This morning, drawing jasmine leaves, I noticed my attention following all the beautiful little imperfections of their outlines.
Two of the leaves don’t seem to join properly to the stem.
The outline of one leaf is disturbed by a crease.
My drawing of it, too, is full of imperfections.
Earlier this morning, I drew my enso for today.
I didn’t close the circle because I have so much to learn. I’m just beginning daily brush meditation practice (today is day three).
I ground the ink myself, I think it was too thin.
I lost concentration for a moment, half way round.
Achieving Perfection
At what point during a flower’s life does it achieve perfection?
Is it when it’s still a seed, filled with potential?
Or is it when the green shoot first breaks the surface of the soil and reaches the light of day?
Is it when the first bud appears?
Is it when the flower opens fully, or is it when the flower dies and goes back to the soil, to become food for other plants, giving itself to create new life?
It’s perfect at being what it is at each of these stages. The lesson for us is to be perfect at being at the stage we’re at now; to stop obsessing about where we want to be.
If you’re a seed, try to be a perfect seed. If you’re just pushing up through the soil, try to be perfect at that.
Don’t worry so much about how you’ll look when you’re a flower.
Concentrate on growing. Be as perfect as you can at that.
The flowers will happen by themselves.
Posted: July 6th 2014
P.S. The story of the flower comes from an excellent book about practising mindfully called the Practising Mind.
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Enso – I had to look it up. What a beautiful concept. Thank you for your posts.
Thanks for this email today. I just sent a first draft of a poem, warts and all, to the leader of our summer poetry workshop. It will be workshopped by the group on this coming Tuesday evening. I don’t know what that means but I trust it will be an enlightening event. No one will be looking for perfection:-)
I just came across the practice recently myself, Janet. I highly recommend it as a way to start the day with peace, tranquillity and focus.
Unfortunately, for me, it tends not to last much beyond the boys getting up!
Thanks for the comment Holly. Congratulations on being so brave!
YES! This sums up my difficulties.
There is only “the now”. Nothing else exists but that…the now. Paul, thank you. I am trying to teach myself drawing with your help and I am so excited that I have found your site because I see that my lessons with you apply to my life. WOW.
To use a cliche, this came at the perfect time for me. It speaks wisely to the frustrations I am experiencing with my drawing and, in truth, many other things.
Thank you.
Thank you so much, Paul! This made my day. It is like a breath of fresh air during a time in my life when nothing has been going as I had hoped and I have temporarily lost a lot of energy for the changes in my life that I was so excited about only a few months ago. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Denise. For me, that’s become the whole reason for being involved in making art regularly: because the lessons it can teach us about focusing attention, practising regularly, and concentrating on the present moment apply directly to life.
I’m just restating something that has been common knowledge for some people for generations, though. I’d strongly recommend you read “Brush Meditation, a Japanese Way to Mind and Body harmony”. So much of it is relevant to the practice we do, whether we’re practising Japanese calligraphy or not.
Thanks Gayle. I think those frustrations are really common to a lot of us, you’re certainly not alone. I think we often translate the goal obsession we’ve learned in other parts of our lives to our art – and it’s not healthy!
Getting the feedback loop going back the other way – positive lessons from art practice informing life – is something I find myself concentrating on more and more. A lot of psychic release has come with that for me, although realising the problem and how to fix it is just the start of a very long road of course.
I hope we bump into each other frequently on it 🙂
Thanks for sharing that Hedda, I’m really glad to hear it helped you a little.
It is really hard to let go of those hopes and accept where we are right now I think. I find the best approach is to try and do it in little steps, one thing at a time.
I hope you get your energy back soon.
Brilliant, brilliant post again, Paul. Know what you mean about the tranquility of a silent morning. A morning ritual’s distinctively necessary for regaining or re-establishing moments of peace of mind during the day.
Excellent.
Shaun
Hi Shaun, great to hear from you!
Those quiet moments in the morning are the only ones I get – I know you know what I mean, that brief space of time before the kids get up and chaos ensues 🙂
I think ritual is the right word, too. Its exactly that.
A seed is full of potential, but it is just a seed- To me, a flower -just as with many living things- achieves perfection just before starting the process of aging.
Thanks for adding your thoughts Bruno – how do you feel that relates to human beings, and particularly to the things we try to achieve?
Do you think there’s a point at which we ever reach perfection? Perhaps more importantly, do you think we should be striving to achieve a point of perfection?