Authors From The United States

"Creators aligned with Divine Will Make the soul perceptible. Artist priests with minimal dogma Transfix, transform, and evolve The chaotic melding of cultures, Through the dross of ego To superconsciousness fusion With the Nature-field."

"We seek through art To recover our center, To remember our soul's task, To stop sleepwalking in confusion, To stop managing our depression, To harness the passion of inexhaustible love, To find the One Godself Hidden throughout creation, Art is the scab healing the wound Of the separate self-illusion."

"The Sacred Mirrors speak to our highest aspirations as a species: universal compassion, respect for all life, a deep appreciation of all cultures and wisdom traditions, awakened consciousness and a full flowering of our human potential. In a "chapel of beauty," they could contribute to the radical raising of awareness we so desperately need if we are to successfully navigate our way to a saner, more loving and life-affirming civilization."

"A universal spiritual art would be art that any person would recognize as having a spiritual intention. It could speak to the heart and soul of the individual and orient them toward the greater aspect of their own being, their interconnectedness with all life and the cosmos. A universal spiritual art would return the viewer to their own ultimate identity, which lies beyond representation, but can be pointed to when our inspired visions are brilliantly transmitted. The challenge to artists today is to integrate the vast history of art from as many cultures as possible, to reach deep inside themselves for their own personal insights into the transcendental and allow this to coalesce into the most powerful imagery possible."

"People generally begin to understand my work after they’ve had some experience with the subtle visionary inner-worlds. These altered states can occur in many ways, from meditation to psychedelics to near-death experiences. A fellow in Japan came to my exhibit and showed me a five-inch elliptical scar over his heart where he had been struck nearly dead by lightning. He claimed that he had entered the "universal mind lattice," one of the "sacred mirrors" I’ve painted, during his near-death experience. What these various experiences or altered states have in common is the person who experiences them is profoundly transformed. They now know there are dimensions beyond the physical that are deeply mysterious and equally infinite to the outer worlds."

"Every artist who’s really into their work disappears into the creative flow. This is akin to some of the concentration-oriented meditations of the various sacred traditions. Images come in all different ways. You can get visions when you’re tripping on drugs, when you’re dreaming or in a hypnogogic state before dropping off to sleep, while listening to music or even waiting for the subway."

"Art can be a spiritual practice. Not all artists consider this to be true for them, but with the proper motivation and focus, it can be. A spiritual practice is an activity that enables you to develop the qualities of mental clarity, mindfulness of the moment, wisdom, compassion and access to revelations of higher mystic states of awareness. A contemplative method, such as yoga or meditation, will stabilize and assist in the progress of spiritual awareness. An artist’s craft can become a contemplative method, and the creations may provide outward signs of an inner spiritual journey."

"I was bom on November 29, 1953, which makes me a Sagittarius. I'm no astrologer, but I am interested in its symbols. The Sagittarian is a centaur archer aiming for the stars. You could say this is the sign of a philosophical idealist, someone who aims high. The horse/human hybrid aiming higher unites the animal body, the human mind and the flaming-arrow spirit. Sagittarius is also a fire sign; fire shows up strongly as a motif in my work."

"Around the age of 20, I was doing unusual performance pieces focused on the exploration of polarities. This was a somewhat naive and intuitive venture based on my dreams and visions. I hadn’t yet encountered Taoism or other mystical teachings related to duality and the union of opposites. … One of my more dramatic polarity performances was to journey up to the North Magnetic Pole. After returning from the Pole, having spent all my money, two life-changing events occurred: At a party, I took LSD for the first time. Sitting with my physical eyes closed, my inner eye moved through a beautiful spiral tunnel. The walls of the tunnel seemed like living mother-of-pearl; it felt like a spiritual rebirth canal. I was in the darkness, spiraling toward the light. The curling space going from black to gray to white suggested to me the resolution of all polarities. My artistic rendering of this event was titled "The Polar Unity Spiral." Soon after this, I changed my name to Grey as a way of bringing the opposites together. The other life-changing event was meeting my wife, Allyson, that same evening. She was the only other person at the party who had taken LSD. We made a profound connection at that time, and have been together ever since. It’s been twenty-five years."

"I worked as a medical illustrator for about ten years. It was not my career ambition; it was a way to finance my addiction to art and support my family. Medical illustration gave me the opportunity to investigate and portray the bodily systems in dramatic ways. Prior to my work as a medical illustrator, I prepared bodies at a medical-school morgue, which provided important training for understanding the fleeting nature of life. It also provided unforgettable studies into the iridescent, fibrous architecture that forms our physical body."

"I've noticed various stages of receptivity to my art. The work points to a mystic core of truth at the heart of all wisdom traditions and affirms an integral universal spirituality. If you have ever had a mystical experience you will understand my work immediately, if not it may take awhile. The human species is evolving and waking up to our self-destructive bender called materialism and the 20th century. Human evolution will allow access to dormant visionary physiology that allows us to see clearly, to more easily see when people are lying, and to recognize the common heart of love behind all our dualistic thoughts."

"The Artist is a tiny reflection of the One Creative Spirit that generates and is all realities. God creates the cosmos with love. God is the creator of the unfinished masterpiece, "Time/Space Continuum," which each of us helps co-create. The artist faces the blank canvas and invents new realities, and in a very tiny microcosmic way this reflects the macrocosm. The highest art aligns us with the "Divine Imagination," as Blake called it, and empowers our Soul, catalyzing our path to becoming the greatest person we can be."

"In a society that tries to standardize thinking, individuality is not highly prized."

"Alex Grey is one of the mast widely recognized psychedelic artists of our time. His paintings — they’ve graced Nirvana's In Utero and the Beastie Boys' Ill Communication albums, as well as the covers of High Times — peel back reality, showing the human body in ways both spiritual and startling. To see his work is to get a crash course in human anatomy, higher consciousness and magic."

