jeff hogue/ bluelab art org

Finish what you've started here
You make your move
just once a year
In the city
in the town
Your happy home
is never found
Second hand
was never planned
The birth was over,
the baby banned
She fled the place
at such a pace
She never even saw your face
So go with me
Inside
Believe
You have so much to give

Switch the light off,
have a go
Force the only one you know
To leave this place
without a trace
A pity
I had seen your face
Where do you think
I will find
This party girl
who was so kind?
Raven hair
and skin so fair
Sadness
never visits there
So go with me
Inside
Believe
You have so much to give

the Delgados
Make Your Move

We didn't sleep too late.
There was a fire in the yard.
All of the tress were in light.
They had no faces to show.
I saw a sign in the sky:
Seven swans,
seven swans,
seven swans.
I heard a voice in my mind:
I will try, I will try, I will try. I will try, I will try, I will try.
We saw the dragon move down.
My father burned into coal.
My mother saw it from far.
She took her purse to the bed.
I saw a sign in the sky:
Seven horns, seven horns, seven horns.
I heard a voice in my mind:
I am Lord, I am Lord, I am Lord.
He said: I am Lord, I am Lord, I am Lord.
He said: I am Lord, I am Lord, I am Lord.
He will take you.
If you run,
He will chase you.
He will take you.
If you run,
He will chase you
'cause He is the Lord.
'Cause He is the Lord...
Seven swans, seven swans, seven swans, seven swans, seven swans...

Sufjan Stevens Seven Swans

“The question is no longer how did we get here, and why? But, where can we possibly go, and how? We live in a society that has drastically narrowed our sensitivity to moral and spiritual issues; the problem we face is how to deal with a belief structure that has blocked both psychological and spiritual development. If there is a new agenda, a new vision now emerging within our society, how might one help put it into practice?”
Suzi Gablik

...bluelab is being developed upon the issue first posed by Einstein, "a problem cannot be solved at the same level of consciousness in which it was created.” It has become evident to many that in order to meet the problems we face as a species we must embrace a radical revision of our beliefs and our behaviors.

bluelab functions upon the strong presumption that artists likely figure significantly into the revisioning of a new world—and the invention of ways to communicate our discoveries. As we all learn more and more about our essential interconnectedness it also becomes increasingly evident that artists can’t function in a social vacuum. The label of “artist” is a problematic one and only used as a signifier of persons with specific media skills and training who are fluent in creative processes and who have some professional link to art. We are working to deconstruct as much as possible the binary--"us vs. them" mentality that still pervades the high art world. It seems to us that consistent with new paradigmatic shifts taking placethroughout all fields--there is a need to reconsider our accepted definitions of "artist" and "audience" all together. bluelab is constructed to offer pathways into higher levels of inclusivity. It is only through true inclusion that we can hope to make work that is deeply inviting and that offers an atmosphere of true love and trust and safety to all.

In terms of the way bluelab will in fact function, we are working to develop a sound and effective approach to community building which relies heavily upon time tested processes that are well understood and are seeking the help of people who are expert in these processes. On practical levels, the sharing and cross fertilization of specific areas of expertise allows for rich and complex works which through communal process are fused unselfconsiously and intuitively making of an organic whole.

Why all the talk of “community”?It is our firm belief that by building works in a heightened communal space we will in fact be building works potent with transformational energies. Jung talked about the distinctions between “liminal”or
transformative space and “liminoid”, or works that are simply entertaining. With a hard look at where we are at as a species and planet—it seems like simple math that we must link art making to the real task at hand—that of saving the earth.

Jesus pushes it back to the edge. Can you even see the image of Christ in the least of the brothers and sisters? He uses that as his only description of the final judgement. Nothing about commandments, nothing about church attendance, nothing about papal infallibility: simply a matter of our ability to see. Can we see Christ in the people, the nobodies who can't play our game of success? They smell. They're a nuisance. They're on welfare. They are a drain on our tax money. If we can, then we are really seeing.

