then collaboration is an expression of the SELF.. i've started collaborations with two other visual artists and i'm already considering approaching three others to collaborate on one of the collages i've made...i'm surrounded by these amazing painters who create these intricate images and patterns and fluid designs... so yesterday, while talking with vague about an upcoming project...he showed me his submission for the doll show...complete with an amazing story about this toy doll he made named inja....who fought glow-in-the-dark aliens and thus was covered in glow-in-the-dark gore...and he also wore a nose ring when he wanted to go out on the town...some bling... and i realize through collaboration...i'm not only exploring my own reality and the process of creating it...but also the ways that others create their reality...and how it is all interconnected...beautifully...if we might rather than should... peace, sensei www.thehivegallery.com "The usual human instinct is to feed ourselves first and only make friends with others if they can feed us. This could be called "ape instinct." But in the case of the bodhisattva vow, when we agree to put others first, we are talking about a kind of superhuman instinct which is much deeper and more full than that. Inspired by this instinct, we are willing to feel empty and deprived and confused. But something comes out of our willingness to feel that way, which is that we can help somebody else at the same time. So there is room for our confusion and chaos and ego-centeredness: they become stepping stones. Even the irritations that occur in the practice of the bodhisattva path become a way of confirming our commitment." - chogyam trungpa "Rejoicing in the actions of others is the major antidote to jealousy. When we admire the virtuous deeds of ourselves and of others, a great increase of merit is created. Jealousy is very harmful, and must be destroyed by rejoicing. If we rejoice in the virtue of someone whose understanding is less than our own, we gain greater merit than that person. If we rejoice in the merit of someone with understanding equal to ours, we gain equal merit. If we rejoice in the realization or virtue of someone more highly realized than we are, we accumulate some fraction of the merit that they do. We must rejoice in virtue because we have taken bodhisattva vows. If other beings practice well it helps us; therefore we should rejoice in their positive actions. This is the easiest way to accumulate merit with little hardship. With consistent effort the practice of rejoicing becomes very powerful and is greatly praised by many masters." --from Chöd on the Ganden Tradition: the Oral Instructions of Kyabje Zong Rinpoche by Kyabje Zong Rinpoche

COME ON, EVERYBODY! 8 O'Clock this Friday Night at Echo Curio 1519 Sunset Blvd. CHECK IT! Seesoon, Tim, Heather & Justin -- ECHO CURIO The Echo Park Curiosity Shop and Art Gallery 1519 Sunset Blvd. Echo Park, CA 90026 http://www.echocurio.com

here are pics from this month's opening show at the hive gallery in downtown L.A.
every first saturday of the month, we do a group show every month with live music and lots of interesting people...it's a great opportunity to meet the artists and check out some of the most interesting visionary and lowbrow art on the L.A. scene... the exhibit will be up all this month...at 729 S. Spring Street...we're open thurs - sat from noon til 6pm

Fellow friends of The Hive Gallery,

Bunny, of Rabbit in the Moon, was so impressed with our current Dolls, Dolls, Dolls show that he has brought us on board his show this weekend. This Saturday night (12/16), The Hive Gallery is teaming up with mega-performers Rabbit in the Moon for a night of extraordinary visual and audio performance and a special off-site Hive gallery show at The Vanguard (6021 Hollywood Bl (Cross Street: Bronson Avenue) Hollywood, CA 90028/(213) 480-3232).

Nathan Cartwright of The Hive will be curating an art show in the VIP Room of The Vangaurd and you are invited. 14 premiere artists will exhibit pieces, items from The Hive store will be available, low key live painting, and dj's will stroll you into the night's events. There is a special admission of $10 for all who are able to make it to the Vangaurd/gallery show promptly at 9:30PM. If you come after the gallery promo time, the regular door price of $15-20 will apply so come out to see the art first!!

If you haven't seen Rabbit in the Moon- you are sure to have your honeycombs knocked off. They are a full-scale multimedia, artist, dj performance- who have had premiere performances from Burning Man to headline acts a music conferences around the world- ( www.rabbitinthemoon.com ).


Also- If you haven't made it out to the DOLLS, DOLLS, DOLLS show- this Thursday (12/14) is downtown Gallery Row's Art Walk.
We will be freely open throughout the day from 1-9:30PM and wine will fill your cups freely after 7PM. We have tons of really nicely packaged prices on amazing fine art and illustration from around the world.

So come on out and see us this week!!

Thanks much for all of your support and donations, you are making us the gallery hit of Los Angeles and all of our artists appreciate it!!

