“Portrait of a Street Musician” (triptych) | Anthony Satori
“To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.”
— Osho
“In the Calm of the Afternoon” | Anthony Satori
“That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.”
— F. Scott Fitzgerald
I believe that Fitzgerald got this exactly right. Literature has the ability to connect us — in an almost mystical way — with the universal elements of the human experience. This applies not only to literature, of course, but to all art — music, dance, painting, photography, film, poetry, etc. Every time an artist creates a genuine expression of their inner spirit, it has the potential to bring humanity closer together, and to draw us further toward a place of true connection and harmony.
“The Fire of Primal Energy” | Anthony Satori
“Hear, O children of immortal bliss: you are born to be united with God. Follow the path of the illumined ones and be united with the Spirit of Life. Kindle the fire of kundalini [primal energy] deep in meditation. Bring your mind and breath under control. Drink deep of divine love, and you will attain the unitive state.”
— the Upanishads (Shvetashvatara)
“Entrée des Artistes” | Anthony Satori
“Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.”
— Alan Watts
“When We Love” | Anthony Satori
“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.”
— Paulo Coelho
“Santa Claus” | Anthony Satori
Shine your light, give of your heart, and, most of all, be kind to one another… and to yourself. Because, in the quiet of the night, as we lay our heads to sleep, this is all that really matters.
Merry Christmas, everyone!
“Chemistry” | Anthony Satori
“The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.”
— C. G. Jung
“La Vie En Rose” | Anthony Satori
“The richness of the world is always available to the poet.”
— Goethe
“Abandoned Car” | Anthony Satori
“You’re going to pass something down no matter what you do, or if you do nothing. Even if you let yourself go fallow, the weeds will grow and the brambles. Something will grow.”
— John Steinbeck
Deliberately envision how you wish your world to look, and then take thoughtful, focused action toward that result. Choose to make the world a more beautiful place. Choose to make it a more peaceful, free and compassionate place. Be an active agent of light.
“Gary Snyder, Zen Poet” | Santa Barbara, California, 2015 | Anthony Satori
“In the mountains, there you feel free.”
— T. S. Eliot
Campbell Hall, UCSB, California, November, 2015
It is an odd juxtaposition to watch a poet whose primary subject matter is nature, mountains and wilderness put on a tie, stand at a podium, and talk about his work in one of the least wilderness-like places conceivable: a university lecture hall. You get the feeling of a creature out if his element, a proverbial fish-out-of-water… handling the environment with admirable aplomb, yet periodically, and involuntarily, gasping for air.
The evening began strangely enough, with Snyder delivering a seemingly unprovoked 20-minute lecture on how we (the audience) were all inept at water conservation — although arguably from a place of authority, since he does live on a self-sustaining commune.
This was followed (thankfully) by some enjoyable, yet seemingly random, readings of poetry from some of his more obscure collections (oddly excluding both the entire “Beat Generation” era and his most recent book release).
The event then proceeded to attain new heights of awkwardness upon the introduction of an inexplicably antagonistic interviewer. To paraphrase a sample exchange: Interviewer: “One farmer said that he grew the best oranges by looking at everyone around him and doing exactly the opposite of what they did. Is this essentially what you are doing on the commune?” Snyder: “No. We’re not that dumb.” Ouch.
Almost regardless of venue, however, to hear a veritable institution of literature speak, read and discuss poetry and articulate his views on writing and life is a worthy experience. Up until now, Gary Snyder has inhabited the status of an almost quasi-fictional Beat Poet/Zen Madman character to me, someone who existed only on the pages of Jack Kerouac novels and in my imagination. Now, by virtue of this experience, his glowing apparition has been immortalized in my mind, and has, simultaneously, been made real.
Satori Circle | Art & Culture 