undivided
undivided (adj)
not separated into parts or pieces;
complete or total
Some of you know that the year I moved to Nelson I joined a beginners art class with the wonderful David James at Atelier Gallery.
It was the first time as an adult I'd made deliberate space in my life to explore visual arts. I remember feeling kinda nervous about it. It was definitely heading into new territory, but I felt an insistent whispering nudge in this direction, so I followed it.
It turned out to be awesome. It gave me space every week to explore, process, think and see and experience myself and life differently, not to mention experiment and play! David and my companions created a very intimate space where everything was welcome, and we all got to meet and expand our edges - alone, together.
As I finally had time to digest my previous marriage ending, packing up and leaving my home in Australia, going on pilgrimage to India, then moving permanently to Nelson to start a new life, the whole experience was incredibly supportive of the grief process and metamorphosis I found myself in. Whenever he could tell I was going through something (which was pretty much constantly!), David would listen, and then he'd put on my favourite-at-the-time music artist and album Maggie Rogers - Heard it in a Past Lifeas the soundtrack, to help me soften and settle into art-making. It still touches me now how compassionate that was.
I had so many impactful experiences in that class, but one piece of David's art still stands out clearly in my mind. On a large piece of paper he had simply typed in typewriter script in black and white:
WHOLEHEARTED,
wholehearted,
UNDIVIDED DEVOTION
undivided devotion
These words have stayed with me as a kind of koan, an ongoing question/exploration/aspiration for my life.
What would/could it be like to live life undivided? To not separate myself into parts or pieces? To be complete or total in my presence and engagement? To not leave any aspect of myself out?
That art class was a step in that direction for me, and it has kept unfolding over the years since.
And what would it be like if we all did that, not just for ourselves, but also for each other? What if we could learn to actually experience ourselves as a 'cell' in a larger body of all living beings on earth, where every other cell/life/living being is vital and important and contributes to the whole? How can we all learn to live with each other, in appreciation, in peace, in dynamic and creative harmony?
Honestly, if I could sum up my prayer for the world right now, it would be something like that.
May all the maddening violence come to an end, and all our prayers for peace be fulfilled.
Wishing you and our world undivided, wholehearted peace.
