Bare Attention - Freedom from External Influences.

Somewhere, Out There...
Two weeks ago my daughter text me that her final semester fee was due and that she needed two thousand or will not be able to sit for her finals exam and so I was on panic button and launched my Buddha's bowl, knocked on every possible doors and ended up with my cousin lending me one thousand and my son in Dubai made up for the rest. Yester i got another text from her that due to some new changes the cost has gone up one thousand more. Fortunately I had just sold a good number of my drawings and sketches to a buyer for five thousand and so this time I was well prepared and was able to return my cousin's loan. Such Is.

From practically penniless I am now slightly ahead and am thankful for the lessons learned through the process time and again. Giving and receiving is an art in itself and sometimes the laws that is set forth through these acts of virtue  has far reaching effects in terms of karmic consequences and liberation from this bondage of wanting and clinging on to; wealth, ideas, thoughts and activities which are part and parcel of life. There is nothing wrong or right about wanting more or less there is only a matter of the quality of life we end up with. In maintaining a good balance, walking the middle path and accepting what is as is, is the beginning of the road to freedom from desires, cravings, wants, clinging on to and waste. Make life simple, the Buddha,or live a simple life, be rich when you are rich and poor when you are poor, there is not difference in the two states except in how you live them. The quality of life is hardly measured by the amount you have accumulated but in how well you have lived with what you have.
What you have is your impression of who you really are in the scheme of life as a whole, where you fit in and how you fit into what is the best way in accepting in being who you are. As the Prophet's nephew, Saidina Ali (R.An) was said to have said, you think you are small and insignificant whereas within you is a universe far great than that you can imagine. Being an artist is more than just being able to conjure up good artworks or the ability to find the market through connections it is when the market looks for you that you feel like you have arrived being and artist at least in the fiscal sense. There is more than being able to sell yours works to the highest bidder, it is a sense of being ripe and ready to scale on to greater heights in terms of your personal self fulfillment; the fruit is ripe and ready for the plucking. This is achieved through a long journey of self discovery and the conviction one has developed through sheer pperseverance and love for what is, Being an artist.Simplicity and effortlessness are the two natural ingredients that helps towards getting to where one is headed; living an uncomplicated life is an art in itself.
The practice of ' bare attention', Being in this world but not of this world is like living a life of effortless detachment or not getting sucked into by what one experiences day to day, moment to moment, All phenomenons, all events are accepted with complete detachment good or bad, rich or poor, success or failure. When you are imbued with such an attitude there is a sense of freedom from the clinging to what we perceive is life. Nothing is permanent all that exist will cease to exist and as such it makes sense to  to step back and let while the mirage plays itself out until reality is seen and so you dance with all in the universe while the universe dances with you in complete harmony. There is no residue to what happens after it has happened, only moving on to the next event or episode as the day progresses or as you grow older, you become lighter and not burdened by all the accumulations if you had been clinging on to every phenomenon, every word, thought and deed. By making meditation one of your tools you can find the means to help resolve and reconcile and accept any given circumstances that arises; meditation helps to erase the memories from your mind leaving often only traces of residue that is needed to be taken care of when the occasion presents itself, minus the nittiy gritty details.
To develop a sense of intuition into what one experiences and resolve matters amicably for the benefit of all is a virtue worth honing. Intuition born from within one's own mind is a rare gift that we humans are endowed with but very few make it an effort to bring it into full bloom through the simple meditative exercises. It is only when the mind is quiet that the process of intuitive thinking can manifest itself, it just happens effortlessly often to one's surprise; why did I not think of it before? Now I see it! An intuitive mind is clear with no attachment to any unnecessary details, an intuitive mind is bare attention in action in all circumstances; it cuts through ignorance and false perceptions. For an artist to create such original works of art it is imperative that the mind be free from any taints of clinging on to or holding onto preconceived ideas from thought generated events and experiences. Nothing created from the thinking mind is original, what is original is free from thoughts. A good piece of art will have an element of originality a part of its criteria; something no one has created before.