BODHISATTVA YOUNG JOSEPH
Bodhisattva Young Joseph
5.5"x8.5" Mixed Media on 90 lb acid free paper
I was at a retreat on "Fragmentation and Wholeness" inquiring into the teachings of Krishnamurti. At one point, it seemed like the room was filling up with words creating chaos and clutter. And then I came to see that the participants were simply speaking words to help them enter into the space where transformation happens, as Indigenous people, we know it as ceremonial space, where self-forgiveness and love happens, understanding and cleansing. The following and last morning of the retreat, while walking along the shoreline, I asked to see the suffering of the other participants, I asked for the ability to inhale their suffering and to exhale peace. To be as a Bodhisattva.
On my return home, I began to work on an art trade. My task is to research into the fight of the Nez Perce for their freedom. I read Young Joseph's declaration and could see the massacre of his people. How does one inhale such suffering to exhale peace--when the fight continues to this day for Indigenous peoples of North America?
To speak the truth without resentment, without malice, without bitterness. To simply speak the truth and keep speaking the truth with the understanding that the conqueror is conquered by the energy they impose on another.
