Category Archives: Inspiration Author

Van Gogh Tried to Show Us

I was very fortunate to visit an immersive exhibit of Vincent van Gogh’s art in 2022. Being already a big fan, and so therefore knowing something of Vincent’s history and work, mostly I was curious about how anyone could compress the infinite experience of “Van Gogh” into limited time and space. For Vincent van Gogh is not just bigger than life because he became famous, and he did not become famous simply at the whim of some influential art dealer who could persuade his clients to open their wallets.

In actual fact, Vincent despaired that anyone would see or appreciate what he was trying to say to the world, and he died poor and believing that no one ever would. What was he trying to say to you and I? For my part, I see a message that life is big, precious, beautiful, and yes, sometimes tragic, but when we see the challenges and despair of others, we develop compassion, we become a more integral part of humanity.

Part of the exhibit was a 1/2-hour movie display of his works in an immense room, as his paintings undulated and merged in and out, coming to life as they projected onto all four walls, the color and life also spilling down and outward onto the floor and the viewers. The objective was clearly to bring the viewers inside the art, so that they could perhaps more easily feel it and become part of it. I wondered as I watched the delighted viewers, no doubt some of them experiencing Vincent’s work for the first time, what they were feeling? If I could come up with one word that would encapsulate the experience, what might that be?

The word CREATIVITY came to mind. Creativity is the very essence of who we are as humans, and we may not be able to quite put it into words, but we FEEL it. Deep down we know it as a certain truth. We ARE creative, part of a mysterious creative force, and endowed with our own creative power through our minds and hearts to manifest a better (but not yet imagined) world. There is great joy in feeling the power of that, and it showed on the faces of the viewers.

Here’s the other part of that thought. Is it possible that Vincent van Gogh’s immersive exhibits are so hugely popular right now because we know at a deep level, but not yet fully admitting it to ourselves, that there is a force at work of late that is trying to destroy our creative power? Van Gogh’s work is not just simply an antidote in troubled times, but rather it is a view of what is possible, our POTENTIAL.

I would say that is true, but it is for you to decide. I see the juxtaposition of the world they want for us, the ones who make the rules and use coercion and force to “create it”. They project a cold future of transhumanism, where we will have completely lost the warmth, love, connectedness, and most importantly the full creative potential of who we are. They are trying to convince us that we are defective, when nothing could be farther from the truth.

So my final question to you is this: What kind of world do you want to see in your future, and for the future of all children who will inherit this planet? For my part, I’m on the side of Vincent van Gogh.

What Makes Happy?

6 Replies

There is a song out there that epitomizes a life philosophy, which if we all embraced it, would make the world a phenomenally better place. Somewhere along the way, society’s mandate for winning at life became about beating the other guy to “the goods”. Success started to mean a bigger house and more TVs.

But this song, when it wafted from the radio when I was a kid, spoke to me even then of how life should be. Make Someone Happy was written by Jule Styne, Adolph Green and Betty Comden, and first performed December 26, 1960. This song has never gone out of style – read the list of 100+ performers who sang it over 31 years – because although admittedly romantic in nature, it also expresses a fundamental truth about life.

When we are of service to others, when we are busy making someone else happy, we become happy too. Service to others is a core philosophy that humanity is working on understanding and adopting as a collective, in order that we may shift to a higher level of vibration.

Look around you. What something can you do today for someone you know (or a stranger) that would contribute to that person’s happiness, your own happiness in the doing of it, and the bigger picture of the growth of humanity?

Let’s bring some old-fashioned values back into style.

“Make someone happy.
Make just one someone happy
And you will be happy too…”

A quote by Norman Vincent Peale, from his book The Power of Positive Thinking:

The way to happiness:
Keep your heart free from hate,
your mind from worry.
Live simply, expect little, give much.
Scatter sunshine, forget self, think of others.
Try this for a week, and you will be surprised.

A quote from Becoming Bigger: In a world that wants to keep you small

Give yourself the gift of your heart’s desire as young as you are able. Live the life that will make you happy, not the one your peers or parents or society deems to be acceptable. It’s YOUR life. Make it a happy one!

Get Becoming Bigger: In a world that wants to keep you small as a free gift. Subscribe here if you’d like to receive occasional author updates. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Sunflower Metaphysics

6 Replies

To continue yesterday’s post about Van Gogh Lighting the Darkness: It gives me great pleasure to grow things, although it’s been a few years since I’ve maintained large gardens. There is something so satisfying about dropping tiny packet seeds of life into the ground, then nurturing them to their full-blown potential. Sunflowers were among my favorite annuals, and a few of them always graced my back garden among the perennials.

Sunflowers are magnificent in full bloom, but as an artist I am also attracted to their waning fall beauty. I have drawn and painted them many times, as did Vincent Van Gogh. The other day I was searching online for a few Van Gogh images, and there are several large museums worldwide that have given open access to some in their collections. One of them is The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. (Also affectionately known as simply “The Met”.)

They have a few nice Van Gogh pieces, including one of some withered sunflowers lying on a table (Sunflowers, 1887). I have among my own art images several of withered sunflowers at the end of the season.

So here’s a question for you: Is one of the images below a “Van Gogh à la Susan Hart”, and the other “Susan Hart à la Van Gogh”? You may snicker at the suggestion of Van Gogh imitating me, however, that amusement would be based on several faulty assumptions: a) that time is linear, and since he lived before me, how could he “know about me”, and b), that he is famous and I am not, so again, even if time could move backwards linearly, how could he “know about me”?

In actual fact, fame is rather irrelevant to this thought exercise. My message is really about our perception of time, and our conscious awareness of everything. So…

Since time is not really linear (we just measure our lives that way) – all time actually exists at once, and our consciousness can connect to all ideas and knowledge in the ether throughout all time – it is not entirely impossible that he also “knows about me”. We are both huge lovers of sunflowers, so it’s possible (for example) that we have a connection of consciousness simply in a shared passion for giant yellow flora.

It’s a metaphysical puzzle for your Sunday, one that may hopefully make you question why we live in a world that is so intent on keeping our conscious awareness, and therefore our experience of life, so small…

“Sunflowers”, Vincent Van Gogh

A clip from “Waning Beauty”, Susan Hart

Lighting the Darkness

6 Replies

Out of the profound sadness that haunted much of Vincent Van Gogh’s life emerged one of the most famous paintings of the world, “The Starry Night” (1889).

Vincent was one of those souls who lived a life that in the fullness of time proved to be famously inspiring to others. While he was alive, his most fervent wish for his art was that it would help people “to see”. During his own personal journey of darkness he created works that would help to light the world.

Not everyone will paint a world-famous picture or write a widely read novel that inspires others. However, each one of us CAN be a light in the world.

Please, endeavor today to do one small random act of kindness for another human being. Be the light, and watch it ripple outward.

Inspirational Quotes:

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

“When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.” ~ Madeleine L’Engle

“A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci

“All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.” ~ St. Francis Of Assisi

“Learn to light a candle in the darkest moments of someone’s life. Be the light that helps others see; it is what gives life its deepest significance.” ~ Roy T. Bennett

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” ~ Plato