The Edge of Form and Formlessness
A Lived Inquiry Reflection from an Awareness of Impermanence during a Health Crisis
On February 21st 2024, while in the hospital during a major heath crisis, I shared the above self image and the following words onto my Facebook feed and in a chat stream here on my Substack. The response was beyond what I imagined with comments that kept me going through the challenges I was facing during my hospitalization. I wanted to include this in the archive because of its profound transformative experience for myself and others.
Posting during the Hospital Visit
Greetings from the edge of form and formlessness. I am in Stanford hospital again making a friend of death. We are becoming old acquaintances now. In these moments I am profoundly aware of the limits of this world of form.
The doctors of tomorrow are searching for the cause of my body’s current malfunctions. Surrendering into that unknown-ness is a strange and wondrous gift of opening to the present moment.
Blessings to all of you and may we live more fully in this beautiful NOW.
The lived inquiry artist in me feels the calling to capture and share this moment with you. Have a great and deeply present 🎁 day and week!
Posting after the Hospital Visit
Thank you everyone for all the amazing support…it kept me going in between all the tests and waves of physical pain and discomfort! I’m out of the hospital and resting at home. My body is still facing many challenges but we have more answers than before and as always I experienced more lived inquiry lessons. More later…including an exploration of my major transformative altered state experience inside an MRI machine …pretty trippy…
About the Image
I shot the above original photo after the nurses hooked me up on a CPAP machine for the night on top of all the wires attached to my body to track my vitals. I felt the calling to process it with the Oilist AI art program to see if I could use it to help me transform the harsh material reality of the original photo to include the deep altered state (with an awareness of impermanence) I was feeling.
The image at the top of this post was the final work. It really captured my state of being for me and I was then called to share it via both Facebook and Substack, as I mentioned above. One commenter on Facebook talked about how the processed image was so powerful for her and how she thought a harsh realistic image would not have impacted her the same way.
In Gratitude…
Thank you for taking the time to explore this work.
My deep gratitude to all my subscribers for supporting me and my work through your subscription and your likes, shares and comments.
Special thanks to my paid subscribers and those who made a direct donation for helping me keep the lights on and continue this work
Mark, I discovered your presence in the world just a week ago on IntegralLife. It came to me as perhaps a synchronicity that I was in the hospital 2/22/24-2/24/24 and contemplating my mortality at the same time you were in the hospital shimmering between worlds. I did not try to distract myself from the experience but allowed it to be reality. Nurses, doctors and various assistants were very kind. There was plenty to laugh about while hooked up to tubes and machines. Thank you for sharing the truth of who you are from the lofty perspective of teacher and playmate! -Tessalin Green
Thanks Mark. It's wonderful how you have been able to bring people together from different parts of the world. Hopefully you feel better soon.