WHOLENESS

Kristin Neff is a leader in the study of self-compassion and its value in helping us to find more confidence and ease in our lives, relationships, and work. She tells us that suffering is a universal human experience, and something we all share. In fact, research shows that self-compassion towards our suffering is one of the most powerful ways we can heal ourselves, by strengthening our inner resilience and acceptance. 

Many of us were broken by others, even right from the beginning – from birth. Throughout our lives we may have come to believe we had to be different from who we are to be loved, accepted, and safe. We learned that others saw us as flawed, wrong in some meaningful way, and as a result we felt broken or incomplete. We lost connection with our wholeness as a result. 

Our healing comes through returning to this wholeness, by coming to know that we were not responsible for others happiness. We were not born with that as our purpose. We were born in wholeness…pure and receptive to what is being offered through life and the experiences we encounter. This wholeness is everyone’s birthright…and yet, it is so easily negated through the hardship of life.

As others molded us through their actions and inactions, we molded ourselves into the versions that made sense with what we knew, and what we thought they wanted us to be. We survived by being what others needed us to be, so we could be lovable and, in some cases, to simply be safe from harm. By taking these actions – which were necessary acts of self care – we were not able to truly love ourselves, and this broke our inherent wholeness. We had to break the wholeness by having to make this choice. And, with help, we can return to wholeness once more. Because it is what we already are. 

In contemplating this concept of our inherent wholeness, a question arose for me: what if an artist’s pursuit and purpose in their work was for this wholeness to be witnessed, felt, understood? What if we artists are looking for that visual, experiential moment to help us remember wholeness? What if the search and longing we feel when making our art is the deep abiding passion for a life affirming statement – a statement that says, “I am whole and complete as I am. Wholeness exists. I make art to know this within myself and for you to see and feel whole too. We exist in this wholeness together. This is where we can connect.”

What if the purpose of art was to experience and connect with wholeness – to remember? How might we engage with art from that attitude or belief? It seems that what art offers us is immeasurable in that way. How do you place value on your truth, your life, your soul?

When we connect with this essential purpose in art-making, what we create becomes more than an object or a product. It is a life affirming practice that reminds us of who we truly are. It returns us home, to ourselves…and we become whole once more.

Prefer to listen? Click on the link below to listen to and/or download the audio version of this Blog post.