Layers

I started this labyrinth a few months ago & set it aside. I was listening to a recording of Jerry Stocking's latest seminar as I started to work on this. I thought it would be cool to cover it with layers of tissue paper. Which I did as I was listening . . .

Anything you learn about yourself is good news.

and I don't like how this art piece is turning out. I don't like the shapes or the colours. But I keep adding more tissue paper, thinking that if I just put enough layers on there . . . still not looking the way I want it. Should I start over? No! I've come this far. So I added paint to the glue medium. Maybe that will transform it.

What a mess. And I've spent 2 hours on this! So I ended up trying to peel just the top layers off. Yeah, that worked. In the end, I got it sopping wet and scraped it clean. Really clean. Usually I erase the pencil marks & paint over the smudges. I didn't think more of it except that I felt like I'd wasted my time with it. Until I talked to John later that day. He's the one who introduced me to Jerry. So I was telling him what I had heard from Jerry's seminar so far, including the above quote. I didn't mention I was also working on this art piece. He said:

When you find out something about yourself, you're peeling away a layer of conditioning, like layers of paint; getting down to the essence of who you are which is nothing--which is everything. Layers are who we say we are. Once peeled away, they no longer have an effect on you. Layers & conditioning block your essence.

It was then that I told him about my frustrating art experience. Or so I thought. What had been a waste of time became a beautiful metaphor--and all the more because even tho I wasn't at Jerry's seminar, I was still receiving the benefits. It also sparked an insightful blog post from John, Peeling Layers. The question becomes, What layers are you hiding underneath? If you peel them away, you reveal your Divine Essence.