes. Totally free to discover the “NEW”. Total freedom to discover your full potential.

When you have experienced all your mind spaces and know what they can do and then getting on with life itself: Ramana Maharshi

The No-mind state is not a lazy mind state of doing nothing. It has its surprises of a gem of the “new” in you popping-up in your mind. It is as far away as possible from the chaotic noisy mind of verbal thinking and psychological thinking and yet all you had to do was stop silently speaking what you want to think as in verbal thinking so as to silence your mind. Different mind spaces need to be explored and experienced to take advantage of their different functions.

The mind has to first naturally find its way to this space. Naturally and not through a method, as intangibles obtained through a method is not permanent. They only exist when the method is in use. The destructive patterns come naturally to an end. This is bringing something naturally to an end, by just ‘watching’ it. The stillness comes as a result of this ‘watching’ while being completely alert to things at all times. Initially, you might have to remind yourself to be alert, but with time it comes naturally, like breathing.

When Elton john was asked why does he still keep writing songs, when he does not know what he is worth and will never have to worry about his next cup of coffee, he said, ‘ because I am trying to find that ultimate song’. Is it what he is saying is that he is still looking for that ultimate something NEW song that will stand out of all the other songs that is in existence, and transform us forever with the NEW. Then I feel this is not going to come from thinking, but by being empty-minded in the now, calm, noiseless, steady, and then suddenly there it is, sitting in your mind, like magic, and not knowing where it came from. Thinking yourself into something uses tools that are already in existence, your past, your hopes for the future, all coated with your experiences and hence conditioning. How can the new come from data that is already known? Freedom from the known is also a point that K puts forward in his talks. The new has to come from non-existence, from nothing and not from your thinking past. But being one with all and to allow this to happen, the device of mind has to be primed to receive. Your living space that your mind has created to live in creates illusions, and if you cannot distinguish between a fact in you which is part of the Truth of things and the illusion created by the verbal thinking mind then good decisions might be difficult to make or at least one needs to know that this is this and that is that. If one lives in an illusory mind and look for the Truth using the coordinates of an illusion, you are looking outside the realm of the naturally true. Having said this the creative mind of verbal thinking is an illusory mind and can kick up some enchanting ideas and if it is all coming from verbal thinking and from your experiential past then the puzzle is always going to be about what is known in you. Perhaps that is why artists are always trying to find that ultimate thing – a song, a painting, an architectural building, a designed space in the city, better faster transport and a better life. The font-line of progress from the past in you will always be a puzzle of the known in you but whose says if the mind knows that a pop-up from a silent no-mind of something totally new shows itself and added to the frontline of life is not going to show better potential for life ahead of you but the new only comes from a no-mind.

The action of Truth shows itself through conscious awareness in a no-mind state of active “being”

The process and the purpose is: to be, so all is known without thinking, and action of Truth to manifest a discovery.

You have to get to stillness first, before you start making timeless art. Finding the new and adding it to the front-line of art. In the process, transforming viewers who come across the work. There can be no other purpose in this ‘futile’ obsession. The artist to be in contact with the universe by being as close to the structural energies of nature. To recognise conditioning in himself, to live outside the illusion, to be free of all that is known so that the new is accessible and to be totally free to create art that is timeless. Making work that will always be true to its time because its presence is that of the very essence of nature. I like to finish with a quote from a book by Karen Armstrong on ‘Buddha’, that before Christ to today’s Nepal and yesterdays India, around 300 BC who found that quiet centre:

‘‘Nibbana (enlightenment) is a still center; it gives meaning to life. People who lose touch with this quiet place and do not orient their lives toward it can fall apart. Artists, poets and musicians can only become fully creative if they work from this inner core of peace and integrity.’

Scientist are already beginning to think that there is an interface between consciousness and the brain

Access to the Universal mind and its repository through silence in mind.

We have to finally ask ourselves: are we, yes us, creating a brave new world for ourselves. We are all responsible for both the tangible and the intangible part of existence. This wholeness, the totality of existence, is brand new at any moment, created by us, as we bring it into existence. Everything, all the good and the bad, keeping in mind that there is no good and there is no bad as they are all part of the structure of existence (especially in the arts: so called ‘bad’ art, shows the way for the ‘good’ art, and if you see the truth in this you would price them equally and enjoy it for its power to point the way forward) AND THAT there is only that,’movement of creative thinking.’ The front-line of existence being created by: artists, economists, teachers, guru’s, mystics, killers, parents, muggers, presidents, kings and queens, drug dealers, microsoft, corner shop owners, schools etc. and at any moment, you look at it and you see what you got and you work with it. Never the same from one moment to the next, constantly being made and the artists, I would like to think, has a very positive part to play in this creation. And they will know what it feels like to ride the wave of the creative experience.

And to end this:

There is no guide to truth (in Art)

Is God to be found by seeking him out? Can you search after the unknowable? To find, you must know what you are seeking. If you seek to find, what you find will be a self-projection; it will be what you desire, and the creation of desire is not truth. To seek truth is to deny it. Truth has no fixed abode; there is no path, no guide to it, and the word is not truth. Is truth to be found in a particular setting, in a special climate, among certain people? Is it here and not there? Is that one the guide to truth, and not another? Is there a guide at all? When truth is sought, what is found can only come out of ignorance, for the search itself is born of ignorance. You cannot search out reality; you must cease for reality to be.

J. Krishnamurti, The Book of Life

The artist always has an image to make and the mind must cease for reality to be. Looking from the edge: making “darkness visible”.

More than one way to say the same thing: a leap into the void.

Creating a calm mind: stop verbal-thinking:

Consciousness links us to the Cosmic mind when the mind is silent:

Tathagata: 2 minds speaking and 2 separate mind spaces. The tangible and the intangible and the unseen in you equally important if not more so for one to experience to see the Truth of things.

2 mind speaking, mind spaces to be discovered through cross-legged meditation and seeing thinking for what it is: meditation opens up the mind. Stopping “speak thinking”/verbal thinking is a walking-talking active-state of-“being”-form-of-meditation. Stop the mind self-talk thinking anytime you want by observing your vocal cords silently speaking what you want to think for you to have to think at all. Stop silently speaking and verbal -thinking stops

From a conversation between Krishnamurti and David Bohm: movement to silence in mind and the action of Truth. The mind can see the action of Truth through conscious awareness. – that state of “active being” that Krishnamurti talks about.

The mind-body interface with consciousness manifesting probability possibilities.