He pushes it even further than that. He says we have to love and recognize the divine image even in our enemies. He teaches what they thought a religious leader could never demand of his followers: love of the enemy. Logically that makes no sense. Soulfully it makes absolute sense, because in terms of the soul, it really is all or nothing. Either we see the divine image in all created things or we don't see it at all. Once we see it, we're trapped. We see it once and the circle keeps moving out. If we still try to exclude some: sick people, blacks, people on welfare, gays (or whomever we've decided to hate), we're not there. We don't understand. If the world is a temple, then our enemies are sacred, too. The ability to respect the outsider is probably the litmus test of true seeing. ...

Everything becomes enchanting...

Richard Rohr Everything Belongs

“[Suzi] Gablik speaks of the previous paradigm of the Enlightenment period and what it has meant to artists: ‘Individualism, freedom and self-expression are the great modernist buzz words.’ The notion that art could serve collective cultural needs rather than a personal quest for self-expression seems almost ‘presumptuous’ in that worldview. Yet this assumption lies at the base of a paradigm shift in art, a shift ‘from objects to relationships.’ Gablik challenges her coworkers not to settle for abstract theorizing in making this paradigm shift. She personalizes and therefore grounds the transformations that must be undergone when she insists that ‘the way to prepare the ground for a new paradigm shift is to make changes in one’s own life.’ Spirituality is about praxis, she is saying, not just theory.”
Matthew Fox, The Reinvention of Work

Is it possible to create new spiritual structures for collaborative art making and to implement such toward community building with a depth of conviction, courage and inspiration that might move participants beyond self-interest toward truly new possibilities? Is it possible that with rigorous and focused processes artists could joyously make work engaging meaningfully with the specter of our global challenges while together exploring the uncharted territory of their souls? Can community building processes readily pour into art making wherein something meaningful and healing might evolve? Is it possible that these discoveries might be transmitted to the public at large through various new media shedding fresh light upon human potentials? Is it possible that all of this could dovetail with the efforts of important organizations such as The Global Justice Movement, Environmental Defense and Amnesty International toward a healthier and happier planet?

We say hopefully, yes.

What if artists were offered stipends, room and board allowing them to come together and to work intensively and without distraction for substantial blocks of time on film, music and real time performance collaborations? What if artists and thinkers could explore important issues in depth leading to transformational theater, installation, film and music? What if these artists were guided by experts through a structured community building process prior to beginning to create their projects? What if artists were given opportunity to work with and interact with some of the leaders of our time in the fields of art, science, and philosophy? What if these artists were given all the production equipment and technical assistance they might need to produce global quality shows? What if supporters and friends of our organization were given intimate amphitheater access to segments of our artists’ processes as well as early rehearsals, scheduled meals, activities and fellowship? What if the productions could be built and performed with some eventually touring the US and the world?

bluelab has been founded and created out of a perceived need to reconsider art making and professional collaborative art practice proceeding boldly from visionary prerogatives. We don’t find fault with the many artists who will not be drawn to what we are doing—for spiritual practice and its interface with collaborative art making are not for everyone.

In light of our present global endgame scenario it seems frivolous at best to argue over rhetorical issues. bluelab is intended for the “Great Work”--that of joining leaders of many fields worldwide who are engaged in the work of saving the earth. We believe that perhaps the only way to meet our present challenges is to deeply transform ourselves which implies the support of a real community and structured spiritual practice to be determined by each member for her or himself.

When serious professional artists are willing to embrace the rigors of authentic spiritual practice, the work of community building and heightened artistic collaboration will undoubtedly fall quickly into place.

The abundance of quotes from Sufi teachers have been included simply because they are part of my daily practice and do not infer a direct link between bluelab and Sufism. In point of fact, any serious spiritual practitioner must see that there can be no schism between the teachings of true Sufism and any sincere humanitarian interest. In the interest of those who may fear some sort of covert Islamic link, Sufism as it’s practiced and defined by and large in the West is Universalist in its orientation and in fact many Sufi’s roots are Christian and Jewish.

