"Do I contradict myself?

Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)” -Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass

Not this or that, but this and that. Duality, separation, division and classification are the mind’s way of imposing the illusion of control and order. Sages and mystics have known for ages that ultimate reality is non-dual. At the quantum level, all is one.

This concept of non-duality kept running through my head as I painted this. Can a monk smoke a cigarette? Is he any less holy if he does? Can I, as Whitman states, “ contain multitudes”- the seemingly contradictory facets of my personality? Painting helps me to reconcile the duality within myself. It helps me to see that I can be this and that; not just this or that. I gain a sense of wholeness rather than be torn apart between who I am and who I think I should be.

I am confident and fearful.
I am wise and foolish.
I am capable and helpless.
I am strong and weak.
I am vulnerable and impenetrable.
I am a saint and a sinner.
I am masculine and feminine.
I am successful and unsuccessful.
I am multitudes.
I am.

““I Contain Multitudes”

16x20 in | 41x51 cm

oil on linen board (framed)

$1000