Painter Tamara English...
of www.tamaraenglishstudio.com
...comments that floral imagery continues to assert itself in her work.
She concludes: “Perhaps if each of us can experience the majesty of a flower just a little more, we can also experience the majesty within ourselves.”
Matt responds:
Tamara, thank you for your insight!
Exploring the majesty within ourselves is a scary process for most people, because we tend to marginalize ourselves and look on ourselves as unfinished creatures. The reality is that we are unfinished creatures as long as we’re on this earth, either perceptually or in reality. We’re changing, growing, becoming, and evolving.
Our lives are much more randomized and complicated than any car, plane, or machine. If we look at ourselves, we see ourselves as deficient and unfinished. Whatever we’ve been in the past, we can’t do a damn thing about now—so if you were a fallin’-down, pukin’ drunk, maybe you were the best drunk on the street...
What are we now? That’s the question. Are we a Nobel laureate, a grand scientist, a very proficient dog catcher who returns stray dogs to their rightful owners?
Being in the funeral business was a great learning experience, because periodically we had to go into a person’s house or hospital and talk to them about their death: how to memorialize it, how to celebrate and mourn at the same time. We would talk with people who were really down and out, and in other cases with captains of industry and political leaders.
But in reality, in their mortal life, their inconsequentiality or their power was immaterial at that point, because they were going into a different plane. We take with us only what we have earned.
There is a theory that all the things we do in life are like ripples that keep going on and on and on. The scary thing about that philosophy is that all the things we didn’t do will also be revealed to us. That’s a great challenge.
So wherever we are, if we don’t like it, then possibly we should change it. We are much more powerful and relevant than we ever think we are.
Just remember: Our actions are universal and go on forever. That’s a scary thought when you’re doing something stupid, and a noble thought when you’re doing something above your pay grade.
So be at it! And if people don’t like it, tough shit.
Matt