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The Mind of Winter: Wallace Stevens Celebrates the Beauty of Snow and the Stillness of Nature

Updated: March 28, 2021 by Gavril Nikolaev Leave a Comment

Wallace Stevens Harmonium book cover“Snow brings a special quality with it, the power to stop life as you know it dead in its tracks.” – wrote Nancy Hatch Woodward – “There is nothing you can do but give in to the moment at hand —what I call the Zen of snow.”

A century earlier, Joseph Wood Krutch, while contemplating the man’s relationship with nature, observed, “The snow itself is lonely or, if you prefer, self-sufficient. There is no other time when the whole world seems composed of one thing and one thing only.”

How simple this phenomenon is and how powerful its effect can be on the receptive mind shows our intricate connection to the source of life and its ability to evoke the subtlest feelings of sheer joy and unconditioned happiness.

Alfred Sisley, Snow at Louveciennes 1878
Alfred Sisley, Snow at Louveciennes 1878

Reading these reflections also reminded me of time when mesmerized by the intimate dance of white particles outside my window, I lost myself in the moment of constant perception and contemplation of nature’s beauty. In that moment, all of the troubles of daily life faded away into the distance and left nothing but presence and a feeling of oneness with nature.

The same sentiment of pure awareness is echoed by one of the dearest American poets Wallace Stevens (1879 – 1955) in an enthralling poem The Snow Man which appears in the collection Harmonium. Read here by a hypnotic voice of Tom O’Bedlam of SpokenVerse:

THE SNOW MAN
by Wallace Stevens

One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

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Since I started this website 3 years ago my only aim was and still remains helping all of my readers to discover the path to inner calm through spiritual growth and cultivation of wisdom. I spend all of my time and resources working on this project and your support plays a vital role in helping me to improve and make this website an invaluable resource for you. If my little virtual home uplifted your spirit or made your day a little bit better, please consider donating to support its further growth.

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Fernando Pessoa on Finding Moments of Serene Presence in the Midst of Uncertainty and Disquiet

Updated: March 26, 2021 by Gavril Nikolaev Leave a Comment

Fernando Pessoa The Book of Disquiet Cover“Men seek retreats for themselves, houses in the country, sea-shores, and mountains.” — wrote Marcus Aurelius in his Meditations — “But this is altogether a mark of the most common sort of men, for it is in thy power whenever thou shalt choose to retire into thyself.”

Two millennia later, Fernando Pessoa (1888 – 1935) would echo the same sentiment in The Book of Disquiet when he wrote, “A man of true wisdom, with nothing but his senses and a soul that’s never sad, can enjoy the entire spectacle of the world from a chair, without knowing how to read and without talking to anyone.”

For Fernando Pessoa, the inner world was the pinnacle of felt experience as he compared himself to a scrupulous scholar of feeling hunched over the book of sensations, taking refuge there and exploring them like unknown countries.

Fernando Pessoa Photo
Fernando Pessoa

And even though he struggled, like all of us, with questions about religion, the meaning of life, and nature of existence, from time to time, he had glimpses of true clarity, when all his doubts cleared away, and these instances shone the light of hope in the fog of disquiet and uncertainty.

Immersed in soulful reflections, he could see that everything has an inner essence that is not different from our own. This is how he described it in one of his notes:

I love the stillness of early summer evenings downtown, and especially the stillness made more still by contrast, on the streets that seethe with activity by day. Rua do Arsenal, Rua da Alfandega, (…) the entire stretch along the quiet docks all of this comforts me with sadness when on these evenings I enter the solitude of their ensemble.
(…)
There is no difference between me and these streets, save they being streets and I a soul, which perhaps is irrelevant when we consider the essence of things. There is an equal, abstract destiny for men and for things; both have an equally indifferent designation in the algebra of the world’s mystery.

The Beautiful Relations by Rene Magritte
The Beautiful Relations by Rene Magritte

Following these sonorous sentiments, he inevitably uncovers the false nature of our mind-made selves, our egos, that always seek something from the outside to fill the void of discontent and insecurity:

All that I’ve done, thought or been is a series of submissions, either to a false self that I assumed belonged to me because I expressed myself through it to the outside, or to a weight of circumstances that I supposed was the air I breathed. In this moment of seeing, I suddenly find myself isolated, an exile where I’d always thought I was a citizen. At the heart of my thoughts I wasn’t I.

Inspired by this insight, he observes how moments of serene presence unburdened by egoic thoughts lead to inner renunciation and a feeling of true liberation:

To know nothing about yourself is to live. To know yourself badly is to think. To know yourself in a flash, as I did in this moment, is to have a fleeting notion of the intimate monad, the soul’s magic word. But that sudden light scorches everything, consumes everything. It strips us naked of even ourselves.
(…)
To imagine, without being, is the throne. To desire, without wanting, is the crown. We have what we renounce, for we conserve it eternally intact in our dreams, by the light of the sun that isn’t, or of the moon that cannot be.

