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Yesterday evening, I was reading a book S’éveiller à Soi-Même avec les Grands Maîtres d’Orient et d’Occident (Awaken to Yourself with the Great Masters of East and the West) by José Le Roy—it’s a French book, so I hope my translation will be as accurate as possible.

Chapter 24 captured my attention because it was a beautiful description on how art can be related to divine consciousness. It perfectly describes how I feel while I’m diving into my artwork. But I can’t limit this description only to art.

There is, for sure, many other activities that can produce the same connection with ourselves and our well-being, like dancing, gardening, singing, and so on. But I relate to painting the most because it has always been a big part of my life, if not my life purpose.

Since I was a teenager, I have been absorbed for hours and hours in shapes and colours. With extra flowing music in the background, I could (and still can) be gone for hours.

Art has always been my best medicine. I do not consider myself one of the greatest artists in the world. I don’t think my work is visionary, revolutionary, or having any strong energetic healing power on people. I don’t even do it with a certain purpose in mind.

But it’s my healing therapy. Through art, I release my emotions, feelings, and energy.

Through shapes and colours, people could easily guess my mood. And yes, it happens that some people have some sort of connection with my (he)art, seeing in it things that only their own unconscious mind can understand. And that truly amazes me.

Here are the five inspiring quotes by José Le Roy that perfectly put my feelings into words:

>> “Art is not individual, but universal. This means that it equates consciousness, which is the sole source of all creations, of works of art, and of the world of appearances. The great artists have often understood that art passed through them, that they were not really the authors of their works.”

>> “Thus, certain works—having their origin in the transparent source of all creation, impersonal and free—bear witness to their transcendent origin and know how to bring back those who let themselves be touched by their grace and wonder. They free us from all known concepts and all memories, by emptying us of our individuality. They take us back to the gaze of a child who does not yet know enough about the world and finds it dull and banal.

Our gaze then widens, hollows out, and as we become nothing, the object ceases to be a contemplated object that vibrates in a pure presence. Its presence is no longer that of a subject who contemplates or of a contemplated object, but that of the very mystery of being. We thus reintegrate the unity of ourselves and of things without any fracture of the being coming to separate us from light, space, and silence.”

>> “Isn’t it this aesthetic joy that I sometimes feel when I am so absorbed by a work of art that it is no longer present as an object? There remains only a feeling of wonder, joy, and expansion in which I forget space and time, and I am no longer in my senses.”

>> “Like the artist at the time of creation, the sage is free from the ego; he is only a channel, and like the artist, the sage allows those who come to seek the truth to find fulfilment in themselves.”

Art is a beautiful healing therapy. I’m rarely as connected with myself as when I’m creating. I disappear in a world within, with no more notions of space and time. I can even forgot to eat and sleep. I simply feel amazing.

And my paintings—even if they never look like what I had in mind in the end—are allowed to flow within the process of creation. No more expectations. I detach myself from the result and just allow things to appear on the canvas the way they need to be. No need to know how to paint or draw to start your healing process through art. Let go of expectations and just allow yourself to be in the moment.

Feel, observe, release, and let go of whatever needs to go. Do it for yourself, not for others. Don’t let your ego take over this beautiful process.

Allow yourself to connect within, connect with your (he)art, and enjoy it.

I’m sure many of you can relate to this experience of self-connection, even through different practices. Please feel free to share, I would love to hear from you.

Love and gratitude for all this beautiful magic surrounding us.