It’s really about YOU

Are you going to wake up in this life that ALL BEAUTY is at your disposal? In other words, all the magnificent nature that GOD created for you to appreciate—like the Grand Canyon, The Pacific Ocean, the Hawaiian Islands, the New Zealand mountain ranges, the tranquil fields of Somerset in the English country side, as well as all the art in the Louvre, the Hermitage, the Prado, and the Met, ETC.—are ALL FOR YOU!!!

Art is really about YOU! And any artist worth his or her salt will speak to YOU, or paint for YOU, or play for YOU, or sing for YOU. There is no other audience. YOU ARE IT!

I do not know who you are by name, who are reading this post, but THANK YOU for reading this post. The au currant medium for disseminating art and writing to the public has morphed into the internet of things. So here I am—and here you are. We are poised in a real communication. Potentially this can even be a real communion. What does that mean, you may ask? What is the difference between communication and communion? They both have the same etymological root.

I want to communicate to you. That is good. I choose the medium of paint. OK, that is an accepted way of communication for 25,000 years. Now, what do I want to tell you? If my communication is effective, you GET IT. YOU RECEIVE what I am trying to say. What I say, or paint, “goes into you.” And you receive it. This is why ART is really about YOU. Did you receive anything or not? If you do not receive anything, then either you are not really looking, or the artist is not doing his or her job. But there are a few works of art that have been around for hundreds of years giving to “YOU,” and people have been receiving their gifts and blessings.

These works of ART are most famous because they DO SPEAK TO YOU. Leonardo painted a few of these most famous paintings in the world. Here is one of them:

THE LAST SUPPER by Leonardo DaVinci

SONDRA and I went to see this painting in the flesh when we were in Milan, Italy. It was really a miracle that we could see it, as the “waiting list” was over 2 months to get in. But there was a last minute cancellation and we were fortunate to be able to go into the refectory (dining hall) in the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. We had to go though a “de-contamination chamber,” and only about a dozen of us were allowed to enter the space at a time. We could only stay in there about 10 minutes. But we DID GET IN. The painting spoke to US. It was all about US, receiving this gift of Beauty. NOW, this post is about YOU, and you are receiving it.

OK. WHY is this painting so famous? and why does it speak to YOU? It’s really about YOU. What do you see? A central young bearded man with long hair, kind of reaching out in a gesture of humble offering, to a group of rabble rousers—old bearded men engaged in side conversations, hardly noticing the gesture of supplication offered by the man in the middle. The singular perspective places this man’s head in the middle, and directs our eyes to the enlightened “window” of the painting’s main function—to give you pause, to make you notice, to GIVE YOU the feeling that YOU MATTER. YOU ARE NOT ONLY BEING CALLED TO THE CENTRAL VORTEX of this painting, but you are being FED at the table of PURE COMMUNION.

Can you receive it?

The difference between mere “communication” and genuine “communion” is that YOU are essentially included. The man in the middle is feeding YOU. The man in the middle is noticing YOU. The man in the middle is looking toward YOU. Leave aside the other 12 dimwits that are not paying attention. YOU are the one this ART is about. And YOU are the one who receives the communication or not.

If you do actually RECEIVE IT, then communication automatically becomes “COMMUNION.” The pure nature of the man in the middle is transferred into your nature. YOU receive the innocence and grace of his giving gesture. YOU receive it. That means YOU can give it. What you have received you can also give. This is a LAW. Go into this GIFT. Right NOW you can realize everything you have to give in this life. YOU CAN. YOU have these gifts. Giving them increases them. GIVE LOVE and you GET MORE of LOVE. Give hate and you get more hate. You pick. It is all up to YOU.

ART is all about YOU. ART is LOVE, and ART is for YOU. What else is there in life? You merit this Communion.

THANKS for reading.

—MARKUS RAY—