"Emptiness feels empty not because there is nothing present, but because whatever it is we're doing has no egotistic interference. The subtle arteries have no ego plaque in them, nothing to resist the smooth flow of the soul. Without our getting in the way, the life of the soul is rich and full, though unpredictable. But it isn't easy to trust strong desire and the life that keeps pouring into us. We always think we know better what should be and how it should all turn out. That is why the death principle --avoiding, worrying, being moralistic--is so popular." Thomas Moore The Soul's Religion

All through Erikson’s work is the implication that the creative adult (the generative adult) is precisely the person who can infuse his life with play;…the great cultural synthesizers—the religious, political and cultural geniuses such as Luther, Freud and Gandhi—were supreme in their playfulness, especially in their work. Their great words of synthesis were personal attempts to restore the active mastery of their egos in the context of the tensions and dichotomies of their personal and public historical situations. All great historical syntheses are as much play as they are work. They are work because they are indeed attentive to the real contradictions and tensions that most people of a given historical period both sense and suffer. They are a result of play because the creative genius does not simply conform to, adjust to, and accommodate to these tensions. Instead, he bends and reshapes these tensions until they submit to a new synthesis which not only enlivens and activates him but which also enlivens and activates a whole people and an entire era.

“Some renaissance theologians worked hard at reconciling paganism with Judaism and Christianity. We have yet to achieve this détente that is essential to the life of the soul. Fragments of our hearts and minds are located in the garden of Gethsemane and in the garden of Epicurus, on the zodiac of the Apostles and on the zodiac of the animals, in the wine of Dionysus and in the wine of the Eucharist, in the psalms of David and in the hymns of Homer.

It is not a matter of belonging to a religion or professing one’s faith, it is a matter of orientation in life and participation in its mysteries.

We can all be pagan in our affirmation of all of life, Christian in our affirmation of communal love, Jewish in our affirmation of the sacredness of family, [Islamic in our affirmation of self-sacrifice,] [Hindu in our affirmation of the multiplicity of God's expression], Buddhist in our affirmation of emptiness, and Taoist in our affirmation of paradox.

The new monk wears invisible robes. Thomas Merton travels across the globe, and in the home of Eastern monks, dies. Isn’t this a myth for our time and about the resurrection of the monastic spirit!”

“Vulnerability, then, is not only the ability to risk being wounded but is most often made manifest by revealing our woundedness: our brokenness, our crippledness, our weaknesses, our failures and inadequacies. I do not think that Jesus walked vulnerably among the outcasts and crippled of the world purely as a sacrificial act. To the contrary, I suspect he did so because he preferred their company. It is only among the overtly imperfect that we can find community and only among the overtly imperfect nations of the world that we can find peace. Our imperfections are among the few things we human beings have in common….Indeed, only honest people can play a healing role in the world.”
M.Scott Peck, M.D., A Different Drum

"In the very first chapter Thomas (Berry) lays before us 'The Great Work.' In each historical epoch, he says, people are given a “Great Work” to do—in one age, the settling of new lands, in another the building of great cathedrals, the creation of artistic, philosophical, religious or scientific works, or the shaping of political structures and ideas. The Great Works of prior periods are seen in such things as the movement of the first people out of Africa in the Paleolithic Period; the creation of language, rituals and social structures in hunter-gatherer communities; the establishment of agriculture communities in the Neolithic Period; the development of the great classical civilizations; and, in the modern period, advances in technology, urban civilization, new
ideals of government and human rights, the modern business enterprise and globalism.

Our Great Work is not something we choose, Thomas says. It is something we find ourselves thrown into by virtue only of being born in a certain time and place. The task may seem
overwhelming, one coming in response to some huge historical difficulty, but, he observes, just as we are given our historical task by some power beyond ourselves, we must also believe we are given the abilities to fulfill this task.
The Great Work into which we and our children are born, Thomas says, comes in response to
the devastation of the planet caused by human activity. We are facing a breakdown in the life
systems that can only be understood by comparison with events that marked the great transitions in the geo-biological eras of Earth’s history, such as the extinction of the dinosaurs and countless other species when the Mesozoic Era ended and our present Cenozoic Era began. Our task is to move from our modern industrial civilization with its devastating impact to that of benign presence. It is an arduous and overwhelming task, one exceeding in its complexity that ever offered to humans, for it is not simply one of adjustment to disturbance of human life patterns, as, for example, that occasioned by the Great Depression or the recent World Wars, but one of dealing with the disruption and termination of the geo-biological system that has governed the functioning of the planet in the 67 million year reign of the Cenozoic Era in the history of the planet Earth."

