Monet Refuses The Operation

Image of the Week
Hand-drawn art by Rupali Bhuva
Image of the Week
Monet rechaza la operación
--por Lisel Mueller

Doctor, usted dice que no hay halos
alrededor de las farolas en París
y que lo que veo es una aberración
causada por la vejez, un achaque.
Le digo que he necesitado toda una vida
para llegar a la visión de las lámparas de gas como ángeles,
para suavizar y difuminar y finalmente desterrar
los bordes que usted lamenta que yo vea
para aprender que la línea que llamé horizonte
no existe y cielo y agua,
tan separados, son el mismo estado de ser.

Cincuenta y cuatro años antes de que yo pudiera ver
Se construyó la catedral de Rouen
de rayos paralelos de sol,
y ahora usted quiere restaurar
mis errores juveniles:
nociones inamobibles de arriba y abajo,
la ilusión del espacio tridimensional,
glicinia separada
desde el puente que cubre.




¿Qué puedo decir para convencerle de que
las Casas del Parlamento se disuelven
noche tras noche para convertirse
en el sueño fluido del Támesis?
No volveré a un universo
de objetos que no se conocen,
como si las islas no fueran los niños perdidos
de un gran continente El mundo
es flujo, y la luz se convierte en lo que toca,
se convierte en agua, lirios en el agua,
por encima y por debajo del agua,
se vuelve lila, malva y amarillo
y lámparas blancas y cerúleas,
pequeños puños que pasan la luz del sol
tan rápido del uno al otro
que llevaría mucho tiempo
atraparlo con el ondulante pelo de mi pincel .
¡Para pintar la velocidad de la luz!
Nuestras formas ponderadas, estas verticales,
quemar para mezclar con aire
y convertir nuestros huesos, piel, ropa
en gases. Doctor,
si tan solo pudiera usted ver
cómo el cielo tira de la tierra hacia sus brazos
y cuán infinitamente se expande el corazón
para declarar este mundo, vapor azul sin fin.

Preguntas semilla para la reflexión: ¿Qué surge en ti cuando te inclinas por la conexión entre cómo vemos y cómo damos sentido? ¿Puedes compartir una historia personal de un momento en que tu visión revelara la interconexión de la vida? ¿Qué te ayuda a desarrollar una visión que pueda disolver las distinciones?
por el poeta Lisel Mueller. El pintor Claude Monet tenía cataratas y cuando su médico quiso realizar una cirugía, Monet se negó. Quería pintar la luz. Le encantaba ver los bordes borrosos de todo como evidencia de nuestra interconexión.
Seed Questions for Reflection

What comes up for you when you lean into the connection between how we see and how we make meaning? Can you share a personal story of a time your vision revealed the interconnectedness of life? What helps you develop a vision that can dissolve distinctions?

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Add Your Reflection

8 Past Reflections
JK
JK
Oct 20, 2019
What a beautiful thought! Monet expressed, in an artist's language, the oneness of the universe and all that is within it. Our material demarcations are very blurred indeed.
AM
Oct 16, 2019
The more I see Heaven on earth, the more blurred the “edges” of matter become. The canvas of one enters into the canvas of another. There is nothing seperatingus. We are all commingled in Love with Him. Ever so beautiful, is the work of The Master’s Hand.
NO
Oct 15, 2019
I was so touched by this poem. Talk about finding the gifts in aging. Refusing to be restored to youth to hold on to the images that show the interconnectedness of life. It’s not just nature and buildings that shine their auras - so do our relationships which are embraced in the halo of our love. Loving light is the best. As I enter my final life chapter I would like to remember and notice all these gifts of aging.
SU
Oct 15, 2019
How beautiful, if only we could all train our eyes to see the world this way. It helps to articulate it. For us to begin to imagine such a world, not only visually but emotionally and spiritually as well, the beautiful indefinable interconnectedness...thank you. I have a new vision for the day...
KR
Oct 15, 2019
When I dance in the rain with small children, forgetting the "rules" and modern "grown-up" habits of staying dry, avoiding the elements and mud. I become one with them and grow happier with each fallen rain drop, each splash of mud on my legs and squish of earth in my toes. It feels true and natural and real. No us or them, no elements and humans, just joy and senses engaged with nature, light, energy and life.
AP
Oct 15, 2019
Space (prefer to call it Aakash) pervades all through, being present in seen material objects, unseen stuff, and non-visible entities. Touch it, feel it from the space within us and we get connected with oneness with the universe. I like this quote - "Even when I just pluck a flower, the remotest star is disturbed!"
DD
Oct 12, 2019
Such a beautiful writing by Lisel Mueller. Anais Nin said "We don't see things as they are. We see things as we are." I agree with Nin. What I see through my eyes comes through what remains of the conditioning I received and the assumptions and expectations I developed. Some times I do a little more of simply seeing what is, seeing things as they are -- and a little more makes a big difference. A couple examples I see of the interconnectedness of life are: The planet suffers what we do to it, and we suffer what it does to us. The planet and we are thoroughly interconnected. Also, a wife is like a mother toward her husband who acts like a child, and the husband is like a child toward his wife who acts like a mother; their behaviors support each other, they are interconnected, a yin and yang, a bilateral arrangement. What helps me have a vision that dissolves distinctions is knowing that all creation is one, knowing that distinctions are differences that may appear separate... View full comment
JP
Oct 11, 2019
The world is in the eye of the beholder. So true! There are two worlds-the outer world and the inner world. When I see the outer world with my outer physical eyes, I see parts of the world distinct from one another. The outer world is made up of natural objects like trees, leaves of trees, flowers, waves of oceans and streams of rivers. The human world is filled with all kinds of differences. If I see the world with outer eyes, I see the world of separateness and divisiveness. Black versus white, rich versus poor, east versus west, life versus death, me versus you, my religion versus your religion.These differences create distances , conflicts and wars. We lose the seamless thread of the reality, the oneness in manyness. When I see the same world with my inner eyes I see the interconnectedness and even oneness in the apparent divisiveness. The world appears as we see it. In my daily life, when I see the outer world with the eyes of my heart, I see the interconnectedness of life. At ti... View full comment