This week we are celebrating our freedom as a country. I am so grateful for all the ways I am free. Sometimes, I even feel guilty for enjoying such freedom. I am sure that like most people though, sometimes, the things that hold me back get more of my focus. I have been spent a large amount of time this year trying to let go of those things and live freely. I thought it was something I could just decide to do, and was as simple as changing my mind.
In my bathroom, I have a bookshelf, which holds all of my favorite books. I have books about business, marketing, painting techniques, motivational books, spiritual titles, etc. etc. Every morning, as I get ready and prepare for my day, I grab a book at random, close my eyes, flip the pages, and whatever I land on, I read. It seems to become the theme of the day. So, the other day, I landed on the page in The Prophet, by Khalil Gibran, that spoke of freedom.
He says: " Ay, in the grove of the chapel and in the eye of the citadel, I have seen the freest among you wear your freedom as a yoke and a handcuff. And my heart bled within me;For you can only be free when Even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfillment.
Verily, all things move within your being in constant half embrace, The desired and the dreaded, The repugnant and the cherished, The pursued and that which you would escape. These things move within you as lights and shadows in pairs that cling. And when the shadow fades and is no more, The light that lingers becomes the shadow to another light. And thus your freedom, when it loses it's fetters,Becomes itself the fetter of A greater freedom."
I always teach my art students to look for the shadows, because if they paint the shadows first, it automatically creates the light or highlight above it. And sometimes it is hard to interpret the positive image without first identifying the negative one. One cannot exist alone. They are one.
So, while we are thankful for our freedoms, let us also be thankful for what binds us, For without one, we cannot know or appreciate the other...
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