The linocut “un –“
un – has had its place on the wall in our practice room since 2010 – since not long after I made it as a linocut. (The version here is from a business card facsimile.)
It’s been interesting to live with un – on the wall over these years. Here are some reflections in 2025 on the work.
The poem
un -
budded germinated
emanated emerged
sprung risen grown
commenced proceeded
sprouted appeared
started happened dawned
Reflection – ungrund
The poem was, and still is, a reminder to me of the underlying, ever-present, matchless, forever unstained, nondual presence that is said to underlie our experiential life.
It’s the “one without a second“, as they say in Advaita Vedanta; the apophatic nature of reality, the Ungrund of Meister Eckhart.
Others call this the Self, though that’s an overused term and possibly best kept clear of!
Even if we don’t subscribe to nondual ideas of reality, we can all readily accept that we exist, and that this mystery of existence is experiencing something.
To me it seems well worth while to have this place of mere existence as a grounding point to which we can return when the whole complexity of conceptualising and emotionalising gets out of hand in our lives!
un- arises from nothing
The poem tries to remind us that from un – (i.e.nothing, undoing) arises the myriad buddings and sproutings of mental and emotional states; states that can serve us well, or alternatively can be the cause of much suffering.
un – can be a home to which we can always return.