When I wrote my article it was all part of defining what in the world my motivations were for creating. Identifying separation, for me, was first an internal process. The ability to observe myself was crucial in order to see from what philosophy I was operating. Was this life I was living something flowing outward from my internal truth or was it something external that I unknowingly complied with purely because I had not made the distinction between myself and the cultural soup I was floating in?
Sometimes a desire to create isn’t coming from a place of embodiment but is a symptom of alienation. Early in my journey as a woodcarver I was grappling with what it meant to make something in my own style. I had to start somewhere, and quilt piecework helped orient me in the right direction. I had to give myself some parameters because I didn’t want to fall into the trap of misappropriation. How did what I created reflect my unique experience in the world? Over the years as I formulated my own connection through quilt patterns I realized that separation was not limited to ancestors and community even though I was stitching the layers back together and I had created meaning for myself. I started to observe all the ways we believed this idea of separation and it’s powerful impact on our western philosophy. The more I observed, the more I saw how much suffering was created by believing we were separate from each other and our world.
This mechanistic worldview upholds the idea that reality is made up of machine-like laws. It reduces us to cogs within a system, alienating our interconnectedness and creating more isolation. This worldview disregards the interrelated nature of the living cosmos. When our collective philosophy is one the organizes the world through a mechanical lens, then any injustice like poverty, poor nutrition, or addiction becomes a glitch that must be fixed. But often when you reduce the problems of the world into a series of quick fixes, it can quickly spiral out of control. When a symptom is mis-identified as the problem itself we quickly find ourselves in a perpetual War Against… It’s analogous to an ongoing game of “whack-a-mole” where every time you hit the mole, instead of disappearing, it divides into two more healthy moles.
These quick fixes are pervasive. Are you sad and anxious? It’s merely a serotonin re-uptake problem! We have a pill for that. It surely must not be the symptom of a larger issue or a result of our current philosophy of separation. Are fires burning the forest and encroaching on your McMansion? Put every blaze out immediately! Never mind the cycles and healthy patterns of succession burning that have been part of regenerative forest management for time immemorial. Separation does not acknowledge living in relationship.
So, in the face of our collective philosophy of separation, one where we’ve become facsimile humans, how do we become actual humans again? How do we see the assemblage of our elements as something greater than an animated flesh suit; disconnected from ourselves, our ancestor and the living world around us? Perhaps we, also, should find our songs to become alive again.
So far, I have recognized three different core areas that are in need of repair. The first and most important is our relationship with ourselves. Everything, and I mean everything, starts there. If you are not acting from a place of alignment with who you truly are or give yourself the compassion you need to get there...suffering will perpetuate itself in your other relationships. The next is your relationship with your community. How are you treating your community? How do you relate to conflicting ideas and beliefs? Are you loving in the midst of polarization? How do you show up for people you like and don’t like? Last, and equally important, is about your relationship with your home; the living world around you. Are you mindlessly consuming? How do you honor the plants that help you on a daily basis? How do you treat the animals in your life? What is your attitude towards those things?
I imagine a skeptic sitting back reading this and saying.. “Do you mean to tell me woodcarving taught you this?” The answer is a resounding, “Yes”. Yes it did. Does that mean carvers are naturally insightful? Nope. It just means it’s how I learned more about myself and more about the nature of what it means to be here. I’m not a guru or more special than any other person. You could engage with these questions as anyone doing anything in the world. There is no “one way” to tackle existence. We’re all formed in uniquely different ways, meant to experience the world through our own perspective. Carving helped me to identify the problem, and once you see it, you can’t go back. As I’ve come to a conclusion about this, I’ve run into corresponding conclusions about this same thing. The ancients knew about this- the Vedic teachings discuss it, the Buddha, many Indigenous teachings, they elaborate on who we are and why we’re here. As it turns out, its for more than to work for 50 years to accumulate numbers on a sheet of paper and then trade numbers for conveniences and daily needs and then die. If that feels hollow to you, then you are in good company. It’s not enough for me either.
The truth is we are part of a dynamic world full of nuance and relationships that are visible and invisible (can you see your magnetic field? Or love?). I believe hand work has the capacity to change us, because it’s changed me for the better. Living a life that engages with uncertainty and risk is one of the only ways we grow, and that type of skill building is deeply embedded in handcraft. It can help build community and relationships with other people, and can also strengthen our relationship and observations of the animate world that surrounds us. Everything you learn by practicing a craft can be applied to other areas of your life. Like the drum hanging on the wall, we have not met our true potential. We are meant to craft our lives, moving in and out of risk and uncertainty to become more a part of what it means to be human. We are meant to learn from our challenges and to become more in alignment with ourselves; more loving and more able to see beauty in relationships.
Thank you for your patience with the essays. They’ve slowed down while I’m balancing a few new things in my personal life. I also was very sick, so my whole schedule has taken a hit. Rest assured the essays and projects I delve into will continue! I love writing and the responses from those of you who are engaging here in the comments. If you have any thoughts or questions or differences of opinion please share them here. It’s fun to hear your thoughts!
I deeply appreciate your reflection on "acting from a place of alignment with who you truly are." This concept has come at me from a few places in the past week and I've been thinking a lot about it. The more I read and talk to others about their paths, the more convinced I am that being able to articulate who you are, and then figuring out how to act in alignment with that, is the most important work each of us can do in our lives.
I have a somewhat tangential question (or is it??). I also imagine that skeptic asking about whether craft is REALLY capable of teaching people fundamental lessons about existence. That skeptic isn't me, exactly--I've read about and experienced too many similar lessons--but it does live in my head. It points out that there are plenty of very, very skilled craftspeople and artists who inflict tragic harm on the world around them. It's demonstrably possible to develop skill in a chosen medium and completely miss the transformation you experienced through carving. So I wonder: do you think there's some kind of prerequisite to that transformation? Does something else have to happen before a person can learn these deep lessons through whatever it is they spend their time doing?