Encaustic and steel on board
30″ x 60″
2009
“This way of looking is first of all attentive. The soul empties itself of all its own contents in order to receive into itself” —S. Weil
Potent experiences of learning often entail a profound letting go. Especially when a new way of being is revealed, or a realization is suddenly made known, then letting go continues in sequential waves. Into this place of unknowing perception must be exerted to discern this new territory, and find a halting but authentic path forward, creating space into which something new can be born. Often what ‘has been’ has to be stopped in order for this unknown to be birthed. Appelbaum describes this as the Stop and as being essential for learning or teaching anything. “Between closing and beginning lives a gap, a caesura, a discontinuity. The betweenness is a hinge that belongs to neither one nor the other”. This liminal gap is a place of fecundity; it is a sacred space into which a word can be spoken, where you can hear more than you know. It is an aesthetic place and fearful. It is the only place out of which to make art.
In this Advent and Christmas season it is appropriate to be mindful and watch for such moments of liminal silence out of which a word might be spoken that awakens and births.