Calligraphy

[clearclouds]

 

 

 

 

 

 

It seems to me that chinese calligraphy both sharpens and blunts the spirit. It sharpens it in that it is one of the most efficient ways to refine focus, intention and alertness. Then on the other hand it seems to be an amazing way to dull the overactive chatter in the mind.

 

It is this unnecessary chatter that impersonates our minds higher, stable, and accurate authorities only to lead us astray progressing from concern to anxiousness and finally settling on fear. And when we allow ourselves this conclusion our only promise is to perform desperate calculations about what to do next that will hopefully allow us to recover the lost ground.

 

Unfortunately calculating admidst a cyclone of thoughts is wrought with the threat of error. But this is how we all so often act. So by allowing our mind outside the brains' cloister we can refine those parts of it that assist our intuition. For an accurate intuition is nothing more than a mind quiet and calm enough to see the signs and conclude the obvious.

 

So the question is how does the mind leave the brain, how do we expand our awareness to the point where there is a sense that our intelligence is developing of its' own accord without concious study? The answer lies in the ability to first lead it with intention. When the Calligrapher is working, his awarness lies outside resting quietly but actively upon his brush tip, paper, and the character that he is writing.

 

It is the unity of these three intentions that he is aspiring towards with every stroke. He is solving something. Tuning them together just like three ideas held in the mind, complimentary in purpose but different in function that we try to shape to a common purpose. But unlike when working within the mind, their is no risk at confusining and contaminating neighbouring ideas and thoughts. At worst the paper, brush and character run only into eachother leaving a mess upon the table. He can learn the universal challenge of how to refine and combine, without the risk of consequence.

 

The Calligraphers study is the training ground for his life. High and Low, coarse and refined, light and dark, scholarship and naievity, all these things are his tools, and only mastery over their combination can produce a result. The key difference from other practices and painting styles is that there is only one chance to get each stroke correct. like a musician playing he cannot recorrect without cutting the continuity and thus effect.

 

It is a incredibly difficult artistic skill, maybe never to be truly mastered, but it is in this journey of refinement that he is able to quieten the mind and connect to his spirit's higher function of intuitive reason.

 

 

-CC

Edited November 10, 2006 by clearclouds