And feeling further inspiration.
Transformation
It’s Beginnings
Early one beautiful morning
I walked a beach
looking for appropriate driftwood
for a specific sculpting project that I had in mind.
As I looked I began to hear,
I began to feel,
that this piece was right,
take it home.
It was wet.
It was a distance from the vehicle.
It was heavy.
I struggled with the weight.
I took it home,
thinking,
thinking of what I would sculpt in the piece.
I began carving,
thinking that it would become two interconnected paddles.
I stopped.
I listened.
“I am not paddles”
somehow came a message.
Insight?
Intuition?
“Yes, It doesn’t feel right” I agreed.
“What is it? What am I to carve? “I questioned.
Faintly I heard, I felt, I glimpsed, a canoe.
OK I thought, I’ll go with that
and see what happens.
I felt good.
The carving of the canoe felt good.
It was then I noticed a fin,
without a doubt a whale fin,
a dorsal fin.
I did not question how the form would work
or look,
I just carved away the wood
that I felt was not part of the form.
As I write it brings me to tears
just thinking about the remarkable intuited gift I had received.
The whale was beautiful, and even as its sculptor I was truly amazed.
Slowly I began to see more figures to bring out of the driftwood.
I somehow knew that as long as I continued to listen, to intuit, no matter what I did, I would not make a mistake with the carving tools.
This feeling too, amazed me.
With great passion and wonder
I slowly worked with the wood.
As the individual figures within the piece became more clear, more defined,
so too, the meaning of the piece for me
became more clear.
A transformation had taken place
from a beginning
when I felt little or no understanding
of why I was doing the piece,
to the point of now being aware
of a depth, and of a wisdom
that appeared to be emanating
from within the piece?
I view this as an incredible gift,
received from,
I know not where.
It appears to have come from within myself,
Yet simultaneously from beyond myself.
The physical sculpture is only a part of the “gift”.
The spiritual journey,
the insights,
the revelations,
all coming through that single piece of wood,
and the sculpting process itself,
are all truly remarkable.
There is so much to experience throughout the piece it could take
a lifetime.
I am truly, deeply grateful.
I feel that from within the sculpture,
the canoe
will now continue its journey,
touching the shores of other people’s lives.
I know my connection to the piece
will not end here.
I look forward to my part in its journey.