ALL THE SAME BUT DIFFERENT

   I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun I had painting with the folks at Pinot's Palette during the Circle Celebration social last Tuesday night. It was a hoot! Zet was planning to attend, but she had another obligation, so I went in her place. I arrived feeling pretty skeptical, because I've never enjoyed painting very much; the few times I'd tried it, the brush always felt awkward in my hand. 

FEELING GREAT                                                                                                                                 

     But within minutes of walking into the studio, I got caught up in the joyous, exciting vibes of this group of Circle friends, all creating our own versions of the same image under the direction of the staff artist. There was a lot of banter and nervous giggling to accompany our creativity, but also lots of snacking and singing along to the up-tempo soundtrack of 80's pop hits booming in the background.

     Like I said, I wasn't expecting much in the way of results, so I had fun just goofing around, trying to follow the teacher's instructions while talking, singing and enjoying the company. But, much to my surprise, when we finished the process two brief hours later, I actually liked my piece. And when we assembled to compare and admire each other's handiwork, I was truly blown away by the beauty and diversity of the images we'd created, as demonstrated in the photo above.

LOOKING GOOD

     The thing is, we were all following exactly the same instructions from the teacher, and all given an identical 8" x 10" blank canvas and a palette pre-loaded with the same eight colors of acrylic paint. And while we all all ended up with the same image, each was also very different from the others, too: richly-detailed and highly-individualized expressions of creativity.

     What a splendid demonstration of divine paradox, containing both our unity and diversity, our all-One-ness and aloneness. It's one thing to know it intellectually; it's quite another to see such a vivid, physical and tangible illustration. Definitely one of the more fun-filled spiritual lessons I've received lately! Join us on Sunday morning and you'll have a chance to see them displayed on the altar.

With joy,

     Rudi Harst

THANK YOU for holding the Circle in your heart by visualizing a generous flow of financial abundance. Thank you for supporting us as we continue our work of fostering a creative, inclusive approach to spirituality. We are deeply grateful.