Halloween is coming up and it makes me think of how other cultures celebrate it. The Day of the Dead is something I really like. Honoring ancestors and acknowledging the cycles of life and death rather than trying to hide from death.
This makes me think of my aboriginal roots that always acknowledges our ancestors, and that our “relations” are not just people but the whole natural world.
This also makes me think of Kung Fu, and how Sifu Brinker is always reminding us of the knowledge that we have in Kung Fu thanks to all those people that came before us.
It also makes me think of a garden, because it teaches about cycles of life and death, and we gain so much from it: food, medicine, joy, beauty, knowledge, etcetera. My daughter just sent me an article today about how hay bales inoculated with mushroom mycelium were able to detoxify water that had arsenic, lead, and asbestos in it.
So much knowledge that we have today is thanks to people that have come before us. Many stories that we enjoy involve a visit to “the land of the dead” to gain some needed piece of information to complete the story. One such place that people may not think of is a library. Libraries are a type of “land of the dead” because they are places where people who have been dead for a long time can still speak to us.
Thus, I am blessed, because I have been given the eyes to see the bounty of knowledge that has been passed down to us by our ancestors. It’s a bounty no one person can fully contain. It is life-long learning. I can only hope that I am blessed enough to be able to pass on some useful tidbit of knowledge that future generations may also benefit from.
All My Relations
Notes:
It has come to my attention that a well known artist, Kim Jung Gi, has recently died at the age of 47. He has been a huge inspiration to artists and probably will be for many years to come. He is one of the reasons I wanted to improve my ability to draw in ink. If you are interested, check this out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGbvhyTZXfs
The drawing with this blog is a tiger candy skull. As usual, I already know a bunch of things I would do differently if I were to draw it again.
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