Art Literature Contemplation
Spring 2017 Leaping Clear
Leaping Clear is dedicated to reaching everyone, everywhere—north and south, east and west—who’s interested in the arts and in meditative or contemplative practices. We present arts that address these two hallmarks of humanity in all media from different cultures, different perspectives, and different contemplative traditions.
Our issues are released twice a year, on the March and September equinoxes, and during these periods we’re especially aware of balance. (More on the equinoxes in the blog.) One motivation for creating Leaping Clear was to highlight the balance that both art and contemplative practice can bring to our busy, often distracted lives as 21st century humans.
Ann Lauterbach, the American poet, has a fine way of expressing an important aspect of balance in her book The Night Sky: Writings on the Poetics of Experience.
“When we are moved by an aesthetic object, a poem or a piece of music or a painting, we experience a dual gladness: that the artist has made these choices and, by extension and analogy, that we, too, are capable of making choices.”
These can be the difficult choices, not consumer choices, but matters that call on our widest and deepest understanding. Any creative act, including choosing, comes from deep listening and observing both inner and outer worlds. Artists and contemplatives cultivate the practices of awareness, concentration, and reflection to understand what to choose.
We hope you are moved by the art, writing, and music in this issue. The artists have made choices here, and each of us can do so as well, whenever we choose.
Blog
Earth Day
On April 22, 2017, Earth Day celebrations will take place in 193 countries. I find it encouraging that this recognition of our planetary environment now includes so many celebrations. The concept of Earth Day began with the intentions and actions of a few individuals just over four decades ago. . . .
features
Music from "Laughing Buddha" by Kevin Griffin
Climate Heroes Sculptures, by Bobbie Benson
