A MEDITATION ON A PAINTING

We can visit an art gallery and appreciate hundreds of paintings by some of the world’s renowned artists. We can meditate on a painting in a gallery or at home. We can meditate on a plant. We can meditate on a photograph in a book, on screen or on our wall.

• Sit down on a seat in front of a painting (or photograph). Be upright and still with two feet firmly place on the ground.

• Apply a calm, single pointed concentration onto to the general and details of the painting.

• Make the painting your meditation.

• Discover about the core themes of the painting.

• What does the painting tell you?

• Does the painting speak to you about yourself, a social situation or nature?

• Does the painting speak of transcendence?

If possible, return to the painting or photo of it for further meditation. A painting has an infinite potential to reveal.

A meditation on painting does not require thinking about it. Allow insights to emerge out of the depth of your being.

The Sleeping Gypsy by Henri Rousseau (French artist. 1844-1910). In New York Museum of Modern Art