December Update: Problem solving is at the heart of creativity

December 22, 2016

Bottles ready for the full moon!

Ric said this and I’m living it. The part I like about this project is not knowing if I’ll end up with what I had envisioned. In business or rocket science it’s pretty important to actualize the initial targets; but for this project I’ve built in uncertainty as a spiritual practice. I’m letting people, materials, time, and happenstance inform this journey.

The December full moon was special in that it was the closest to earth in a long time so the third batch of bottles bathed in its light. I ran out of pennies so I’m using beads I’ve saved from necklaces that have unstrung themselves. I had thought someday I would restring them but now I can take that off my to do list!

Saratoga and Pellegrino bottle retaining wall.

The medicine wheel framework is completed and I am content with waiting for it to manifest future additions and improvements as needed to fulfill its role as a healing haven from the darkness of the world. I’ve used the beautiful blue Saratoga bottles that my sister and I are suckers for as a retaining wall and old straw bales Ric had set up for archery target practice as fill where needed. Much easier than dirt!  It’s already a comforting space for walking meditation, speaking prayers, burning incense, and just sitting quietly enjoying your breath. Under the view of the Golden Temple outcropping and with the rocks from the prior owners’ sweat lodge buried in the center, it’s feeling very powerful and safe.

The memorial wall implementation has already gone through major revisions based on materials and time available. Also the original inspiration began to change. I was wanting to keep the victims’ names alive along with their perpetrator by inscribing their names on ceramic medallions affixed to the bottom of Figi bottles of water built into a wall. But it quickly became apparent that these enactments on the world stage were actually a pointer to something much bigger. From the time my brain could first cope with the burden of our collective callousness, I have struggled with my own humanness and my role in the family of man that was capable of so much inhumane treatment of fellow humans. I find my spirit still struggling with this essential problem and trying through this project to comfort myself.

Our estrangement from ourselves and each other is increasing as populations vie for the world’s wealth and resources. Coincidentally, it is the globalization of our society and instant transfer of information that while binding us closer has also fueled many of the violent reactions to divide us.  It seems we are challenged on an individual basis to decide if we believe in us and them, or just us. It seems to me to be a crucially important fork in the road for us humans but most probably its just the fork I happen to be facing. It’s a time in which we can put an end to ourselves or move ourselves into the next ring of higher consciousness. I’m betting on the later with eyes wide open about the probabilities that we may well annihilate ourselves and our planet. But then we’ve been here before and avoided it by the skin of our chinny chin chin.

Carolyn came this month to walk me through the process of making the ceramic medallions. I whittled her immense knowledge and enthusiasm down to a nub that I, the working girl, could deal with. We came up with an initial plan that didn’t blow my mind with the complexities of ceramic work and came to terms with the realization this is probably a project with only beginnings and no endings. In the meantime, I’m toying with an audio solution for memorializing the victims’ names. I have a musician coming to stay in January whose brain I plan to pick for a technical design of an audio loop that can be played outdoors and run on solar energy.

This solution did not work!

Nice rack!

Some ideas don’t work and Carolyn uttered the magic word, RACK, to solve this one. We both woke up the next morning having found the white steel pieces of griding Ric had stashed for hanging paintings temporarily. The bottles just happen to fit perfectly!  Voila – problem solved within my limitation of using materials I already have! The wall moved from the medicine wheel to the wash and does double duty of reinforcing the sides of the wash that is wearing away.

I’m on break for the holidays in Montana writing this. I look forward to a new year in which the thought of this project keeps my mind pointing in a healing direction. I must remember how much human magnificence has come out of human barbarity in the past; like the lotus blossoming from the mud.