« The Unbroken Connection of Spirit Between Us »

This year Patrick, my former husband/partner of twenty seven years and I,  gathered together with our family of children and grandchildren to share in the celebration of Christmas. Although we now live 2,000 miles apart, we continue to have an unspeakable closeness. We spent our young precious years together growing up, united by the social, political and consciousness revolution of the sixties. We were united by our committment to parent a family; by our common love for the arts and most of all, our love for the Spirit that moves in, through and around us.

This year for Christmas we both gave each other works of art as gifts. What occurred on this day was a classic Patrick and Ellen moment that speaks volumes about our unbroken connection of Spirit.

Above on the left and right are two works of art. Within and between these two pieces of art, there lies the telling of our relationship. A relationship of spiritual connection that could only be revealed in such a profound and  uncanny way. The sculpture on the left is called "My Spirit and I". I bought it from Simba, a Philadelphia based artist from Zimbabwe, Africa. The photograph on the right which Patrick bought for me is taken at the sacred Mayan site of Teotihuacan in Mexico by Colorado artist, Li Rose Moore.                                                                                         .

Both works of art are meant to be sacred art that reveal the mystery of Spirit and man in a black and white language. Both reveal the metaphoric images of an "eye" or "I" that sees. One is in the heavens , the other an earthly eye. One is formed by gaseous air vapor, the other solidly made by stone. One appears whole in its form because of the counterpart of a faceless, white Spirit.  In the photograph there is a celestial cloud formation that outlines half of a face of a divine being with a large open eye. Both works of art speak of the nature of seeing. The question is who sees? Who is the I that sees?  When we see what light are we reflecting ?                                                                                                                                                                                                 Surprising one another with this extraordinary gift exchange that speaks to the " exact same subject matter" falls in a category of unlikely odds. In both pieces of artwork the message is clear. The eye is the I is the Spirit. It is wonderfully refreshing to realize we are still being moved by and through the Spirit; It is wonderfully refreshing to realize that somethings between people never change. It is wonderful to celebrate what remains the unbroken connection of Spirit between us.