The Rapture of Incarnation

Artist Statement

Let's see where to begin? I guess we'll start at the bottom. The foundation of this composition is a serene skeleton. It is an image of death seeming to take a bit of pleasure in its state and roll. There is a comfort, and a sense of acceptance that I tried to express in the features and gesture of the figure. For although his life has come and gone, new life is flourishing out of him. Death and the none living world then are expressed as the foundation which upholds life. It is natural for us, being alive, to associate death with pain, terror, and sadness, but the flip side of that coin is that without death, there can be no life. Almost all living things in the food chain depend on the death of other living things to sustain their lives in one way or the other. Animals must kill to eat, whether they kill parts of plants or other animals, and many plants absorb their nutrients from the dead bodies of other living things that have decayed in the soil. Even our cells, the very fabric of our bodies kill countless numbers of invading microorganisms to keep our bodies healthy and balanced. So as I always say jokingly, a little death never hurt anybody.

Out of the dark mysterious realm of death grows two lotuses. This flower is held to be sacred because of it's uncanny ability to rise out of the murky waters of the swamp completely clean and untainted by the filth in the depths of the water. Similarly, the souls who sit in them are ultimately untainted by the lives they've lived. Not a popular view I know, but stick with me and you'll understand why I say that. Anyway, these souls hold in their hands' lotuses with decorative skulls in them. This gesture completes the cycle. Death is the foundation of life because the living fabricate their bodies from the dead, and life is the foundation of death in a sense because obviously living things transition into dead ones. This doesn't speak to the origin of the cycle or life, just the cycle it's self as I see it. So to sum this part up, the dead are made of the living and the living are made of the dead. As such, both life and death should be appreciated and respected.

The next part of the image is one symbol created from a mixture of six other sacred icons. The first is the Ankh which is the Egyptian icon for life. Traditionally it is represented by the union of the male triad and the female monad, the tools for creating life so to speak. The female is historically the portal of the divine realm. The means through which new souls enter the material realm. Consequently, I've always imagined the oval in the Ankh to be a portal or threshold of sorts. This is why I place the second symbol, the all-seeing eye of the cosmic consciousness, inside it. The third symbol is the caduceus of Hermes. This is the symbol for divine movement and travel, often between the physical and spiritual realms. Normally it has two interlocking serpents, but I only used one. It is, however, two different colors, or shades if you want to be technical about it. These colors represent yin & yang or harmonic balance. They also represent the nature of light which emanates out of the mysterious darkness and recedes back into it just like consciousness and life. The single serpent is the fourth symbol, the ouroboros. This is traditionally a symbol relating to immortality, the cyclical nature of life and death and the self-sustaining nature of the universe. Serpents are traditionally associated with the power of regeneration as they cast off death (dead skin) revealing new life. Many reptiles actually eat their own skin after shedding, which goes with the ouroboros concept, but ironically snakes don't tend to do this. Anyway, in order for the serpent to be balanced, it can only eat as fast as it can grow. Likewise, it simultaneously experiences the pain of destruction and the pleasure of creation. Thus it echoes the motif of balancing life and death. The serpent also doubles as the Kundalini wrapped around the chakras which are the fifth symbol. In this case, the all seeing eye acts as the seventh chakra, and it's filled with the colors of the other six emanating from the white light and back into the darkness. Lastly, the scales of justice make an appearance with inverted color patterns. It's a way of saying that when all of this death, destruction, and reintegration is performed harmoniously, then it is morally just and good. So thou shalt not kill…unless thou wishes to live, and in that case, at least do it moderately lol.

What I'm expressing with this image, is the notion that the cosmic consciousness, Brahma in the Hindu context, is the one who through all living things is endlessly born, slain and resurrected in new life. It plays all the roles. That of the lion with the blood stained teeth, and the gazelle which those teeth are sunk into. It plays the role in all situations no matter how horrible and revolting or beautiful and inspiring. It plays the role of the person who sacrifices his life for another, and a rapist who exploits the life of another. It is the king and the slave. The One descends down through the chakras to take root in the material world and as Joseph Campbell use to say "joyfully participates in the sorrows of life". This is the great rapture of the cosmos, which vibrates multidimensionally with the echoes of gods footsteps as he dances in the forms that populate reality. When you can come to a place where you accept and respect death, it yields a fertile life and it keeps things in perspective. No matter what worries and troubles you have, life is fleeting, so savor every moment. Even the bitter moments can seem sweet as you fade back into the mysterious darkness from which you arose. So in the grand scheme of things life is perfect bliss in the eyes if the cosmic beholder, just not the fluffy, warm and fuzzy kind.

Life is just an MMORPG only all the players are but the mask of one extreme hardcore gamer. Eternity is a long time….how better to spend it than gaming lol? All jokes aside. This perspective is extremely poetic to me, and it makes more sense to me than one where a creator makes a world to observe and judge it. If I were a god, I'd build myself the ultimate amusement park filled with thrills, spills, terror and humor. I mean, isn't that what you would want to do for eternity? I must admit to being an Alan Watts fanboy. However, I'm not the type to cling to any particular metaphysical conception of reality. I just tend the like the poetic beauty of this one. Ultimately, the true nature of life and death is anyone's guess, and there are more than enough theories to go around, but that's all they are in my eyes. Our beliefs rarely reflect reality perfectly. None the less, looking at the world from this perspective can lead to a person having the utmost respect for other living things. The world becomes a mirror, and you begin to see yourself in all things around you. So if you have self-respect, then it follows that you will come to respect what seems to be the external world. After all, murder is self-destruction in this sense…technically I guess that means sex is masturbation but I'm not going to be that guy to call the highest divine creator a wanker…actually yes, yes I am lol. As I said, it is all things, the highest, lowest and all in-between, at least as far as this perspective goes. I think this is far longer than necessary, so I'll stop my rambling here.