Bloodsucking Vampires vs. Divine Tapestries

I'm always dissing religion, and I really need to stop. Religion isn't such a bad thing. It irks me to no end that it sucks the life out of our spiritual lives, but comparing religion to a bloodsucking vampire isn't very nice. I'm thorry. Really. What can I say? I'm like a drunken sailor when it comes to metaphors – just can't seem to help myself.

Religion isn't the work of God, but neither is it the work of the devil. It's the expression of a culture. The study of religion is the study of cultures and their unique interpretations of God. What a fascinating study that would be! If I had just a little more free time I'd do it myself. I'd study how ancient cultures carved out their God or gods, I'd look at their gods' strongest attributes, and from that infer what the culture most valued, what it feared, and determine its strong and weak points. But y'know, it's probably been done, like, a couple hundred times. Besides, I'd rather be an artist than an anthropologist.

WARNING: METAPHOR AHEAD!

In lieu of my admittedly bleak "Religion As Vampire" metaphor, I'd like to propose the following. (I reserve the right to revert to the "R.A.V." theory when applicable, but will try to use it less often, due to excessive provocation).

Religions are beautiful threads that, when woven together, create a sacred tapestry. Each thread is unique, expressing an aspect of God. Hinduism has many threads: Shiva is God in his fierceness, Ganesha is God as protector, Shakti is God as ecstatic energy, Lakshmi is God in the form of overflowing abundance. In Islam, there is a monolithic thread in the form of Allah, the magnificent and all-pervasive. Kuan Yin is the Buddhist goddess in the form of intense compassion for her creation. Christianity has three strands, intertwining to become one, consisting of Yahweh (who isn't so different than Allah, but don't tell anyone), the Holy Spirit, (separated at birth from Shakti), and Jesus, who is the strand of redemption. And so on.

Each thread offers a unique aspect of God, but not an exclusive one. There's the rub. Most cultures think that their thread is the most beautiful thread – indeed, the only thread there is. But in fact, it's just another strand in the divine pattern. "God" is found in the weaving together of all the threads, like a holographic tapestry. It would be absurd to unravel a tapestry to determine the most beautiful thread. The whole thing would fall apart, and you're left with a heap of sacred but smelly wool.

I'm going to leave it there. You've probably had enough, and I'll bet you catch my drift. As far as metaphors go, you have to admit that this one's better than the soul-sucking vampire, and will make me more friends than enemies.

video of my work

A video was taken of me talking about my work at the BRIC show. You can watch to it here. The show is up through next weekend. I was also interviewed by Thomas at Breakthru Radio, and the interview can be heard here.

HuffPo Reviews My Text Work

This is pretty cool. The Huffington Post featured my work on its online mag, and included a large shot of my latest piece, the one in which I chopped up the Koran and turned it into the book of Revelation. HuffPo does RevKo! I'm honored, seriously. HERE is the article, if you're interested.

But here's the cool part: check out the comments! Hoo baby, no Madge fan club at HuffPo! Nope, it's lookin' pretty gnarly out there. Seems that the days of encouraging words and attagirls are a thing of the past. That's okay, I'm down with it. After all, I'm not doing this work to make people feel all warm and fuzzerific. So bring it on, all you naysayers! Turn up the volume and slather it on, because the more you criticize my work, the more I get to rail about Fundamentalism, its toxicity, and how evangelical Christianity is sucking the soul out of America.

Yo, Amen!

Cardiac Arrest on Good Friday

This morning I was sitting here sipping my tea, daintily picking the tea leaves from my teeth and arranging them on my saucer into the shape of a Cross (hey, it's Good Friday), when I got an alert on my computer screen that my text drawings had been posted on someone's blog. See, I like to know when and what people write about my work, for reasons that will soon become clear. I dashed off into cyberspace to read what had been written, and was utterly dismayed to read the following:

"Meg sees her work as a form of meditation as well as a form of personal devotion to her religion of evangelical Christianity…part of her spiritual path and journey through life and a celebration of sacred experience."

Crap. Holy crap. Big pile of smoldering, infested crap. How can this be???? I mean, why stop there? Why not state that I dated Donald Trump, and that I currently head the local grassroots organization "Palin for President"? Anyone who reads my artist statement or follows my blog knows that I am not a Christian. I am vehemently opposed to all religious doctrine, and I believe that Fundamentalism is a cancer that eats into the soul of humanity, destroying our connection with God and Spirit. And I am uncommonly opposed to fundamentalist Christianity, as I believe it is this very institution that prevents the flow of the Holy Spirit of God in our lives, our communities, our churches, and our country. Thus it was with utter confusion that I read this post, so upset and perplexed that I was unable to finish my tea leaf crucifix.

This will be a short post (for me), as it's difficult to type in the fetal position. I have showered twice this morning due to excess sweat gland activity, and will try to monitor my heart rate so that I don't suffer from cardiac arrest. There's little that one can do to alter the records, but much can be done to avoid false statements in the first place. My reaction to this flagrant misrepresentation of my work is a reflection of how strongly I feel about what I do, and how deeply personal it is to me. So, for the record, and for anyone who shares my devotion to Spirit, let me state this clearly:

I am not a Christian.
I am not a Muslim.
I am not a Hindu.
I am not a Buddhist.
I am not a Jew.
I am not a Mormon.
I am not a Shaivite.

I am not identified with any spiritual tradition. My creative work is my devotional work; what, how, or Whom I worship is a matter that I largely keep to myself, for the simple reason that it is irrelevant to the understanding of the work.

Okay, back to my tea leaves. Happy Good Friday and Passover, everyone!

A little backpedaling is in order. I honor and respect Christians, and it is not my intention to be disrespectful on this holy day. I understand that the Christian path provides a beautiful and rewarding vista of God; it is simply not my chosen path.