Quotations relevant to the Path

[obnoxion]

Samadhi siddhi isvara pranidata

Patanjalis' Yogasutra 2:45


If the breath itself is fragrant, who needs flowers?
If one has patience, calmness, peace and forebearence
What need is there for the final peace of samadhi?
If one becomes the world itself
What need for solitude
Channamallikarjuna, jasmin-tender?

Akka Mahadevi
(Translation by Vinaya Chaitanya,
"Songs for Siva - Vacanas of Akka Mahadevi", Harper Perennial, 2017).

[Mimesis]

There is a sensation of warmth attached to the thought of him - a warmth in the heart that feels similar to the sensation that courage produces in the chest.

I can very well relate to this, but for me it comes rather from his use of colour, than from the nature of his art itself. He is like a Scriabin to me. Colour that maps some kind of path to the heart.

[Mimesis]

"The actor is the playwright and the character simultaneously

- Sir Ian McKellen

[Nefastos]

and the character simultaneously

This reminds me of the following helpful occult instruction I found yesterday:

"The most important thing is just to keep moving. The biggest danger on the Astral Plane is getting bogged down in the open, surrounded by opponents, while one or more of the Riders [of the Apocalypse] slowly push monsters aside and approach you. Opening doors quickly is important to keep moving. All doors start locked, and even at maximum strength they may resist multiple times." – NetHack Wiki: Astral plane

[obnoxion]

[Considering the art of Kandinsky]

I can very well relate to this, but for me it comes rather from his use of colour, than from the nature of his art itself. He is like a Scriabin to me. Colour that maps some kind of path to the heart.

This sounds fascinating! Is this path of colours to the heart something you could guide me to, or is it too subjective experience for that?

[Mimesis]

This sounds fascinating! Is this path of colours to the heart something you could guide me to, or is it too subjective experience for that?

The only way that I can express this is how his use of colour causes every part of the actual nature of what he has painted to fall away. I do not see the depiction of anything with regard to a scene, an object or an intention, but rather a landscape of the emotional moment that Kandinsky was in at the moment of creation. The colour is what guides my way there, as it speaks of the artist, not the art.

I felt this very much when I (relatively) recently visited the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam. Of course I was familiar with him on a very simple level, but had never delved into any of his work or life to any meaningful degree.
I was moved, significantly so.
Every painting and piece of his work was like a self portrait to me. The nature or subject of what he painted completely disappeared; I instead saw his mental landscape at the time of each work. The colour, I am certain, had a place on the path to showing me this.

[obnoxion]

Thank you, frater Omoksha, for your explanations! When I look at Kandinsky's paintings, I often try to find his recurrent themes - a horse, a mountain, and a two young men standing side by side. For me they form an entrance to the world of the painting.

[obnoxion]

Are not the mountains, waves, and skies, a part
Of me and of my soul, as I of them?

– Lord Byron

[Mimesis]

When I look at Kandinsky's paintings, I often try to find his recurrent themes - a horse, a mountain, and a two young men standing side by side. For me they form an entrance to the world of the painting.

Thank you also, dear brother. I find this fascinating, how different the keys to the same art - and indeed artist - can be for different individuals. Whilst I know the nature of his work and recurrent themes to be there, I do not notice or acknowledge them or their meaning until the colour has opened them up to me.

[Mimesis]

"Become one with the work. The true alchemist is no different from the work itself."

- Dale Pendell, in 'Pharmakopoeia'