The Goddess Files - Adoration

This image marks a waystation of sorts on my quest for Kali. As I’d mentioned in an earlier Goddess Files posting, Bemusements, the first impact of Kali was the sense of being in the presence of an incredible force, of raw primal power – of destruction, or at the very least, unsettling disruption. The decapitated head she holds leaves no possible room for ambiguity does it?And with the head gone, you’ve lost your framework, the wonderful conditioning that seeks to reassure you that everything’s okay,that functions on convenient cause & effect principles, clean, hygienic and deodorized. When she lifts off the projector, the mind-intellect, whether with her sickle, her hands or even just her nails, you have no way of denying, defending, repressing, suppressing anything – everything is. As it always was, only that the wonderful mental-projector had put up a remarkable screen between you and existence. And yet, there seemed to be something more.

And that had to do with wondering as to what state of ‘being’ could at least contain the complete contradiction that is Kali. And this is nothing but the projection of the contradictions and paradoxes that make life itself, so what if anything could contain this. And the only thing that I’ve been able to come up with, where the paradoxes, while continuing to remain paradoxical, don’t cause immobilization is – love. A strange, unconditional love. Where it is love acting out of love and for no other reason than love.

How much must you love your creation to be able to destroy it? Or to create when you know that destruction is inevitable? To create, destroy and be the instrument of destruction?

Or we could go along the philosophical path of ‘complete detachment’ as being the nature of the container. Sure, no arguments, these are all points of view, points of perception, finally just so much intellectual masturbation. Whatever works for you, that’s what it is, eh?!

So the idea that formed in my mind was of trying to present this paradox – love and violence, love and destruction, detachment and destruction, potential and kinetic.

When I first saw this completed image, I was struck dumb. Nothing had prepared me for it. And even now, over a week later, I find myself wanting to stare, touch, simply devour this image. Or to just adore it. The actual image is 30-inches x 24-inches, natural colors on plywood.