Ten Sufi Thoughts

from The Way of Illumination by Hazrat Inayat Khan

There are ten principal Sufi thoughts which comprise all the important subjects with which the inner life of man is concerned:
1) There is one God, the Eternal, the Only Being; none else exists save God.
2) There is one Master, the Guiding Spirit of all souls, who constantly leads all followers towards the light.
3) There is one Holy Book, the sacred manuscript of nature, which truly enlightens all readers.
4) There is one Religion, the unswerving progress in the right direction towards the ideal, which fulfils the life's purpose of every soul.
5) There is one Law, the law of Reciprocity, which can be observed by a selfless conscience together with a sense of awakened justice.
6) There is one human Brotherhood, the Brotherhood and Sisterhood which unites the children of earth indiscriminately in the Fatherhood (/Motherhood) of God.
7) There is one Moral Principle, the love which springs forth from self-denial, and blooms in deeds of beneficence.
8) There is one Object of Praise, the beauty which uplifts the heart of its worshipper through all aspects from the seen to the unseen.
9) There is one Truth, the true knowledge of our being within and without which is the essence of all wisdom.
10) There is one Path, the annihilation of the false ego in the real, which raises the mortal to immortality and in which resides all perfection.

The following are shared objectives for bluelab and were first articulated as such by Hazrat Inayat Khan who is credited as the first to bring Sufism to the West--in the early 20th century.

The objectives of the Sufi path:

1) To realize and spread the knowledge of unity, the religion of love and wisdom, so that the bias of faiths and beliefs may of itself fall away, the human heart may overflow with love, and all hatred caused by distinctions and differences may be rooted out.

2) To discover the light and power latent in man, the secret of all religion, the power of mysticism, and the essence of philosophy, without interfering with customs or belief.

3) To help to bring the world's two opposite poles, East and West, closer together by the interchange of thought and ideals that the Universal Brotherhood may form of itself and man may see with man beyond the narrow national and racial boundaries.

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Bluelab and the Blue Glass Farm 9.06

BLUE

History and Lore: In religious symbolism, blue signifies truth and is associated with the creative power of God. It has been used by priests at the grave, for it is symbolic of heaven. In ancient Rome, blue was worn by the public servants, thus marking the beginning of the idea for today's police uniforms. The expression "true blue" for constancy and fidelity perhaps originated with mariners, who associated the blue sky with freedom from storms. "Something blue" in the wedding jingle comes from the early Israelites, to who blue symbolized love, fidelity, and purity. To the Navaho, the southern mountains are blue and have created the dawn.

“Anyone who has some knowledge of mysticism and of the lives of the mystics knows that what always attracts the mystic most is nature. Nature is his bread and wine. Nature is his soul's nourishment. Nature inspires him, uplifts him and gives him the solitude for which his soul continually longs. Every soul born with a mystical tendency is constantly drawn towards nature; in nature that soul finds its life's demand, as it is said in the Vadan, 'Art is dear to my heart, but nature is near to my soul'. Upon those who are without any tendency towards mysticism nature has a calming effect; to them it means a peaceful atmosphere, but to the mystic nature is everything. “H.I. Khan

Schedule

Year one Gain legal status as a Corporation, gain investments or donations and begin initial productions.

test pilot projects created in various rented retreat centers resulting in several shows—live real time shows, gallery installations, films, music, and web accessible products.

Year two locate and secure affordable transitional facility for 2^nd group of projects which will build further support and upon increased capabilities.

