Will Meets Grace

To paint about the planets, I explored not only the outer data from science, I also needed insight (in-sight) from the ancient myths. I had to reframe my research and read the stories of gods and goddesses of ancient myth not as personalities but as forces. I saw the planets as forces, with their quantities and qualities and direction.

We are most familiar with the Earth’s force: gravity. We know that it is what tethers us to our mother planet, what keeps our feet on the ground. But what makes us rise up? What forces make us stand up on our small feet, on skinny poles of legs and hold our spine erect? As we know, this is part of what makes the human being special, the ability to stand and walk. I learnt that this is largely because of forces we cannot see. Forces that have evolved us, that pull us up to standing. The same intermingling of forces that give us life. As we know, when our physical bodies die (and only our physical bodies die), our mineral parts crumple into a heap on the ground to return to its mineral mother, Earth.

Because our daughter Mecca was born with a special brain configuration that made it a challenge for her left brain and right brain to signal her legs to walk, we had to hire a physiotherapist to help us. And because Mecca draws to herself the most amazing people, we got Mary. Mecca’s physiotherapist, Mary, told us right from the start, “ I cannot teach your child how to walk. No one can. All we can do is give her something beautiful to walk to.” Ah we loved Mary right away.

This taught me about will. Mars is all about will and how the force of our own will gives us strength. It is the warmth that flows in our blood. An orchestration of thinking, feeling and willing allows us to direct this warmth force towards that which we aspire to. You only have to watch athletes who set their will towards a goal to see how the human being can stretch his capacity to unbelievable levels.

We are asleep to the will of our limbs. We know not how we stand our walk or run or jump or dance. Just like we are unaware of the forces that keep the systems of our human body working. We direct our will towards what we understand as good and true and beautiful and a whole system of forces comes to play so we can get there. Our Will meets Grace.

When you see my Mars painting, may it remind you of all the forces that come together so you can find the strength to get up in the morning to face the day. May your will be driven by strong, powerful love.

There is still 5 days to experience my exhibit, Celestial Data for Daydreaming at Silverlens Galleries . I invite you to bask in the light of my 7 celestial paintings. Click the button below to book an appointment with the gallery. Exhibit goes until August 28.

Mars: CourageXLoveXHope 2021 Acrylic on Canvas 84”X60”