Music, poetry and the arts are all inextricably linked, but what is meant by art in this fifth path towards direct experience is the art of all creative endeavour. Sculpting a sculpture, writing and reciting a poem, telling a good joke, building an aesthetically pleasing structure, writing a novel, etc.
The list truly is endless of what artistic endeavours one can pursue and excel in.
I argued in one of my previous books, the Door of Direct Experience, that art is a window to the timeless and that it is precisely because of this revealing of the timeless that we are so drawn to artistic expression. Whether we are aware of it or not, this timeless dimension of consciousness is there.
What does this timeless feature of consciousness mean?
In a nutshell it means that your consciousness is not bound by time as we ordinarily think about things in our reality, life, nature etc. The consciousness that you are looks upon time as an object, just as you look upon an apple with your eyes, the difference is that time is a very subtle one, yet still an object to your ever subjective eye.
Consciousness therefore exists in a plane which is beyond, but not beyond as in distant rather just beyond as in more subtle and profound.
When being creative and creating art or enjoying art, we are sucked into this timeless field of experience, where our sense of time gets affected. Now if this sounds too abstract, don’t be alarmed, this is also something which I address in the last chapters of this book and in my other books on spirituality & direct experience.
I could continue with giving a couple of examples and suggestions on a couple artistic activities which you could try out!
Lets begin with…
Poetry
Yes, the poem… The good old poem. Poetry is a powerful medium of direct experience as it weaves and creates realities unto this already existing one. The poem has the power to lift forth the very essence, the crux of the heart of the world. Direct experience is all about experiencing life as it is, not as one simply imagines it to be.
Though poetry can be imaginative, this imagination still compels the consciousness to live the imagination directly.
Poems have a wonderful power to express that which cannot be expressed in mere talk, and also the wonderful feature of breaking the linguistic rules which language sometimes is imprisoned with.
Poetry is a wonderful key to direct experience, a key I’ve myself have used quite often when needing to express my innermost and to be more in tune with my intuition.
Here are a couple of my short poems:
“Truth sings
when the formless
meets brimming void“
“Colorless breeze
from sparkling blue seas
kisses the trees“
“Black rose
with seven red thorns
droplets of blood.”
If you happen to be drawn to painting realities with words, give poetry a good try!
Feel the words and let them become your DIRECT reality.
Visual Art and Creativity
If you happen to be drawn to your visual faculty more than your other senses, I have a couple of suggestions which may or may not be of interest to you.
Our visual window into reality is arguably our most powerful one, and this is also the case when it comes to direct experience.
What we see often looks to be incredibly tangible and concrete, whereas what we smell, taste, hear, feel and think is much less so.
This is the ordinary experience for most people, though certainly not the case for all.
If you happen to be an individual drawn to your visual faculty, here are a couple “concrete” tips to get you in the groove for living more fully in the moment!
Drawing and Painting
Most people aren’t expert at drawing or painting, but one doesn’t need to be an expert at it to become absorbed by the very act of drawing and painting.
This is a beautiful aspect of especially the visual window into reality. One does not need to be practised as in the same way one often needs to be to enjoy playing an instrument or what have you.
Everyone can draw and paint, children love it because it is so easy and intuitive. We can indeed learn something beautiful from our inner child.
We just have to be available to it!
Photography and Filmmaking
If you happen to be interested in something more hi-tech, you could definitely try out photography and filmography as a way of being immersed and creative.
Taking a photo, or creating a movie, has the power to move not only yourself but a whole lot of people.
If you feel drawn to this aperture of direct experience, I say go for it!
Ceramics and Sculpting
Lastly and although I’ve never done any actual ceramics or sculpting, I like every other child growing up have played with matter to mould different shapes and figures to fit my imagination. This is indeed a very powerful way of being immersed with ones immediate surroundings.
I can only imagine how soothing and giving an experience ceramics and sculpting could be.
To express oneself creatively with ones hands, that is to make manifest your imagination into the physical three-dimensional world before you is no wonder a great way of living directly, and thus being fulfilled.
Heck, I need to get my hands on some clay and start creating things right away!
Daniel Seeker is a wandering dervish and lifelong student of the past, present and future. He realized that he was made of immaculate and timeless consciousness when meditating in his hermit cave on the island of Gotland. His writings are mostly a reflection of that realizaton. Daniel currently studies history, philosophy, egyptology and western esotericism at Uppsala Universitet. He’s also currently writing his B.A. thesis in history which explores how Buddhist and Hindu texts were first properly translated and introduced to the western world in the late 18th and 19th century.