Year three begin fundraising and construction for the Blue Glass Farm which will be located in an ideal rural setting providing a number of facilities and opportunities to further explore the unique potentials of Bluelab and the Blue Glass Farm enterprises.

Year five we have completed the Farm and are enjoying full schedules with no openings left for each season. Bluelab has now put itself on the map and though unorthodox is a respected feature of the contemporary global art and media world. Having won a number of awards in festivals and seen a measurable impact upon world culture as witnessed and reported on by a number of widely respected critics and thinkers we have no shortage of potential investors and participants. Several major producers have left their companies in order to work with us.

A number of renowned spiritual leaders have also made it known that they prefer to stage their workshops at the Blue Glass Farm because of the quality of the environment and the transdisciplinary approach to spiritual work which allows their students greater opportunities to integrate and deepen their individual practices as well as increasing their understanding of the fundamentals of community culture and civility in daily life.

Bluelab Illumined

The Blue Glass Farm is the large-scale vision of Jeff Hogue drawing freely from the realized work of a number of men and women who have built centers throughout the world that are on many levels very similar. Bluelab is the core creative production think tank for professional creatives to meet, retreat, have fellowship, share in communal and creative processes and build work together toward a more integrated, beautiful, and peaceful world. The idea as it stands in current development is that Bluelab will be the professional production forum which will be contained within Blue Glass Farm which will enjoy many of the offerings of other large scale art centers such as The Vermont Studio Center (VSC.com) and the Banff Centre (banffcentre.com) among a number of others. The key distinguishing characteristics of Blue Glass Farm are that it will be a place primarily designed as a physical forum for the meeting of professional leaders of the arts and leading spiritual teachers. While the visitors at Blue Glass Farm will enjoy opportunities to have access to many such celebrities, the visiting leaders will have opportunity to work together intensively for periods of time while simultaneously offering workshops and some one on one time with interested visitors.

Bluelab is built upon a fusion of studies and experiences along with the teachings of the root teacher of western Sufism, Hazrat Inayat Khan. The Pir o Murshid Hazrat Inayat Kahn was a master musician and a prolific man of God charged by his teacher to bring the ecumenist teachings of the Chishti order of Sufism from his home in India to the west. While the founder, Jeff Hogue is a Sufi cherag (minister) and many of the core ideas of Bluelab are per se Sufi, Zen offers much in ancient yet timeless sensibilities and examples of the integral relationships of nature to art, design, and spiritual practice. It is because of the utter elegance and simplicity of Zen design that it seems to make so much sense as a basic centralizing template for architectural concepts in development of Bluelab. In its pared state, the lines of Zen architecture and design are easily translated to a contemporary transcultural aesthetic that will have the widest possible appeal for visitors and participants and residents of Bluelab.

Imagine a place in the country that looks perhaps like a Zen monastery from the future with a group of structures with spare and elegant exterior lines which seem integral to the surrounding terrain, bounded by shaded paths and carefully shaped and nurtured coy ponds and gardens. The interior spaces are large, open and inviting—yet silent—and at the same time organic and cozy.

The shuttle van pulls up and four more people have arrived in time for our always anticipated evening meal. Our chef is a celebrated and gifted artist who prepares food with the kind of devotion that the traditional Zendo cook holds. Tradition tells us that the ranking member of such a community under the Roshi of abbot is the cook. For us at Bluelab there’s a deep reverence for all things natural and beautiful—and food and its preparation and presentation is a sublime experience and a time for fellowship and joy.

In soft candlelit space the golden light flickers on the natural wood walls and ceilings and the tables have been set by monks—of a sort—and there is again this familiar and pervading sense of tuned silence—a sublime almost heavy sense—yet one pregnant with joy and the confidence of hope—a hope that has been kindled over time—a hope born of the labors of the great men and women who have visited this exquisite place. In the corner some of our residents provide a soft and somber music with violin, cello, guitar and piano and our newly arrived guests show the same ecstatic surprise that we have all shared—filled with the sense of this beautiful place—and the devotion we share to Love, Harmony and Beauty---the centralizing principles upon which Bluelab and the Blue Glass Farm has been erected.

