“Unlimited Love”11”x8”
Ink on scratchboard
Collection of Gino Jokar, Art Toy Museum : Hollywood, CA
When contemplating how to put the concept of "love" into an image, I went back into one of my favorite books, "The Power of Myth" by Joseph Campbell. If you don't know about him, you should check out his tapes or books; one of the best philosophers of our time. I came upon a symbol from the Medieval ages of a wheel used to symbolize marriage/love. It said that if you think of a marriage or love as a wheel where one sits on the rim going up and down and not in the center hub where it is stable and not moving, then one will move through the love and marriage and life. This metaphor is so strong as we often can feel as if we are barely holding onto the wheel inrelationships of love or even life. Sometimes we grip the wheel with the utmost confidence. Think about how one grips a wheel to stay in control..sometimes we can't avoid swerving and sometimes it is a smooth ride where we barely touch the wheel. Staying on the rim, be patient, accepting that it is not always perfect but we are moving forward through the ups and downs. If we fall off of the wheel, we can always get back on. Ah, the medievalists had it right I think!
From the museum tag: I was inspired by the “Institute for Research on Unlimited Love” which studies Altruism, Compassion and Service, this piece represents the social support that has always been important to survival. Stephen G. Post, a professor of bioethics at Case Western Reserve University is the president of the institute. Dr. Post wrote a passage in my monograph “Open Spaces”. He wrote, The universal law of love is this: In the giving of self lies the unsought discovery of a better self. The moment we quietly realize that another person means even more to us than ourselves, we are reborn into a more abundant world. True happiness flows from the affirmation of others, so we never find happiness if we settle for selfishness. In the end, there is no dualism between altruism and egoism. The problem is not love of self, but only that we love ourselves wrongly. The purpose of life is to grow in love, which is to be
always leaning forward out of a life we learn from into one that is better.
3 comments:
Great post (and nice pics) from your opening. It was a great time- with greater work! Lovely, lovely show. Well done.
Cora Lynn
Your work is phenomenal. I can't even believe how wonderful it is.
When i saw this piece a little while back at the Museum of American Art in New Beitain, Ct I felt...I can't put it in to words, I got out a note book and pen and scribbled down the quote about love scribbled next to it, as i was writing a tour was being held but i couldn't move until I was finished. I then looked at the graydon upstairs, stared in awe at your painting one more time and went to my car and sobbed.I still have the piece of paper. Thank you so much.
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