The Hive

from eckhart tolle's "a new earth" pages 1-5

evocation:

earth, 114 million years ago, one morning just after sunrise: the first flower ever to appear on the planet opens up to recieve the rays of the sun. prior to this momentous event that heralds an evolutionary transformation in the life of plants, the planet had already been covered in vegetation for millions of years. the first flower probably did not survive for long, and flowers must have remained rare and isolated phenomena, since conditions were most likely not yet favorable for a widespread flowerin to occur. one day, however, a critical threshold was reached, and suddenly there would have been an explosion of color and scent all over the planet -- if a perceiving consciousness had been tehre to witness it.

much later, those delicate and fragrant beings we call flowers would come to play an essential part in the evolution of consciousness of another species. humans would increasingly be drawn to and fascinated by them. as the consciousness of human beings developed, flowers were most likely the first thing they came to value that had no utilitarian purpose for them, that is to say, was not linked in some way to survival. they provided inspiration to countless artist, poets, and mystics. jesus tells us to contemplate the flowers and learn from the how to live. the buddha is said to have given a silent sermon once during which he held up a flower and gazed at it. afer a while, one of thoes present, a monk called mahkasyapa, began to smile. he is said to have been the only one who had understood the sermon. according to legen, that smile (that is to say, realization) was handed down by twenty-eight successive masters and much later became the origin of zen.

seeing beauty in a flower woulc awaken humans, however briefly, to the beauty that is an essential part of their own innermost being, their true nature. the first recognition of beauty was one of the most significant events in the evolution of human consciousness. the feelings of joy and love are intrisically connected to that recognition. without our fully realizing it, flowers would become for us an expression in form of that which is most high, most sacred, and ultimately formless within ourselves. flowers, more fleeting, more ethereal, and more delicate than the plants out of which they emerged, would become like messengers from another realm, like a bridge between the world of physical forms and the formless. they not only had a scent that was delicate and pleasing to humans, but also brought a fragrance from the realm of spirit. using the word enlightenment in a wider sense than the conventionally accepted one, we could look upon flowers as the enlightenment of plants.

any lifeform in any realm - mineral, vegetable, animal, or human - can be said to undergo enlightenment. it is, however, an extremely rare occurrence since it is more than an evolutionary progression: it also implies a discontinuity in its development, a leap to an entirely different level of being and, most important, a lessening of materiality.

what could be heavier and more impenetrable than a rock, the densest of all forms? and yet some rocks undergo a change in their molecular structure, turn into crystals, and so become transparent to light. some carbons, under inconceivable heat and pressure, turn into diamonds, and some heavy minerals into other precious stones.

most crawling reptilians, the most earthbound of all creatures, have remained unchanged for millions of years. some, however, grew feathers and wings and turned into birds, thus defying the force of gravity that had held them for so long. they didn't become better at crawling or walking, but transcended crawling and walking entirely.

since time immemorial, flowers, crystals, precious stones, and birds have held special significance for the human spirit. like all lifeforms, they are, of course, temporary manifestations of the underlying one life, one consciousness. their special significance and the reason why human feel such fascination for and affinity with them can be attributed to their ethereal quality.

once there is a certain degree of presence, of still and alert attention in humans beings' perception, they can sense the divine life essence, the one indwelling consciousness or spirit in every creature, every lifeform, recognize as one with their own essence and so love it as themselves. until this happens, however, most humans see only the outer forms, unaware of their own essence and identify only with their own physical and psychological form.

in the case of a flower, a crystal, precious stone, or bird, however, even someone with little or no presence can occasionally sense that there is more there than the mere physical existence of that form, without knowing that this is the reason why he or she is drawn toward it, feels an affinity with it. because of it ethereal nature, its form obscures the indwelling spirit to a lesser degree than is the case with other lifeforms. the exception to this are all newborn lifeforms - babies, puppies, kittens, lambs, and so on. they are fragile, delicate, not yet firmly established in materiality. an innocence, a sweetness and beauty that are not of this worl still shine through them. they delight even relatively insensitive humans.

so when you are alert and contemplate a flower, crystal, or bird without naming it mentally, it becomes a window for you into the formless. there is an inner opening, however slight, into the realm of the spirit. this is why these three en-lightened lifeforms have played such an important part in the evolution of human consciousness since ancient times; why for example, the jewel in the lotus flower is a central symbol of buddhism and a white bird, the dove, signifies the holy spirit in christianity. they have been preparing the ground for a more profound shift in planetary consciousness that is destined to take place in the human species. this is the spiritual awakening that we are beginning to witness now.

Wouldn't life be boring without attachment?

No. In fact it's attachment that makes us restless and prevents us from enjoying things. For example, suppose we're attached to chocolate cake. Even while we're eating it, we're not tasting it and enjoying it completely. We're usually either criticizing ourselves for eating something fattening, comparing the taste of this chocolate cake to other cakes we've eaten in the past, or planning how to get another piece. In any case, we're not really experiencing the chocolate cake in the present.

On the other hand, without attachment, we can think clearly about whether we want to eat the cake, and if we decide to, we can eat it peacefully, tasting and enjoying every bite without craving for more or being dissatisfied because it isn't as good as we expected. As we diminish our attachment, life becomes more interesting because we're able to open up to what's happening in each moment.

--from Buddhism for Beginners by Thubten Chodron

these are photos from a recent visit to our land in kentucky...we recently acquired 100acres of rolling hills of woods and meadows...with streams and ponds...and near a large lake...the plan is to convert this blank canvas which has existed as a hunting preserve into an artist colony/retreat center...














our neighbor




view from above (boundaries are the dark green wooded shape in the center, 100acres)