Letting Go of Thought Worlds
... and the ending of stress. The painted path (1st - 11th July)
As I write this there's a pleasant breeze coming through the top of an open sash window. There's the sound of some construction works going on nearby, the whir of a drill, the bash of a hammer. As well as the sound of seagulls calling out to one another across the sky as they glide in the summer breeze.
It was very hot yesterday, but it is much cooler today. Apparently the heat tires us out because the body is working hard to maintain the core inner temperature keeping it at around 37 degrees Celsius. That’s why it is hard to eat when it is hot. The body is conserving the energy it normally uses for digestion to regulate body temperature.
Humidity is the biggest danger in a heatwave, if humidity levels reach 100% then the body can no longer sweat or cool itself down, and when that happens death can occur.
Opus 61
I am going to try a different format for this newsletter and mix up the paintings I've recently finished with short snippets of writing. Instead of having a section of writing and a section of paintings, I will mix them both together.
Opus 62
I read an article that said octopuses are significantly increasing in numbers at the moment and this is something they have apparently done just before every extinction event that has happened in the past. I was reflecting that perhaps multiplying their numbers like this is a strategy they use to survive extinction events. Octopus are very sensitive highly intelligent beings and they will know when something is off with the Earth, they can sense it in the water.
Cephalopods are some of the oldest most ancient species of life on this planet. Older than dinosaurs.
Opus 63
There’s so much horror in the world at the moment. So many wars, and so much cruelty. The rising brutality of an ever-increasing fascist world. Greed and hatred are creating such unbearable suffering for so many beings. Things need to change, we can’t go on living like this.
Opus 64
I was learning about the history of South Africa and the apartheid. How the UK police at the time arrested people protesting against it. There’s even a photo of Jeremy Corbyn being arrested for protesting against the apartheid in South Africa. I thought nothing much has really changed since then. The exact same thing is happening now with people protesting the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. They are arrested for having a conscience. Why do so many governments around the world seem to stand on the wrong side of history? Why do they always react with such brutality to those who speak the truth and stand up for morality?
The protests for South Africa did end up making a difference in the end. After a lengthy time in prison,Nelson Mandela was set free and he became South Africa’s first black president. He was a really inspiring leader as well, because he showed compassion to his enemies, and reached out to them in friendship. He was a true leader, a rare being, and I feel we need leaders like that more than ever now. Leaders who bring people together.
Opus 65
Remembering South Africa, I thought about Palestine and I felt hope that they too will be set free from the brutal occupation they are currently living under. What they have gone through is heartbreaking, I can find no words to express it, it is hard to see. Sudan also, and the Congo, the Rohingya, the people of Cuba… may they all be set free. May we all be set free. All of us. Including non-human beings as well. May there be an end to the cruelty and brutality.
Opus 66
Sometimes it feels like the world is being goose-stepped into a new world order of fascism, a world many of us don’t want. That only a wealthy few want. It can feel like we are losing the fight. But it’s not over yet, we can still resist non-violently. We can choose not to play their games of division anymore. To demand a better fairer world than this. Because we can do better.
We all deserve better. All of us. Jew, gentile, black, white, brown, disabled. We can live together in peace, all of us. It can be done and we don’t have to let the cruelty of a greedy hateful few spoil that.
This is our world too and we are more in number than them, and nothing is inevitable, no matter what they say, things can still change for the better, there is still time. We can still shape the future by the actions we take now.
The world doesn’t have to be like this. We deserve better. And there is another way. A better way, a friendlier more peaceful way that does not reject morality. I feel this current brutality and ugly oligarchy is a bump in the road, an unpleasant bump at that, but I am sure fascism will be defeated again, as it always is.
Opus 68
Mindfulness and metacognition is helpful with invasive thoughts. Metacognition is the mind’s ability to step back from what it is thinking and feeling and to see it all clearly with serenity and wisdom.
I sometimes imagine the mind like a river or a stream and I am sat under the cool shade of a tree feeling content—undisturbed by what is happening in the water as it flows in front of me.
Be the feelings pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. I let them rise and fall, and train myself to not be disturbed by them, to not let them upset the balance and composure of the mind. Seeing them as feelings. They are not me. I am not the things I see, hear, smell, taste, touch, or think about. I am not thoughts and sensations.
And this can feel quite freeing. It is one of the ways I meditate at the moment.
I realise it is all just thought worlds, stories in my head, empty formations constructed by the mind and I don’t have to hold onto them, nothing bad will happen if I choose not to engage with them. And when I choose not to hold onto them, consciousness expands and becomes very still and clear, and there is no more stress. But when I forget and find myself holding on to a thought world again, I notice how conscious becomes constricted and limited and there is stress again.
Well, that’s it for this newsletter.
I think I will try to write a newsletter every time I finish four or more paintings. Perhaps every four paintings when I am painting slowly, and more than that when I am painting quickly.
I was reflecting on how it might be fun to do some live painting in the future. I don’t feel well enough to do this at the moment, but if my health improves I would like to get out on the street and paint live and maybe try to sell a few paintings at the same time (-:
May all beings be free of stress and may we all live in peace and friendship. All of us.
One heart.
Asoka Richie
I really felt your words in this post. Thank you for sharing it with the world.