inseeing

For some reason this week, the word "inseeing" has been appearing almost daily. Yet another one of those occurrences when one learns a new word and then hears it repeatedly! I first came across it when reading an excerpt of Rainer Maria Rilke wherein he discusses "inseeing" a dog and entering into the center of its being, to the place where God would rest after creating it and "know that it was good." I also heard it mentioned by Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith in passing, and again came across the concept while reading Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth" as he discusses how looking deeply into a simple object like a stone or flower without labels allows the sense of awe to arise within. As I was reading this, I immediately felt a kinship with that process, because I experience that as an artist every day. I was amazed to find as I continued reading that Tolle had made the same connection with the visual arts, using Van Gogh's chair painting as an example of elevating what most consider to be an everyday object into an image that sold for millions.

This piece is a response to the idea that by closely studying and entering into the spirit of an object, we gain a more compassionate understanding. The stones are from the Walhonding river in Ohio where I grew up.