Our visiting Roshi leads us in prayers and one of our visiting distinguished board members leads a toast to our newly arrived dignitaries who have converged from both coasts for a 3 week project. For this project which we have entitled, A Reflected Glow, we have brought together 3 filmmakers, a celebrated poet, a composer, 3 well known actors who all have experience on both sides of the camera, and one of the most respected physicists of our time. These talented friends will all be working with two venerated Spiritual teachers one from France and the other from Arizona who are among the most respected teachers of our time.

We enjoy a wonderful dinner together and retire to the media lounge which is adjacent to the dining hall for some preliminary sharing of portfolios and ideas…

The complex is built around the “Chapel” which is a word with decidedly western/Christian connotations—

It is the “axis mundi” of the complex.

The axis mundi (world axis), in religion or mythology, is the world center and/or the connection between heaven and Earth. It exists in virtually all cultures on Earth, although it plays a much more explicit role in those cultures utilizing shamanic practices or those with animist belief systems. It is thought that the axis mundi idea spread throughout Eurasia as a part of the Proto-Indo-European religion, more specifically as the world tree concept. It is familiar today as the Rod of Asclepius, the symbol of medicine, and the similar caduceus; the staff is the axis itself, and the serpent (or serpents) are the guardians or guides to the other realm. It is a common shamanic concept, the healer traversing the axis mundi to bring back knowledge from the other world. The axis mundi connects heaven and earth as well as providing a path between the two. The axis mundi is commonly represented as a rope, tree, vine, ladder, pillar or staff, among other things. In addition to the caduceus, the yin-yang descends from this idea. Sometimes, depending on representation and belief system, the axis mundi is considered explicitly male or even phallic.

Many cultures consider a specific place, almost always a hill, a mountain or a pyramid to be the axis mundi. For example, the Sioux consider the Black Hills to be the axis mundi, while Mount Kailash is holy to several religions in Tibet. Often, within the same belief system, several places may be considered the axis mundi; in Islam, the Dome of the Rock, where Mohammed was raised and lowered from heaven, as well as the shrine at Mecca play this role. The Temple Mount, site of the Dome of the Rock, is also holy to Judaism and Christianity. Other nearby sites that are considered sacred and are on hills include the Mount of Olives and Calvary. The ancient Greeks had several sites that were considered places of the omphalos (navel) stone, such as the oracle at Delphi, while also maintaining a belief in a world tree and Mount Olympus as the abode of the gods.

Many religious structures explicitly mimic axis mundi. The stupa of Hinduism, and later Buddhism, reflects Mount Meru. The upright bar of the cross is sometimes seen as representing a world axis, while the steeple of a church or minaret of a mosque indicates a place where the earthly and the divine meet. In Mesopotamian civilizations, the ziggurat works as an axis mundi. Structures such as maypoles in pre-Christian Europe, linked to the Saxon's Irminsul, and totem poles among Pacific Northwest Native Americans also formed local or temporary world axes.

Other times a specific plant is considered the axis mundi. In some Pacific island cultures the banyan tree, of which the Bodhi tree is of the Sacred Fig variety, is the abode of ancestor spirits. The Bodhi Tree is also the name given to the tree under which Gautama Siddhartha, the historical Buddha, sat on the night he attained enlightenment. Other corollaries include Yggdrasil of Norse mythology, Jievaras of Lithuanian mythology, the pre-Christian people’s Thor's Oak, the Sefirot of Judaism, the Chakras common to many Eastern religions, and the Trees of Life and Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden. Entheogens are often considered to be the axis mundi, such as the Fly Agaric mushroom among the Evenks of Russia.

Some scholars have stated that the architectural axis mundi have transferred into secular societies. In this conception, the Washington Monument of the United States and Eiffel Tower of France represent world axes proclaiming secular power. This transfer of the idea of axis mundi from a religious to non-religious context is sometimes contentious.

Be bold and great forces will come to your aid. Goethe.