The Daily Death, Meditation #21

The Daily Death, Meditation #21

I died a little yesterday night. It has become habitual, and, in the scant maturity I have acquired at 43, it is woven tightly into my rituals of being alive, of keeping my heart open, of caring, of loving... to die a little every day in order to live while I am alive. And this last death allowed me to wonder if this is what critics label as blue or gray periods in artists' lives. This latest death heaped despair in my heart as I finally mustered courage to finish an article I had began three months ago, called Blood Ivory ( Nat Geo Mag, Oct 2012)about my favorite animals, elephants.

I wanted to press control, alt, delete and reboot the relationship our civilization has developed with the mystery of the divine and our expressions of faith. How can destroying the gift of the life of the gentlest of giants, my beloved elephants, all for the ivory of its tusks, to carve inanimate objects, honor God? It is a crime perpetrated by Catholics and Buddhists, Hindus and atheists, but I fail to understand the utter lack of common sense that justifies this crime; hiding behind rationalizations of power, greed, need, or even worse, faith. My desire to voice, protest, rebel, educate, inform, pulled me out of the deep hole of my rage. I commit my spoken and written words, my heart, my art, my passion, to add drops of care and clarity to the trickle that might coalesce and create a river of reason to illuminate our behavior. Richard Feynman's words held my hand as I found my way back to face another day: "In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown open- ajar only. We are only at the beginning of the development of the human race."

And as this picture seems to whisper in my heart, there is always hope, as long as baby elephants and baby creatures of all sort keep making their entrance into our world, that we might just get it right the next time around...

With love, Lina.

Meditation #18 "All is well, You are Beloved"

Meditation #18 "All is well, You are Beloved"

Last time we were pondering about Growing Pains and the sheer thrill of adolescence. This time around, precisely on Christmas, we are invited to reflect upon the presence of God in our lives. How has he manifested his power as your days have unfolded?

I vividly recall an image that made me feel a Loving, Reassuring presence in a moment when I desperately needed it. I was eighteen years old and had left home to fly very, very far away, and as I was riding on a bus back home, crossing the barren, frozen landscape of Salt Lake City. I felt so lonesome and lost. There was a mother traveling with a child, and they caught my eye because the little girl's hair was a glowing, deep black wild mane, so much like mine, and as I watched, her mother took out a comb and started the loving ritual of untangling that blessed mess. She then carefully parted the thick, wavy locks and carefully wove them, trapping them into thick, strong braids that she decorated with red yarn. I felt like I was watching a scene from my own childhood, and I remembered my own Mother's loving hands brushing my hair, and I cried. Ironically, after my outburst, I felt reassured, comforted, and held within the certainty that I too had known love and that thought felt like a shield, an armorplate that life, in all its fierceness, could not penetrate. I had a Capital Mother, so it is perhaps logical that the most meaningful image of God I hold is a Mother's love. But sacred texts and theology offer some beautiful images, and perhaps one of them works best for you. My second best is the image of an eagle teaching her young to fly, or as I read it really happens, pushing them out of the nest. Other options include God as a shepherd, a lamb, a king, a warrior of righteousness, a ray of sunlight piercing the clouds (a definite winner on my list), a fiery spirit engulfing a brush, the masterful designer of the web of life, a bleeding heart, a friend who knows even the number of hairs on our heads, a loving friend who washes our feet, or a person just like you and me, who loved his way into splitting history in two.

What is your vision of the Deity, the presence that reassures, glows from within and reminds you that all is well and that you are beloved, time and time again?

Can it find shelter in your heart and be reborn once again, revealing your own Nativity?

With Love and Light, wishing you a Rebirth of all sorts=)

Lina.

I Have an Absolute Faith in the Capacity of Human Beings for Good

I Have An Absolute Faith in the Capacity Human Beings for Good

A short overview of my life

I am from Colombia. My country is the gateway to South America, blessed by the waters of both the Pacific Ocean, to the west, and the Atlantic Ocean, to the north. We are rich in natural resources, such as coffee, emeralds, flowers, fruits and biodiversity.

I have been teaching English and Spanish since I was fourteen years old, when I started tutoring other children at the bilingual school I attended in Colombia. I also started writing books when I was just a child, but did not publish my first one until 2001. When it comes to my art, I can’t remember a stage in my life when I was not recreating my surroundings with any material I found. I was always told art would not pay for a living, so I simply created out of an intense need to capture the magic of the world around me.

The most life-altering experience I have had was living in the Amazon Rainforest for a year. I am a passionate advocate of nature, and the lessons I learned from the people and the animals I met in and around the River changed my outlook on life forever.

I started creating and illustrating bilingual books because of my own children. I homeschooled when we lived in New Orleans, when we decided to make a new life in the U.S. I simply could not find the kind of books that I wanted them to read, so I decided to create them.  Later on, I had the opportunity to produce and anchor an educational television program in Colombia, geared for children. It was then that I understood the potential of a multimedia approach to language learning.

I love learning about other cultures and countries, and have been fortunate to travel to many places and love to share my experiences. There is so much to be learned from other peoples’ everyday lives!

I have two children, a 19 year old daughter and a 17 year old son who are still my favorite students. We speak Spanish at home and life goes on around us in English. We have always lived in the south because we do not like the cold, we definitely are tropical flowers. So far, we have lived in New Orleans, Dallas and we are enjoying San Antonio immensely.

I was trained as a teacher and taught for twenty years. I have linguistics as a background, a passion for languages and the heart of an artist. I have had my own publishing company for six years. Thanks to it, I have also been able to help people to publish their own books. I am currently teaching art and meditation, tutoring and teaching English and Spanish and continuing to write and create art.

I have been married to my Colombian sweetheart for 22 years, and we still are adding twigs to our nest. It has been a fascinating, ever-evolving journey.  Recently, I read that it is predicted that today’s professionals will be forced to redirect their careers an average of five times in their lifetimes. Looking back, I realize I have done precisely that, and this adventure has allowed me to discover hidden talents and to overcome fascinating new challenges.

I dream about someday returning to the Amazon and creating a school and a native fishery where people can swim right along with the fish. I do not think my life’s surprises have all been unwrapped yet, there are still many productive years to come, and so are yours. Our journeys are still unfolding, promising so many exhilarating possiblilities, and who knows, the future of the rainforest and our sustainability might be in the hands of someone my art or my words can move to action. Perhaps one of you can unlock the puzzle of sustainable progress and you might be able to lead us so that, together, we might find a better way of living in our beloved planet without destroying it.

 I have an absolute faith in the limitless capacity of human beings for good. I believe that each and every one of us can label our life with a purpose. I think that is why I chose Lunita as the name of my company, which means little moon. I have always prayed to be light for others. Language is the magic code that allows us to explore the world and figure out what our role is within its unfolding mysteries. I hope that my books, my art and my stories become the treasure maps for this quest to many adventurous souls.

 With Immense Love and Gratitude Always,

Lina M. Cuartas