the awakened eye - the invitation

encounters with nondual awareness

Nobody Home
Jan Kersschot

The Myth of Self-Inquiry
Jan Kersschot

the invitation

art as a mirror of the sacred

When we look at art that points to the ultimate, that reveals the infinite within us, it simply takes our breath away. Automatically, we remember that there must be more to reality than we thought. ... Some works of art (it may be a painting, a sculpture, a poem, a piece of music or whatever) can indeed call us beyond our concepts about the world. Such works point to a transpersonal space where the Original Face shines in Its full glory. In a glimpse, we are confronted with the deepest we can feel, the highest we can imagine: we transcend ourselves and get a taste of our most profound Ground. This is art in one of its most original and highest meanings: it works like a catalyst which uncovers our True Identity. All these images are in fact pointers to "the imageless" and can bring to the surface the recognition of our infinite nature.

Some works of art reflect the deepest longings of the human heart as it searches for the infinite in a very particular way. They celebrate unconditional love, they evoke both the agony and the ecstasy of yearning after our birthright. Some works of art can be a direct invitation to rediscover the infinite aspect of our existence. Both contemporary works of abstract art (e.g. Kazimir Malevich, Barnet Newman, Mark Rothko, Yves Klein, Ad Reinhardt, Anish Kapoor) as well as ancient Hindu and Buddhist yantras (abstract meditation images used in the Tantric tradition) are sometimes like mirrors that reflect the desire to transcend our human experience. All these "mirrors" can be arrows penetrating to the deepest layers of our infinite nature, silently nurturing an affinity for the real Centre. They may become catalysts in our longing to come Home. Until it is seen that there is nobody going Home.
Excerpt from Nobody Home by Jan Kersschot
Copyright Watkins Publishing 2002

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