Saturday, January 27, 2024
How did Michelangelo carve those incredible figures from a slab of marble? He saw the completeness before the process started. David was already there, both in the marble and in the artist. Michelangelo had to “see” the figure in the slab and bring it out; but its origination was from within. Da Vinci did this too. He looked at dirty, splotchy walls, and found images within them. It appears that it comes from the outside, but both are working within you.
If you look at the clouds, you’ll see it’s already there, both within and without. By staring, you’ll see a dog sitting; a large man with his mouth open; or any number of vehicles, trees, stretching hands, or faces.
Within you is the creation and the creator. You’re not just a figurine or a picture within the “chaos,” but everything at once. Like Da Vinci and Michelangelo did, if you search, you’ll find a work of art, something that wants to be known, discovered, and re-expressed within you.
To dis-cover is to remove the cover. The cover was removed within Michelangelo first, then he removed it from the slab. When I learn a new piece of music, it’s not coming “into” me. It’s already in me and I discover it. It starts off “unfamiliar,” but that’s a thin cover. As I excavate the unfamiliar I discover that it is already there, and I become one with the music. I drill into the source. There is only ONE, hiding within, but covered in marble, “unfamiliar notes,” clouds, and smudgy walls. The unfamiliar is a veil that becomes lifted so you can see what’s already within you. Sit and stare, chisel down, and nothing will be unfamiliar. It will be as if you knew of it all along. The treasure is “buried” within.