The Book of Disquiet in the phenomenal translation by Richard Zenith reads like meditation in prose or “lamentation on love, dreams, art, existence, possession, expression, fulfillment, discouragement, interiority, exteriority, politics, nature, life itself.” It’s a treasure chest of uncut gems of thoughts and dreams which can be arranged and rearranged in infinite combinations. Every time you’ll pick up the book from the shelf and read it, it will leave you with food for thought and deep reflection.

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Since I started this website 3 years ago my only aim was and still remains helping all of my readers to discover the path to inner calm through spiritual growth and cultivation of wisdom. I spend all of my time and resources working on this project and your support plays a vital role in helping me to improve and make this website an invaluable resource for you. If my little virtual home uplifted your spirit or made your day a little bit better, please consider donating to support its further growth.

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Why We Can’t Avoid the Arrow of Painful Feeling

Updated: February 15, 2021 by Gavril Nikolaev Leave a Comment

“I often feel that I must have this fear of life — it is essential to me — and that I would not exist without it. In periods without fear and illness, I have felt like a ship sailing before a strong wind without a rudder.” — Edvard Munch.

When we think about the depiction of piercing and painful feeling, the first thing that comes to mind is “The Scream” by Edward Munch. And it’s not surprising.

To manifest these emotions on a canvas, one has to have experienced them firsthand. And when it comes to hardships and loss, Edvard Munch’s biography is full of them.

At the age of five, he lost his mother to tuberculosis, which became one of the most painful memories of his childhood. But it didn’t stop there. A few years later, when he turned thirteen, his beloved elder sister Sophie suffered the same fate. This tragedy lacerated him for life.

And there was no one to console him in the time of need, as his father was suffering from psychotic depression after his wife’s death.

Not surprisingly, due to such traumatic past, the artist suffered from alcoholism and numerous nervous breakdowns. He lived alone for the rest of his life, and paintings were his only children.

His traumatic experiences influenced his inclination towards depicting the inner world with its emotional turmoils, contradiction, and suffering.

It is said that Munch’s work as a whole can be regarded as self-portraiture or visual autobiography.

But then why his most famous painting, The Scream, is so captivating and relatable to many of us?

Why can we recognize ourselves in it and understand what the central figure is experiencing at that moment?

What is the mechanism behind these painful emotions, and why are they so all-consuming and destructive?

To answer these questions, we have to start at the beginning — the event that served as the painting’s initial inspiration. This is how Munch described it:

I walked along the path with two friends, and the sun was setting. The sky became suddenly blood. I felt an approaching melancholy, stopped, and leaned on the railing, tired to death. Over the blue-black fjord and the city lay clouds of dripping smoking blood. My friends walked on, but I stood trembling with an open wound in my breast. I felt a great screaming through nature.

It’s not widely known that Edvard Munch did not paint the masterpiece from the first try.

The version we know today went through a process of experimentation and iteration.

The first step was a few simple sketches, one of which depicts him standing on a bridge and the bloody red sky above where the “screaming” occurs.

Black-and-white drawing of a man on the bridge.
Edvard Munch, Despair, 1892, drawing, charcoal, oil.

After that comes the first version of the painting, now known as Despair but which also has another name “The First Screaming.” Here the red color turns into long lines, which, however, do not connect to the central figure.

A painting of a man on the bridge with red sky above him.
Edvard Munch, Despair, 1892, oil on canvas.

And finally, the screaming sky is shown flowing into the landscape and the man himself. His inner structure is bent, taking on the curvature of the red wave-lines.

A painting of a frightened man on the bridge.
Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893.

The figure that previously looked at “screaming” now becomes a part of the event. The pain penetrates and becomes one with the man.

At this stage, Munch finally discovers the artistic means to express what he felt and heard that day.

The central figure no longer represents Munch. It’s the timeless “face of mankind” without gender, age, origin, social identity, or cultural affiliation. A face seized with primeval fear and horror. The personal experience turns into a universal experience.

This is why this painting is so memorable and relatable to anyone who ever sees it. Because it depicts one of the fundamental causes of suffering – our complete identification with pain. Our attachment to pain.

The Buddha diagnosed this deadly affliction 2500 years ago in the Sallattha sutta (The Arrow) about the arrow of pain and the arrow of suffering. Here’s how he explained it to his disciples:

Suppose they were to shoot a man with an arrow, and then with a second arrow, so that the man would feel pain caused by two arrows. So too, when the uninstructed person experiences a painful feeling, he feels two feelings—a bodily one and a mental one.

If he feels a painful feeling, he feels it attached. If he feels a pleasant feeling, he feels it attached. If he feels a neutral feeling, he feels it attached. This is called an uninstructed person who is attached to suffering, I say.

Afterward, he contrasts it with the way an enlightened arahant avoids this pitfall and keeps painful feelings at bay:

When the instructed noble disciple experiences a painful feeling, he does not sorrow, grieve, or lament; he does not weep beating his breast and become distraught. He feels one feeling—a bodily one, not a mental one.

