Most people who know anything about me know that I’ve had a daily meditation practice now for nearly 3000 days in a row. Most recently, for more than the last hundred days, I’ve been practicing with Charles Freligh and his The Zen Path: 111Small Steps To Awaken Your Inner Buddha.

In step 102 he referenced artist Agnes Martin and a story in which she noticed a young woman fascinated with a rose so she went to look upon it herself. She held the rose and then asked the girl, “Is this beautiful?” The girl said, “Yes.” Then the artist put the rose behind her back and asked the girl, “Is the rose still beautiful?” And the girl answered, “Yes.” Agnes Martin said, “You see the beauty is not in the rose. The beauty is in your mind.”

Charles then ended the practice by saying: “You are beautiful.” The message is a Zen one and also both an art and a life one: everything is exactly as you think of it. All things just are.

These teachings helping me realized that my question to everyone: “Why does art matter?” is in fact a koan. And more on that soon.

Image: Agnes Martin. The Rose, 1964. Oil, red and black pencil, sizing on canvas, Overall: 182.6 x 182.7 cm. Purchase with assistance from Wintario, 1979. ©  Art Gallery of Ontario 78/751

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