by JO ATHA ROGERS jonathanrogers@aol.com www.jonathanrogersart.com
VISIO S FROM FAITH In 1992 I surrendered my life to a power, or something, that I do not fully understand and cannot satisfactorily describe. From that moment on everything changed as if from darkness to daylight. I experienced learning to breathe, talk, see, hear, walk - everything - all over again as if for the first time, plus the disappearance of a lifelong medical condition, plus a new emotional range and stability which extends to this day. In my opinion there is no explanation other than it is what we label God. A series of visions were generated in my mind deriving from this extraordinary experience and I produced them in these pictures. Other people have given them titles and some have stuck. To me they just are what they are. Give them your own titles. I have no deliberate religious or philosophical beliefs or affiliations, but there are new speculations on the internet that I find intriguing such as Biocentrism and other such remarkable stuff. The fact that my personal findings coincide with various tenets of established religions and philosophies reinforces my conviction that there is a universal intangible source of consciousness and intelligence that is available to us. Faith is fascinating. It cannot be procured, purchased, transferred or obtained, you can only have it. As Jesus of Nazareth famously declared (if the reporting is reliable) Fear not, have faith. People are still asking - how? The perplexing answer is: there is nothing you can do. Have it. We need to understand the difference between belief and faith, they are not the same and ought not to be used interchangeably. I observe that belief is thought, it has content, a belief in something. Belief is accompanied by doubt, a mental polarity. If there is no doubt there is no need for belief. Belief and doubt are reciprocal, mutually defining. Either pole can be ignored according to personal preference. The great value of belief is that it can lead to discovery which produces knowledge. I observe that faith is a state of being. Unlike belief it has no object. Once we say we have faith in something it has become a belief due to implicit future, thus doubt. Faith is independent of thought, although faith produces thoughts and actions. Thought does not produce faith, thought diminishes faith - and a good thing too. There are actions taken in faith that with a little thought could have been really, really improved upon. At the same time we cannot deny the impulsive leap of faith that moves mountains. After these many years I am becoming comfortable with claiming that these images are a first. As far as I can determine to date there has never been anything like them in the entire history of humankind - quite a statement in the light of fifty thousand years of human obsession about divine and/or extrasensory influences. The concept of the Hand of God in words is common so it s a wonder that it does not appear in imagery just as often, but surprisingly, to the best of my knowledge, there is nothing. People have mentioned Rodin who made a pair of lovers in a large hand but he was never led to pursue the theme further. Some look to Michelangelo who produced some epic hands but as with Rodin although there is similarity in the symbolism they do not convey spiritual transformation, but lemme tellya I m kinda flattered by the comparison. My spiritual journeying over my lifetime of 80 years has been pretty extensive although I am sure that in the opinion of the long time single-path seeker I am merely a dabbler because I have not persisted in my involvements. It didn t feel like dabbling to me, some of them took decades. I went in over my head every time immersing in Christianity, Spiritualism, Scientology, Primal Therapy, Meditation, 12 Step Programs plus a little Zen not to mention my own solitary explorations objectively analyzing my experiences and integrating them into whatever knowledge of our spiritual dimension I may have accumulated in my attempts to define nothing definite.
From time to time someone will ask me do you believe in God? implying a yes or no answer. A little preamble is required. The word symbolizes what everybody seems to tacitly acknowledge, that is, an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent power. Since our earliest times we humans have left evidence of sacred sites, amulets, burials and totems that indicate recognition of intangible presence, that which makes us look skywards and spontaneously declare gratitude for the harvest, for the healing of disease, for a victory, for the last-minute save. The by God swearing of the oath, the curse, the threat, the promise, not to mention begging for salvation - dear God get me outta this one and I ll never be bad again. We say God bless, God damn, God forbid, God willing, God knows, thank God plus the vivid Oh God oh God oh God and so on and on. Just a word, just a symbol right? A symbol represents something! There is no one ever, including you, who has not prayed. To what do we pray pray tell? Like gravity, like space, we grow up with God, the fundamental contrast that defines all matter, making perception possible. We have historically tried to understand this invisible influence and in the process we have actually identified it, labeling it God so at least we have something we can talk about. To answer the question: God is. For me belief does not apply. If all this looks like simple consciousness then consciousness must be a whole lot more than an individual s experience, indeed I notice that Quantum Theory and Neuroscience are trending towards a similar conclusion. The Visions From Faith are about redemption. These pieces symbolize the transforming experience, the surrender of oneself to an intangible power requiring the reduction of the mature ego to powerlessness, surrendering Life to Infinite Being. Life. All, not just personality, indulgences, career and values, it is non-negotiable. In my opinion it is a fundamental motivation in us all, always and forever, the striving for spiritual fulfillment, consciousness of, and consciousness with, what is globally known by humankind by many names all meaning GOD. Thousands of reproductions of The Visions From Faith have been distributed in every state and worldwide from Budapest to Hong Kong. They are in homes and offices, clinics and prisons, churches and to my surprise, an abortion clinic. They continue to remain well outside the current considerations of contemporary art, scientific inquiry, psychology and even mainstream religion. Judging by the feedback I have obtained over the years I am gratified that these artworks have had some good affects in the world. Not every artist gets that kind of reward while yet alive. I have struggled for years trying to create meaningful text to accompany these images. I feel the continuing urge to do so in the intent and the hope of doing my part in helping to illuminate a dimension of humanity that has forever been complicated by fantasy, superstition and tradition while I acknowledge the reality of miracles and the reality of God. This is it to date, I hope that readers will respond. Jonathan Rogers jonathanrogers@aol.com www.jonathanrogersart.com
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