"You can never be lost. When have you ever been apart from me?"

"Like an eruption of consciousness, We discover the source of love. Experience yourself as the Source And appreciate every moment as perfection. Sunrise–Sunset. Thank you, Thank you, Creator; Profound unstoppable connectedness of all beings, Pattern to everything, most radical no-thing, The Vast Expanse."

"We are constantly drawing the line between love and not love — Enter into the Non-duality Zone. All judgements dissolve in the Vast Expanse."

"Love is what makes us alive, That is why we feel so alive when we love. Service is being available to love. Life is the combustion of love. That we love ourselves here, That is the true magnificence In the mountains of being."

"Life is infinite creative play. Enjoyment and participation in this creative play Is the artists profound joy. We co-author every moment With universal creativity."

"I subject my awareness to the perfection of being, The perfection of wisdom and perfection of love, All of these being co-present in the Vast Expanse. I share this panorama of Being And appreciate all I can share it with… The seamless interweaving of consciousness With each moment Create perfection wherever you go With your awareness."

"The infinite vibratory levels, The dimensions of interconnectedness Are without end. There is nothing independent. All beings and things are residents in your awareness."

"Even common passions... will put him up to his mettle."

"Feeling that the silver chord of life is loosing, and that his spirit is ready to quit her old companion the body, he extends himself on his bed — closes his eyes for the last time, with his own hands — folds his arms decently on his breast, then breathing out "Father of mercies! take me to thyself," — he fell asleep. Swift on angels' wings the brightening saint ascended; while voices more than human were heard (in Fancy's ear) warbling through the happy regions, and hymning the great procession towards the gates of heaven. His glorious coming was seen far off, and myriads of mighty angels hastened forth, with golden harps, to welcome the honored stranger."

"I cannot tell a lie, I did it with my little hatchet."

"Gene Ray: Another thing, did you know your father is a fish? Interviewer: No, I did not know my... [laughter] Gene Ray: You know how salmon swim upstream, the male fertilizes the female eggs laid in the water? Interviewer: Yes. Gene Ray: The sperm fish swims upstream just like the salmon fertilizes female eggs laid in the water."

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

"A graceful taunt is worth a thousand insults."

"There is an aphorism about a farmer who before sunrise on a cold and misty morning, saw a huge beast on a distant hill. He seized his rifle and walked cautiously toward the ogre to head off an attack on his family. When he got nearer, he was relieved to find that the beast was only a small bear. He approached more confidently and when he was within a few hundred yards the distorting haze had lifted sufficiently so that he could recognize the figure as only that of a man. Lowering his rifle, he walked toward the stranger and discovered he was his brother."

"When a man points a finger at someone else, he should remember that four of his fingers are pointing to himself."

"Once early in the morning, at two or three in the morning, when the master was asleep, the books in the library began to quarrel with each other as to which was the king of the library. The dictionary contended quite angrily that he was the master of the library because without words there would be no communication at all. The book of science argued stridently that he was the master of the library for without science there would have been no printing press or any of the other wonders of the world. The book of poetry claimed that he was the king, the master of the library, because he gave surcease and calm to his master when he was troubled. The books of philosophy, the economic books, all put in their claims, and the clamor was great and the noise at its height when a small low voice was heard from an old brown book lying in the center of the table and the voice said "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want". And all of the noise and the clamor in the library ceased, and there was a hush in the library, for all of the books knew who the real master of the library was."

"A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist."

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

"Nothing is as simple as we hope it will be."

"The American states have gone far in assisting the progress of truth; but they have stopped short of perfection. They ought to have given every honest citizen an equal right to enjoy his religion and an equal title to all civil emoluments, without obliging him to tell his religion. Every interference of the civil power in regulating opinion, is an impious attempt to take the business of the Deity out of his own hands; and every preference given to any religious denomination, is so far slavery and bigotry."

"Philosophies, like old soldiers, do not die, they merely fade away."

"The continuum in which we live is not the kind of place in which middles can be unambiguously excluded."

"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States. A military force, at the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but such as the people perceive to be just and constitutional; for they will possess the power, and jealousy will instantly inspire the inclination, to resist the execution of a law which appears to them unjust and oppressive."

"There iz no alternativ. Every possible reezon that could ever be offered for altering the spelling of wurds, stil exists in full force; and if a gradual reform should not be made in our language, it wil proov that we are less under the influence of reezon than our ancestors."

"The female woman is one of the greatest institooshuns of which this land can boste."

"My wife is one of the best wimin on this continent, altho' she isn't always gentle as a lamb, with mint sauce."

"I am not a politician, and my other habits are good, also."

"The prevailin' weakness of most public men is to Slop over. G. Washington never slopt over."

"N.B. This is rote sarcastikul."

"Hearto4, as I hav numerously obsarved, I have abstrained from having any sentimunts or principles, my pollertics, like my religion, bein of a exceedin accommodatin character. But the fack can't be no longer disgised that a Krysis is onto us, & I feel it's my dooty to accept your invite for one consecutive nite only."

"The Puritans nobly fled from a land of despotism to a land of freedim, where they could not only enjoy their own religion, but could prevent everybody else from enjoyin his."

"...their eyes sparkled like diminds, their cheeks was like roses, and they was charmin enuff to make a man throw stuns at his granmother, if they axed him to."

"I now bid you a welcome adoo."

"Did you ever have the measels, and if so, how many?"

"They cherish his mem'ry, and them as sell picturs of his birthplace, etc., make it prof'tible cherishin' it."

"The sun has a right to "set" where it wants to, and so, I may add, has a hen."