Purusha and Chaïtya Purusha in brief and in our lives
Purusha is a Sanskrit word meaning 'person', 'conscious being', 'essential being' or even 'conscious soul' (often used coupled with the term 'prakriti' in theSamkhya Indian, which means 'nature' or 'phenomenal world'). Purusha in our ordinary life corresponds to the conscious person. It lies in the background of our mind, our feelings and our emotions. It has various levels and aspects depending on the development operating in a being but in general it is thewitness. Everything is reflected in the Purusha. He is that person who watches (himself) do, say, (be) moved, suffer, desire, satisfy himself.
He is this quiet and observant person who allows you to achieve and establish a certain peace and control over your life as long as you focus on developing this peace by one means or another. As a general rule it is the observer, the one who, if strengthened, allows us to 'manage' ourselves with serenity.
Chaïtya Purusha is the form of this conscious being described but in relation to the soul, with our part which is part of the One, it is the true and central being, in the background too, no bigger than the thumb , say the Upanishads (Vedanta), located in the middle of the chest (cardiac plexus). When we concentrate on this place in meditation, for example with the help of an image, a light, a candle or other positive things, we can help to develop the essential being in us and give it a leading role so that it guides our life, on condition of perseverance...a lot of perseverance if we intend to establish it over time.
It will express itself as the deep 'heart', full of gratitude, it is true altruism, compassion, the joy of being, whether one is religious,atheist or agnostic as long as we decide to feed him. For everyone he is the being turned towards beautiful things and harmony. In its candid and pure form it is, in young children, this spontaneous joy from which we wonder where it comes from when it is expressed in a cry without anything around the little being seeming to have provoked it. .
November 2019
* * *
In search of the sublime
Presentation text for the series 'In Search of Sublime (2008 - 2013)
The exploration of the theme of the sublime in my work began in 2008 with two sculptures in homage to the romantics of the 18th century and a particular interest in the writings of Edmund Burke and Immanuel Kant. I then considered that the sublime of exaltation, a mixture of oratorical know-how, lofty inspiration and greatness of soul described by Longinus in his treatise on the question dating from the first century AD, is , even if older, paradoxically closer to us because more incarnate, more positive and spiritually more likely to nourish us.
I believe that the sublime could not be imagined and felt if it were not a possibility in the making, a promise of real and latent manifestation still nestled somewhere in the subconscious of our being and our life. The dizziness and delight experienced by the romantics and also by some of our contemporaries when one of the temporary experiences of the sublime occurs are those of their own felt infinitude, of their deep being because, for me, these effects are not simply psychological, but spiritual and true. The sublime is our deep soul and our wonderful, immense and hidden potential from ourselves, it is our lost paradise and it will be our paradise found.
Here, in an approach outside the intellectual field, the attitude sought is the silent offering and the maximum openness to let come 'what happens'* - a possible sublime (?) -, in order to trace a path that the semi-automatic drawing of simple shapes repeating themselves, transforming endlessly, manifests images.
* See, Lyotard, Jean-François,'The sublime, now' in Po&sie, no 34, 1985
October 2013
* * *
Thoughts
Joy and Beauty are the origin and end of our presence in the world. Art is one of their images.
May 2016
* * *
We should start from unity. We should not think of anything in isolation from anything.
Unity should be the starting point and it should be what we strive for.
Unity is what we seek, in everything we do, in everything we strive for, everything we desire, desire is desire for unity, always.
We have never tried this before: doing everything in a state of unity to find unity. But to get there we have to start from one point. The point of mental tranquility. It takes a lifetime to find it.
Unity leads us to the essential.
November 2016
* * *
Let's no longer praise Gandhi and John Lennon, let's exchange them for Sri Aurobindo and George Harrison.
August 2011
* * *
It is often said that art is life, but perhaps we are not really living yet; therefore art could be a music of the future.
October 2011
It is an aspiration for deep beauty that our desires for beautiful things are linked
* * *
2021