Mandala #32: Starry Landscape Drawn From Childhood Memories Of California

I don't know why this mandala unfolded the way it did, anymore than I know about the previous ones.  This one feels unsettled and unresolved to me.  My decision is to let it be that way.

Bob Dylan has sung various versions of "God Knows"

God (or goodness or heaven) knows

phrase of know

1. 1. 

   used to emphasize that one does not know something.

   "God knows what else they might find"

   
   

   
   

   Thanks to Sabine who gave me the link to this lecture listened to while working on parts of this mandala and for giving me so much to think and feel about on her blog and to Elizabeth for her enlightening blog and for her collaborative podcasts which I also listened to while working on this mandala.  Thank you to everyone who continues to visit my blog.  You all contribute to what inspires me to keep making mandalas.  I'm grateful for this community of kindred spirits.

   
   

   And eternal thanks to Mavis Staples for:

   
   

   
   

RELATIONSHIP

"In the midst of total uncertainty, we can love."

(from ST. NADIE IN WINTER: ZEN ENCOUNTERS WITH LONELINESS, Terrance Keenan)

Thanks to WHISKEY RIVER for guiding me to Terrance Keenan's book.

A friend directed my attention to Van Gogh's "Rain--Auvers," one of his last paintings. Looking at it made me think of R who was an 芸術家 who made a living as a 大工 and, I am certain, felt a kinship with van Gogh as he painted his last paintings at the VA hospital where he died last April.

"In the midst of total uncertainty, we can paint."

THE PRINCIPLES OF UNCERTAINTY

A thoughtful friend gave me this book as a gift. I recommend it.
























































(1-2 hour drawing time, 5:55 to 6:25 a.m. -- 6B pencil on heavy weight, medium tooth surface, 9 x 12 Canson drawing pad, while not listening to anything except what is right in front of me.

Today's "Paused" images are from an excellent PBS documentary from 2002 titled "Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet." Interestingly, it was before September 11, 2001, that this film was in the process of being made.

As I wrote yesterday, I seek out stories from all traditions. Particularly moving, from this documentary, is the story of Kevin James, the son of an African-American/Native American father and a Jewish mother. As an adult, Kevin James became a Muslim as well as a firefighter for the New York City Fire Department. On September 11, 2001, he found himself among the first responders.)

It is my tradition on the first day of Kwanzaa, December 26, to watch the video, "Harambee!". Here's a synopsis.

Which reminds me of what whiskey river quoted on December 23:

""The family is one of nature's masterpieces."
- George Santayana

This morning at 7 a.m. I stood out on my porch in the dark and took this picture.