The VOID. The EMPTY BOWL. We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it livable. We work with BEING, but NON-BEING is what we use.
PHOTOS ©2018 by Karen Maugans. Karen Maugans Gallery. All images property of the owner. Used here with permission.
In a recent trip to the River Arts District in Asheville, NC, I stumbled upon a cloth shop with the most awesome gallery of what I have come to understand as fine "blackdrop" photographic art (my words). Tucked inside the shop was a separately defined art gallery where I uncovered some really cool photos printed on aluminum and photographed in total darkness. A single flash of light and lens reflections capture the still moment of a total blackout and bring the subject matter, not only to life, but into a world of multiple dimensions and interpretations.
As I meandered through Karen's gallery, my mind connected to the Spirit of Great Teachers within, bringing a multitude of forgotten teaching moments to the forefront of my conscious, reflective mind. Her work is yet another visual metaphor of the void as it is known in the Tao and a corollary to my "empty bowl" philosophy of maintaining the learning space in a college classroom.
I find that her approach in photographing objects is to capture them in the predictability of total darkness. Bursts of interpretive light are actuated of which the slightest modification(s) will impact the resulting image. Most importantly, the outcome is mostly unknown but anticipated by the artist. The state of blackness is required in order to allow the image to develop.
The darkness 无 (non-being) of nothing becomes a necessary element in allowing the subject (being) 有 within the void to form, and in fact become what it will be at any measured moment in time and space.
And so emerges the Great Teachers philosophy of the void in the context of teaching and learning; the predictability of the same condition being present (rigid, minimal structure) that guarantees any given result will be always be different. The constant of darkness (the color black) provides the visual arena for purpose, function, and the perceptive nature of the subject during the photo shoot. Great Teachers seminars tend to be the same in process so the result for the assembled group of participants can be different. The outcome for the collective group as well as each individual present is undefined with the noted absence of contrived schedules, agendas, and outside influence from seminar leadership.
And so it is as teaching faculty with our students. We work with students in their journey of LEARNING - UNLEARNING - RELEARNING and allow the space of the classroom to be become a landing pad for the end result; something we tacitly dub "education".
SOURCES:
Understand Nonbeing: Back to Center of Life, http://tao-in-you.com/nonbeing.html
Karen Maugan's Fine Art Gallery, https://www.karenmaugansgallery.com/
Taoism.net, https://taoism.net/tao/
1stPersonSeminars.com, https://1stpersonseminars.com