If he feels a painful feeling, he feels it detached. If he feels a pleasant feeling, he feels it detached. If he feels a neutral feeling, he feels it detached. This is called a noble disciple who is detached from suffering, I say.

The passages above also point to the Second Noble Truth, which shows us that craving and attachment is the primary cause of any suffering. And the way to liberation from the suffering lies through the Noble Eightfold Path.

References:

  1. The Private Journal of Edvard Munch translated by J. Gill Holland
  2. Edvard Munch – The Scream – End of an Error by Gerd Presler
  3. Edvard Munch: Behind the Scream by Sue Prideaux

Donate & Support

Since I started this website 3 years ago my only aim was and still remains helping all of my readers to discover the path to inner calm through spiritual growth and cultivation of wisdom. I spend all of my time and resources working on this project and your support plays a vital role in helping me to improve and make this website an invaluable resource for you. If my little virtual home uplifted your spirit or made your day a little bit better, please consider donating to support its further growth.

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Mindful Spot has a free weekly newsletter where I share my findings across Buddhism, philosophy, literature, art, and other sources that allow us to expand our inner world and feel greater connection to each other. Subscribe below and also get access to the library of free meditation resources:
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Filed Under: Buddhism

A Profound Zen Story: the Art of Subjugating Negative Thoughts that Are Haunting Your Mind

Updated: March 29, 2021 by Gavril Nikolaev 2 Comments

101 Zen Koans Book CoverStrange, isn’t it? How sometimes worry and anxiety overtake our minds. We can’t help but think about all the bad things that might happen in the future. Worst-case scenarios keep replaying themselves in our heads over and over again. And it seems like there is no escape from this unending cycle.

When that happens, we lose our ability to think and act clearly. We might even lose sleep and become anxious. So what should we do in this situation? Is there a simple way to counteract this tendency and calm our worried minds?

With the aim to find the answer, I turn to a profound Zen story from a marvelous collection called 101 Zen Koans: Short Stories for Daily Zen (paperback | audiobook). Read here by a mellifluous voice of Freda Cooper from the audio version of the book:

THE SUBJUGATION OF A GHOST
A young wife fell sick and was about to die. “I love you so much,” she told her husband, “I do not want to leave you. Do not go from me to any other woman. If you do, I will return as a ghost and cause you endless trouble.”

Soon the wife passed away. The husband respected her last wish for the first three months, but then he met another woman and fell in love with her. They became engaged to be married.

Immediately after the engagement a ghost appeared every night to the man, blaming him for not keeping his promise. The ghost was clever too. She told him exactly what had transpired between himself and his new sweetheart. Whenever he gave his fiancée a present, the ghost would describe it in detail. She would even repeat conversations, and it so annoyed the man that he could not sleep. Someone advised him to take his problem to a Zen master who lived close to the village. At length, in despair, the poor man went to him for help.

“Your former wife became a ghost and knows everything you do, ” commented the master. “Whatever you do or say, whatever you give your beloved, she knows. She must be a very wise ghost. Really you should admire such a ghost. The next time she appears, bargain with her. Tell her that she knows so much you can hide nothing from her, and that if she will answer you one question, you promise to break your engagement and remain single.”

“What is the question I must ask her?” inquired the man.

The master replied: “Take a large handful of soy beans and ask her exactly how many beans you hold in your hand. If she cannot tell you, you will know that she is only a figment of your imagination and will trouble you no longer.”

The next night, when the ghost appeared the man flattered her and told her that she knew everything.

“Indeed,” replied the ghost, “and I know you went to see that Zen master today.”

“And since you know so much,” demanded the man, “tell me how many beans I hold in this hand!”

There was no longer any ghost to answer the question.

I love this zen story. It’s an important reminder that sometimes our mind is the same way. But instead of a ghost, it’s haunted by negative thoughts. Thoughts that pretend to know everything. Thoughts that tell us how things will be. So how do you strip them of their power? Take a handful of soybeans. Or in other words, perform a present moment test. Ask yourself, “What is the problem right now?” Once you do that, you’ll immediately realize that the “ghost” is not real. The worry and anxiety are just a figment of your imagination.

Donate & Support

Since I started this website 3 years ago my only aim was and still remains helping all of my readers to discover the path to inner calm through spiritual growth and cultivation of wisdom. I spend all of my time and resources working on this project and your support plays a vital role in helping me to improve and make this website an invaluable resource for you. If my little virtual home uplifted your spirit or made your day a little bit better, please consider donating to support its further growth.

Your Support Donation

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Donation Total: $7.00

Free Resources

Mindful Spot has a free weekly newsletter where I share my findings across Buddhism, philosophy, literature, art, and other sources that allow us to expand our inner world and feel greater connection to each other. Subscribe below and also get access to the library of free meditation resources:
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Filed Under: Buddhism

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