(2/13/08) The following is a letter from a friend Tree and I met when we when to speak to Peter Marksman's literature class at the University of California at Long Beach last year. It is funny that it wasn't until the last night we were there that we actually spoke to Laura who wrote this letter. What is most funny is that it only takes a few moment to know that you have meet another member of your family that you never knew existed.

 

Toc,

I wanted to write to let you know about how I am currently using your work. First, I must say that Ben and I still read your works and discuss what you have to say. I got a second set of your comics from Peter to give to Ben because he wanted his very own.

Second, I am currently in a master's program of counseling, studying to be a marriage and family therapist. Part of that study is working in therapy and learning more about myself. Your comic The Tenaciously Simple Stories of a Noman Toc Fetch has had a huge impact on this work. During therapy, especially group therapy which I am currently involved in, one person will discuss something that resonates somewhere in another. An answer looking for a question. It's a beautiful thing to be a witness as light shines in where there was darkness. The answer invariably shows as Yes, at least for me, because how could it be anything but yes when a person is working deep within? Yes -- and now find the question, find what it means, and then know that it will boil down to yes -- that is who you are and where your path has gone. What beautiful work and what a beautiful metaphor.

I know you look at the artist and the artist's work, but therapy parallels that work in many ways as a person must find their core in both instances. Thank you for this wonderful gift. It continues to amaze me how it connects with everyone and everything.

I hope you and Tricia are both well. Please give her my best.

With much admiration, love and thanks

Laura

 

Laura!
OurSister

Yes!

Yes-Yes.

Yes is the essential feeling your VerySelf radiates. And is therefore - by way of subtle feeling - your guiding voice towards your VerySelf. All action is therapy once you have realized that every experience is an opportunity towards yes. Since "the world is because you are" (because perception is a prerequisite for experience) then all things that come to you are exactly what you need to move forward towards Yes. Your suffering is your greatest teacher - has been said and re-said by endless Seers. Therapy is the loving practice of untangling identity. This practice eventually leads to fewer and fewer lines until all that is left is a single Yes (lashavidya). And that Yes is a complete and loving surrender to what is.

Art is therapy. In art we do just this (sifting for Yes) all day everyday. Every mark is the question: is this me - is that I? (or is that Yes?) And the answer is always: no. This always-no is painful, but in the world of form we know what is yes by knowing what is not yes. This ancient pattern of questioning, (netineti [not-this-not-that]) that always leads to no, is a way of backing up towards the ineffability of Yes. The next question then is; what isn't I? about this mark or these marks. The question is negative because that is the nature of the mind to compare, to delineate, to limit, to label, to judge. An important part of the work is to bring the mind into alignment with its true function as a tool and remove it as the tyrant of identity. Most workers realize early in this practice that the "I" (or Yes) that is being looked for can not be held as an object in the mind. Yes is not a thing. ("What is perceived can not be the perceiver" - Nisargadatta). Anyone who thinks he can state who he is - is doing just that; thinking, and art is about feeling. Feeling is the one thing that can not be taught - it is the truest thread towards who you are. Art is then the practice of feeling your way blindly deep down into your Very Self - a kind of spelunking.

The work begins with an inspiration that arrives - from beyond the mind - from your Very Self. Then you must brave the endless No with patient love for the living Inspiration that has come to you, trusting you to make for it a home in the world. The more No that you suffer in the work the better the result for both you and the Inspiration.

But eventually, if you are honest about the limited nature of the physical materials you are working on you have to accept that the limits of the materials will begin to corrupt your research, and degrade the experience. This tells you the work is done, and it is time to begin on a new page (this also depends on the amount of OCD in your blood - hoho). Besides, the Inspirations are backed up out the door, down the road and out of site, and as holy as the work is, you've still got to do your laundry and love your friends. Hi-ho.

Thank you pal for your kind words they make me feel stronger toward the endless daily No.

We love you guys
Your pals
Toc and Tree