Before I begin to get into the meaning and message behind this artwork, I will describe it to you, the process and the untraditional materials that I used to create it. The artwork is a drawing using charcoal pencil. The background was created with natural pigment of raspberry and ochre on watercolour paper. The angelic girl who is sprouting new wings that look like foliage is surrounded by a halo of sunflowers which represent her purity and sunny spirit. The two spheres that lie on top of her palms has a spiritual meaning. The spheres offer you contrast. One sphere holds truth and the other lies. One sphere holds joy and the other holds pain. She is offering the spheres to you, so that you may look deep within them, within each sphere you may see visions of your own life, one that is filled with joy and the other with despair. The spheres have a message for you. I have tried my best to describe exactly what it is that the spheres would like you to know in this blog post. But the video below, I share a description of the sub-text to this artwork:
The Message of the Spheres
Every negative emotion you feel is a lie. Every negative emotion you feel because of the lies you tell yourself is a lie. The way you know a lie is by how you feel in the moment you lie and the feeling is usually negative. That's how you know you are lying to yourself and others. Having joy and telling lies in your life is an absolute oxymoron. Think about it, have you ever felt joy when you'd just said a lie? No never. One would never ever would feel joy in lying, even if it gets you want in the short term. There is absolutely no joy that comes out of lying in the long run.
Tell me, do you know a lie or do you know a lier? or are you a truth seeker? If you are unafraid to speak the truth always, you are...
ONE a very self-aware person.
TWO you live by that truth at all times.
THREE you are not afraid of authority figures and most especially your own critical self.
But on the other hand, say you regularly lie to yourself and others...
ONE you may feel anxious and feel no sense of peace and may even carry fearful worldviews as a result.
TWO you may tend to fall sick or injure regularly
THREE possess an apathetic or cynical view of the world and others.
It is true, the majority of us lie and lie we do regularly! It takes a very self-aware and meditative person to rise above being a liar.
How to heal from illness, anxiety, negative emotions and stress?
Why do liars feel sick, get injured, feel anxious, be jealous, have a fearful or apathetic view of the world? The truth is because liars do not heal, they remain broken and in a state of dis-ease within their life until the lies just become one big juggling act. Finally, the lies become too many to handle and it comes tumbling down; life literally falls to pieces. But there is a solution to this problem and it is not just working on your mindfulness, relaxation, breathing, meditation, diet which are some of the usual prescription to negative emotions.
The liars that most concerning are those that are mostly harmful to oneself. Pathological liars hurt others but this type of liar hurt only themselves. These liars berate themselves, put-down themselves, self-hate, self-sabotage or self-harm. When you self hate this way, you are cheating yourself out of life.
How to find more joy?
When you feel that pang of jealousy or envy at that thin girl on Instagram, the rich & successful, the famous man or women on Facebook or the boy who could pull off tricks that you cannot do, you are lying to yourself. With this ultra-connected internet age, people may look at other people's lives, see an insta-perfect moment, and in that instance, feel like your own life sux in comparison. In that moment of comparison, you have just successfully lied to yourself! At that moment you had just cut yourself down with a lie. In that moment, you feel that you are not good enough or that your own life is inferior. Another lie that you tell to yourself is by laughing at another person because it actually covers up for your own insecurity.
Don't compare, you are good enough! That negative emotion doesn't serve you, and it definitely will not move you out of your own situation and get you to the place you want to be in.
After you drop the envy and jealousy, drop the anger. When you get angry, you are lying to yourself because it's all small stuff. The truth is you are lucky just to be alive.
For instance, when you feel grief, you may also feel some anger, resentment or despair due to the loss. In this instance, you are lying to yourself because the truth is you are afraid of your own mortality. You grieve for what you lost is because you believe a lie that you seize to exist after death. You live a life of joy when you acknowledge the truth that birth is a miracle and so is death.
These are just a few examples of how a lie can lead you down a dark path,. Now it is up to you to recognise the lies that hold you in negative emotions and seek the truth that will set you free.
The print of the girl "Are you True or False" is available at the Hoo Gallery, you may purchase it here.
