Rant of Being Inspired

I'm so very excited to know that I'm learning how to draw and paint. It's an amazing gift and skill to have, to visually depict and see the world in its shapes and forms. I'm blessed to have wonderful teachers who inspire this joy of making art based on the world we relate in and to.

What I notice more and more is that my trips, outings, events and things I like to spend my time doing are geared toward wellness, joy and prosperity. And even when the thing itself isn't something that is directly related to these things, I find myself finding the little bits of wherever I am that compliment my inspiration and that keep me in tune with the truths and joys that I do flower in a little more each day.

I notice that the things I look for wherever I am and in whatever I'm doing are things that inspire both my art and my story. I'm a detective for these cues. Little gems appear here and there that signify new ideas, attractions and movements of energy that cut through the old, stale masks.

I treasure these cues and use them. I don't know what they are until I find them, but I play with what's there and here so I can stumble into them accidentally on purpose. I'm diving into strange lands and the powers of imagination and questions of what is true. It's my play time and responsibility to write this story. It's my joy and fulfillment to dive into my artwork with a growing sense of depth and care. I am these worlds that I'm creating. I am this art that I'm living. I am this exploration, this act of being, this permeating awareness of wisdom. I am these unknown cues of inspiration. I am an artist.

(Delayed post - missed Sunday)

https://www.patreon.com/whenanthonywas

Living Every Moment

Every moment is an opportunity for enlightenment. We graze the grass, hug the trees and see that in every single beat of the heart, inhale or exhale of the breath and sensory exchange, we are able to see a little clearer, with a little more joy.

I don’t know the truth for myself, let alone anyone else. I do have moments where it seems clear as to what is helpful to abide to the universal laws of nature and to deepen my connectivity with life, in contrary to increasing my disconnect or divisiveness with it. It happens through the breath, it happens through the body, it happens through perception. My scars are silhouetted into elements of a harmonious whole and what is realized is unity. Things that are causes of my misery vanquish when I’m in tune with what is wholesome. Then, I feel better than I did. I feel whole and unique in this wholeness, like a child playing in a bathtub in a world huddled to itself, free of the chaos and confusion on the other side of the curtain. We’ve unraveled the veil here, just a little bit, to see that it is really all “rainbows, smashed to smithereens,” and we are happy.

To express this authentic joy is to be it, to feel it and to live it. We don’t need someone else outside of us to attain it, but inspiration comes from those who are examples in their own action and perception on how they have peaked through their own ignorance. I am grateful for these people, and many are my friends, each having his or her own unique moments of unveiling day by day. I’ll admit that I’m a learning, wandering, lost-at-times being sharing the same questions we all have. Yet we all have the moments of clarity where we see beyond the veil into our selves of purity. It’s wonderful to witness the changes. Life is constantly changing, so to be alive, so are we. It’s a process. Observation is taking place. The moment ceases to have meaning when we contain it rigidly. Selectivity in one manner can help us define the things we carry with us on our path. However, too much and we are like a comic strip, trapped to the panels on one page, when it is every page that accounts for the context that gives us meaning and the framework from which to begin our discovering. One page is enough, when we know how to read it - how to see beyond the expression into the expressing and into the source of joy that inspires true freedom and authenticity.

Let us not be caught up in the mundane, trimming branches, when the root remains rotten. For anyone seeking freedom, dive into the way you see the world and yourself. Dive into the things you take for granted, positive or negative, these are the things you don’t usually notice. Each thing unnoticed is one passing piece of life that may offer some tools, context and enhancement of what can be reflected on. This is also not something to search for, because your attention is full already. What is it full of? We can offer our energy to fruitful, wholesome qualities, or demonic, destructive, unwholesome qualities. We are all containment of both. Human beings are examples of both and what we create and live in either state is our example to ourselves and the world. It is our framework to see whether it’s benefiting us or others. So each moment stands at the precipice of seeing or ignorance, reverence or concealment, light or darkness. As map, compass or flashlight, the tools are ours right now.

Here is something I wrote on a typewriter recently:

You are a master of limitation.
To think that you of knowledge and of time are bound to this creed.
Where bountiful freedom abides, there rests all unlimited being.
Bewitch the be-witcher, a guise of misery and complexity.
Stand where freshness begins and all form is in communion with this direct observation.
This seeing is truth without reaction. It is life unencumbered.
"It sees the false in the false and sees the truth in the truth."

“Even now, the world is bleeding. But feeling just fine, all numb in our castle, where we’re
always free to choose, never free enough to find, I wish something would break, cause we’re
running out of time.” - Overcome by Live

Find your freedom. Don’t choose it.

Joy to you all,
- Anthony

Loving Letters of the Dragon

Reading the collections of essays and letters by Bruce Lee is fascinating and inspiring on many levels. The legend who lived only to thirty two was a contemplative, intelligent man. He starred in twenty Cantonese-language films before the age of eighteen, founded schools, taught and developed new techniques of martial arts and continued to write, philosophize and make films his whole life. Everyone knows that Bruce is someone who sought to express himself authentically through his art and life.

I am reading two books. One is Artist of Life: a collection of notes and essays by Bruce. The other is Letters of the Dragon, which is a collection of Bruce’s letters to friends and family, often sent from America or Hong Kong. To read the personal writings of someone who was adamant in expressing truth is a wonderful thing. Letters are already a medium of personal richness and for the author of them to be so full of life himself, they are truly a pleasure and insight into a caring, persistent and well-rounded person. As Bruce Lee might say, “Man! So cool.”

Yet with all his magnificence as an individual, Bruce was confined to the collective framework of human beings in his time. Thankfully, we have a collection of letters because of it, as supposed to a multitude of text messages. The care of writing a letter is something that strikes me as a more expansive way to communicate. Reading Bruce’s letters reminds me of how technology has changed our interactions to a global level. We can quickly call, email or send information across the world. We can physically travel to anywhere in a hurried pace and have the knowledge of where we’re going and what it’s going to be like before we even arrive, through our world-wide cloud of information. It is the inspiration for care that I feel through Bruce’s life as a human being who deals with common struggles of us all. Mundane elements such as financial concerns to deeper truths such as death, the art of expression and the cultivation of inner peace.

Bruce was an explorer with a respect to an inner calling that shaped his actions and perspective. It is inspiring to have those who have walked their own personal/impersonal path of authenticity and wisdom. It is with continued appreciation that I read books of the great minds that are now left like footprints in the snow. I will never know Bruce Lee the man, but as legend, expression and wisdom, his essence lives on as a guidance and inspiration. From his readings, I hope to gain a deeper appreciation for the simple gifts of each moment. To see with freshness as the situations reveal themselves. Like Lee’s own jeet kune do, there is no way to the Way.

Our paths will all intertwine, like Bruce’s to mine, yet each moment is unique for us alone. From pages of his words, we can carry the meaning of a live well lived into this unique moment, expressed as what is. The care of this sacred place in time and space will change us more than we can imagine. This can inspire others to have that same sense of freedom and feeling of the truth of being, in all our layers of exchange with this world. The words of Bruce Lee inspire me not to take any friend, foe, moment or sentence for granted. This holds true to the dearest part of my heart.

With love and care for the essence of Bruce Lee,
Yours truly,
Anthony

“I will give you my heart, please don’t give me your head only.” - Bruce Lee