No. 24 - This Canvas Called Life

As we come and go in our daily toil, dealing with the ups and downs, the victories and the defeats of life, we sometimes forget what life really is. Is it the frustration that comes from learning that “someone special” really is not all that special at all, but only postulating? Is it the mundane activities that take up so much of our lives while engaging in the thing we call “work”? Is it the wonderful joy we experience when looking upon the fascinating miracle of a newborn baby? Or is life something more?

All the great artists of history were great because of their ability to capture some aspect of life that we could all relate to. Whether it be a forlorn women daring to allow herself to be exposed, or the deep imaginings of a man in despair who is willing to share his perspective, there seems to always be some commonality in all that is presented that captivates our minds. But what is that something?

Each day I walk my Lake and observe my surroundings. Each day I pass a couple or group of people who purposefully strut towards their goal. Here and there I pick up tidbits of conversation around this issue or that one. I see the soft lights that circle the Lake as they reflect off the calming waters, the water foul oblivious of the challenges we humans face.

This last year has allowed me the opportunity to meet and speak with many people from many different places in life, yet all sharing in some common thread of understanding. Here, we have a young man facing homelessness yet again – only this time he now has a young woman in tow. There, we have a man serving a life sentence at San Quentin for a crime he perpetrated many years earlier. And there, we have a woman tormented by memories of past abuse at the hand of someone who should have cared for and nurtured her.

And in other areas we have the young couple that celebrates their overcoming a habit that had plagued them for many years… but not any longer. And we have the young man who has finally started pulling his life together after years of sacrifice and struggle, now ready to realize a fuller existence. Or the grandmother who has finally received a call from her long-lost child, happy to know he is all right.

Are they connected? Are they separate? Is there some pervasive link or mechanical underpinning that regulates all these various lives? If so, what would be the reason for such a thing?

As I see things, life as we know it is a collection of individual trials, tribulations, and triumphs that represent the manifestation of who we collectively are. It is your story and mine, told again and again in many different ways as we all journey towards our destinies. Life is nothing more than a great series of paths that coalesce through time and history to help us learn how similar we are.

Picture if you will a blank canvas. Imagine your story painted there. Then imagine mine. Then imagine a collage of myriad other stories added to the canvas, each having a beginning and middle. Since we are all alive in this moment of time, there is no ending to paint. If you can picture this you will see that while the things that happened to me are not the same things that happened to you, the emotional components of those events will always be the same. Whether that be sadness, joy, hurt, betrayal, love, desire, passion or glee, these are the commonalities that are shared by all.

This Canvas Called Life is just that… it is each of our existences shared by each one of us through eyes daring enough to see. It is the inevitable truth that no matter where you are in the continuum of life, no matter how far along the path, you and I are part of a whole.

Where we end up becomes less important than where we are. I say this because I believe we will all get to wherever we determine we want to go. I believe that is a given for everyone who chooses to keep moving forward. If we could look at that canvas, we would see that at any moment in time others who are in the journey called life share our highs or our lows. We are never alone when we feel we are… we simply have to open ourselves to knowing we are not.

I believe the beauty of this truth is we can take comfort in times of need or sadness that there is no such thing as being alone. And we can look forward to sharing the celebrations of our lives with those who want to partake in them. I see This Canvas Called Life as a work of art that all can appreciate and that all are part of.

This Canvas Called Life is a universal glamour that represents the ebb and flow of consciousness, emotional commonality, and will. It is the manifestation of our being and spirit. It is the tangible proof that we are part of something much bigger than the individual… it is our community and Spiritual wholeness.