BEN LAU:
Here is my daughter Isabella Lau's email to me:
It's my observations of how you communicate in
general. I KNOW you support everyone around you, and
that you're a generous man. I agree that if people
don't listen to you, they can choose to leave.
However, you can't keep pushing people to their limits
because people have limits. Do you understand me? I'm
saying, you are a great man; you are a genius at art,
you are a generous man, you can see things that people
cannot, and your English is superb. BUT, you are not
communicating effectively because people are putting
up defenses and eventually it does not matter what
you're saying... they won't get anything from what you
say because they are defensive about how you're
delivering it. This is how people behave. You WANT to
get your message out to general population, right?
Well, you have to cater your speech to fit them so
that they can have a chance to listen. Not everyone
knows how to lower their defenses and leave their egos
behind.
BEN LAU:
I was completely surprised by my 19 year old
daughter, Isabella Lau's comment above on an earlier
incident. As we all know, teenagers these days have
minds of their own, with their youthful friends,
pursuits and all. Generally speaking, we are all more
or less rebellious to the established order of things
when young. Specifically, Isabella is known to many as
an insightful young woman. She is in the honor roll as
a student in Bloomington District all those years,--
so trying to influence a person in that caliber is
absolutely impossible.
The old Dad's eyes briefly brightened, then slightly
moistened, not because of the recognition from a
daughter, which is vanity, nor because of her
advice, which originates from a Minnesota Nice
upbringing, but because she truly sees IT! It is the
Tao that she is able to perceive.
Extraordinary incidents sometimes magically bring out
the thunder in a person. It is quite a revelation to
the old man who has known her for 19 years, overseeing
her growth.
In short,
Isabella Lau has come of age--I am happy to report
that she is over and beyond my expectation in the way
of her maturation! However, the emergence of the EGO is
an issue.
It is true that, as Isabella has mentioned in the
above email to me, I have been quite stern with
learners NOT making an effort.
In the East, the Zen master uses the cane on a learner
when the latter's spirit fall asleep.
The idea is NOT to exert control. It is simply to rein
in the EGO.
But this is America. Judge Lynn can have someone
arrest me for caning people, by way of disciplining
the learner lagging behind or showing a disdain for
the Tao, one must find a more realistic way to awaken
the learner and rein in the ego.
When there are too many desires in the mind, the EGO
is in charge, resulting to the spirit at limbo,
creating spiritual vacation that resembles blindness
in physical terms. Under that condition, any speech or
theories generated in the mind is in chaotic delirium.
They are merely the regurgitations of unexamined
hearsays or cognitive learnings, no matter how smart
they are being articulated. For example, believing
firmly in Norman Rockwell or Mickey Mouse as anything
more than illustrators is clearly an unfounded belief
through an a priori ideology. Harboring such faith in
a person is hardly indicative of a sound mind, even
though the mind is that of a Ph. D or a Master of
anything.
When one refuses to examine the root of art, or
develop an intense dislike for the Tao, that would be
another indicator: that something important is missing
inside. What is amiss is not on the part of the Tao,--
that is obvious, nor in the deliverance of it--but in
the listener himself!
I have often said that when a person is in thirst,
just drink the water--don't ask who brings it. Even if
a beggar, with lice in hair, in foulsome
tatter, smelling obnoxious, is the one who brings it--
TAKE IT!
Hey, if anything, it quenches the thirst!
When I say a condition of "blindness," I mean it
without any hurtful intent. Some words may not be
pretty, but they are truthful and used with
precision. It is simply the condition in which an Inner
EYE has gone missing! Insight is not there when EGO
runs wild.
Without that INNER EYE, anything that this speaker, or
the great Knox Martin says about Art sounds like
absolute nonsense.
J. Krishnamurti, a modern Indian sage, has put it
eloquently:
*******************************************************
THE PURPOSE OF LIFE IS TO BE AWAKEN TO BEAUTY, (or the
TAO, or GREATNESS.)
*******************************************************
Kerry:
We will never agree on some ideas
or attitudes about art-we do on some. It is not a
problem for me and
it does not in any way disrespect you or your truth or
cause me to
care any less for you or your family.
Peace!
>
>
BEN LAU:
Kerry, if you have a true passion for art, there is really
no detour by way of avoiding "your truth"-- which is
actually the truth of an artistic genius.
Had you really taken me seriously, you would not
have described that as "your truth!"
Is that not a disrespect already when you call the
universal truth "your truth?" as though I
had invented it? I really don't care too much
about anyone's respect for me.In real life, I am a nobody,
making a meager living by driving a school bus.
Respect or not I truly could not
care less. It is your own welfare that is at stake!
Do you understand me? It is against your own motto and
your own gorgeous upbringing! I have never asked for
respect from anyone. Had you really known me, you
would have agreed, along with Kate and Isabella, that I
am probably
one of the humblest men on earth. I am not a boss at
home, nor am I a boss at work. Nor do I have any
desire to be an authority on art!
You may try using subtlety in suggesting that I have
craved for all that, but that does not work. None
of
those insinuation of insults bother me a bit! It
eventually bounces back at you when you look
yourself
in the mirror at your meditative moment. Little do I
care about power or influence in the world. I just
want to educate the public about true Art and
enhance
its clarity for the posterity. That is my job and
burden as a grade school art teacher. Both fortunate
and unfortunate!
The artistic genius is a reality, Kerry! I am just a
small existence out of the entire universe, so are you! We
are equal-- and are EQUALLY small. If that is ONLY
"my truth", would it not be a blashemy for you to utter
it, as much as it is for me?
The artistic genius is not superhuman, neither is
he god. He/she is simply endowed with the inner eye for
spiritual Beauty--just as the scientific genius is
endowed with the inner eye for physical truth. Look
at the autumn sky, has Mother Nature not assigned the
Alpha goose a role in leading the flock? The same
can be said about the Alpha seer. Do not ask why that is
the order of thing. Just enough to say if
you truly want peace don't find yourself at conflict
with Nature!
Your superb intelligence + all those years of true
friendship between us has meant nothing to us?
To me, however, it is a real concern, because my
passion for Art and friendship is equally strong! What has
prevented you from seeing the truth is really beyond
our domain of discussion here! Since it is something else other than
the inability of seeing, I have no
intention of getting into it.
But I am patient. I will wait for the day when my
dear
friend Kerry begins to deal with reality and look
truth in the eyes without finding an excuse to shun
its omnipotent might and live in fragmentary fear created by memories.
In the New testament, Saul had an incident. A strong
light from heaven struck him blind. Thereupon, God
said, " Saul, why have you forsaken me?"
Later Saul became St. Paul and spread the Gospel.
That is just a metaphor. There is most likely no God
nor Santa Claus.
Nevertheless, I sincerely hope that our story would
come to the same happy ending one day!
BEN LAU:
In one exchange of rapid fire argument, my learned
opponent reprimanded me for paying too much attention
to Alpha Art, proclaiming that Rothko's or Jackson
Pollock's illustrations--those forms of "art" that
represents her so-called "errancy", are just as
important as Alpha Art, etc.
I have nothing to say if that individual she was speaking
from a position of SEEING--not from one of sentimental
blindness.
With that in mind, I am happy to report that the NYC
City Hall is now taking Venus seriously. Venus is a mural by the great master
Knox Martin--the example of a
timeless gem! (Visit www.knoxmartin.com)
A gem that exists despite Woman's
Liberation, postmodernism, Terrorism, the Iraq War,
George Bush's erroneous handling of national and
international affairs, --despite your opinions or mine.