Art at Karuna Contemplative Living

karuna opening_news

May, Featured Artist
Karuna Contemplative Living
1725 SE Hawthorne Blvd
This is a sweet space in SE Portland. Owner Anandi Gefroh, shown here in the center, and I share a similar passion and purpose for supporting those on the spiritual journey. Thank you to everyone who came out for the opening. Art is up through May.

Karuna means compassion in Sanskrit. Specifically, it means to alleviate suffering. At Karuna, we believe that a contemplative life is about taking occasional breaks from doing, cultivating a sense of wonder and curiosity about ourselves and the environment around us through simple observation.

 

Reflections on Momento Mori

mike and me
One of many inspiring conversations during the week.

dedicating mandala
Dedicating the mandala.

sweeping
Sweeping the mandala.
offering

ready for ocean
Our offering ready to be gifted to the sacred waters.

It was a very meaningful for me to be at Portland Community College during Earth Week where I brought my art installation “Momento Mori: Our Oceans in Crisis”. I had some powerful conversations with a diverse group of people from all over the world and dedicated our mandala to the people of Micronesia. One student, a kindhearted man from these small islands in the Western Pacific Ocean shared with me: “I am a climate refugee. My people are leaving their homeland to relocate to Australia and other countries due to rising sea levels and contaminated food sources from oil spills from tankers.” He was very grateful for my message as he feels that the world has not acknowledged them. He put a very real face to the climate crisis.

Many of the young students also gave me hope. After viewing my exhibit, a young woman shared with me that she felt sad. When I asked how she processes her sorrow around ecological issues, she said she goes to the beach and picks up other people’s garbage. Action is indeed the antidote to despair.

I put together a list of suggestions of what each of us can do on a daily basis to make a difference including self care and ways to get involved. You can view that here: What You Can Do Flyer

You can learn more about the nature mandala ceremony here.

For love of the EARTH!