A Picture Show

This so-called universe appears as a juggling, a picture show. To be happy, look upon it so.

Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, 77

Jesus said, Know what is in front of your face, and what is concealed from you will be revealed to you. For there is nothing concealed that will not be made known.

Gospel of Thomas, 5

A Picture Show

One of the great things about being an artist -- a writer, a musician, a film director, a cameraman, an actor, etc -- is that you are less likely to be deceived by what you see and hear. For example, if you are a film director, then a horror film is not likely to horrify you because you're sitting there watching the film and noticing the music, the setting, the camera work, the use of music, and so on. Because you know how to create the illusion, you are less likely to be taken in by one. Because I'm a novelist, when I read a novel I notice little details that other readers don't, because I'm thinking things like,  "that's an unusual detail, I wonder why the writer put that in".

This happened to me just this morning. I had bought Vikas Swarup's most recent novel, The Accidental Apprentice, and the narrator was in crisis: how does she solve this problem? I didn't know, but suddenly I remembered a little detail from earlier in the book, and smiled, because I realised what that detail had been put there for. The detail was a 'plant', something seemingly there to add to the setting, to just help add 'colour' to the story, but actually a necessary plot detail. When we construct a story, we insert these necessary details as we go along, but we hope they're disguised so that the reader can't make the connection until we later on reveal it. As we say, art conceals art.

In the same way, a musician can hear how a pop song is constructed around a musical phrase to 'hook' the listener; or a poet can explain how repetition gets his poem fixed inside your head.

This is how we normally view our world. We notice the outward forms and are deceived into thinking that only what we can experience through our senses is real; to think like this is maya, illusion.

(source: mayamindillusion)

 If you hold your hand in front of your face, what do you see?

Hands

"You have old hands," she said. "You don't look old, but your hands do." I looked down at my hands. It was true. My hands looked like an explorer's map of Africa. I could see ridges and valleys and long winding paths into the interior. My knuckles were mountains and my veins were swollen rivers. There was the journey of a life etched into my hands.
"Don't worry," she said, "they're just old-looking hands. It's nothing to worry about."
"Old can be beautiful, can't it?" I said.
"Maybe," she said, with a teasing smile, "maybe. It all depends."

© Kenneth Rowley 2014