The inclination to escape is a problem inherent to
the New Age. When first attracted to New Age activity, we may approach it
with the intent of cultivating peace and harmony. This may be an important
first step, especially if we are stressed out, but we miss the point if
we continually try to avoid the negative in favor of the positive. We must
learn how to integrate what we seek to avoid, with the courage of the artist.
We can all become artists, for art does not depend
on technique but on the sensitivity of the perceiver. You can change your
mode of perceiving so that life is not seen as something outside yourself
that you must battle and control. Life becomes a reflection of yourself,
which you may either accept or reject, in turn accepting or rejecting yourself.
When you perceive with acceptance, you allow the creative
process to begin. Just as when an artist produces a painting by stepping
aside and letting another power come through in the creation, you can use
the same approach in ordinary life. You become the artist, with life as
your canvas. You become the witness to creative transformation. You experience
the exhilaration of the creative act and find beauty in the most miserable
parts of existence.
When you perceive with acceptance, something else
is accomplished. You learn that acceptance is love and that, in accepting
yourself and your feelings as they are, you build the experience of love
for yourself in a way that could never be done through any other means.
Loving yourself becomes the healing power that transforms your inner world.
Loving yourself is the highest art.
