Excerpts from the book Once Upon a Time by Gordon Onslow Ford in collaboration with Fariba Bogzaran.

Copyright 1999, Lucid Art Foundation

All rights reserved. This book or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from Lucid Art Foundation quest@lucidart.org

(From Pages 17 to 19)

Once Upon A Time

Every religion recounts how the world began.
For the pioneer painter, painting is a religion,
a way of becoming bonded to the world.
Here follow a few remarks about the beginning.

In the beginning is the World of the One, the pure energy of the Mind Shared by All that is the origin of all that exists.

The World of the One is ever present but too close to touch, too fast to catch with sight, sound or idea.

The World of the One is the creative spirit of the Universe.

The World of the One is beyond human expression and understanding.

In painters' terms the World of the One includes and is beyond black and white, which are the extremities of visual language.

When conditions are right, a cosmic cataclysm takes place and without being diminished, the World of the One gives birth to the World of the Two in One.

The World of the Two in One is matter in an amorphous, undifferentiated state that embodies in potential the multiplicity of all forms of life.

The World of the Two in One is in union with, yet distinct from, the World of the One.

The World of the Two in One is the substance in potential of the Mind Shared by All.

The World of the Two in One is beyond expression and beyond understanding.

In painters' terms, the World of the Two in One is the place
where black is white and where white is black.
Here the black pole and the white pole of the world
are perforce in one and the same place.

When conditions are right in the World of the Two in One a cosmic cataclysm takes place and the World of the Three in One comes into being.

The World of the Three in One, for the first time, can find expression in elements in the Instant.

Each element has a life of its own and is in intimate relation to the other elements.

The world, from the painters' point of view, is the underlying ground of existence that bonds all forms of life together.

In the beginning the world appears in black and white.
The white is the whitest of whites and is the expression of all the visible colors spun together.

The black is the blackest of blacks and is the expression of all the invisible colors spun together.

(From pages 56 to 68)

Mysteries and Priorities

Beyond the confines of thought lies art,
the mysteries and the unknown.

Inner-world paintings come from the mysteries and the unknown.

The beings and forms of life in the inner-worlds appear in the lines, dots, forms, and colors that become more primal as the quest goes deeper.

Over the years, through insight and contemplation, one becomes ever more aware of the mysterious spirit of the universe. Marvels are more apt to appear and the mind is more likely to become open.

Slowly and surely the Universe becomes increasingly intimate.

Priorities of attitude towards life that were more clearly felt in ancient times, when human beings lived closer to nature, now again become self evident. Present conditions necessitate ever deepening of awareness.

From where did the Universe come?
How did the Universe begin?
What is the nature of the Universe?
Who was I before I was born?
What is the purpose of life?
How am I related to other forms of life?
What happens after death?

In pondering the mysteries one might well despair at our intellectual limitations.

But, in spontaneous painting there is a feeling that the mysteries, without being solved, are present and are kept alive in what is being created.

The first priority:
faith in the marvelous creative power of the Universe.

Father Sky

Wonder at the endless black and blue depths, awe at the galaxies, stars, planets and moons and the security and continuity that their changing order and movements evoke.

Awe at the astonishing precision of evolution from one eon of the universe to another, in which, in some way, we were, are and will be present.

Awe at the play between the very small and the very great.

Awe at the penetrating, crisscrossing cosmic rays that intercommunicate in ways beyond understanding. Gratitude for being an essential starborn speck of life.

The second priority:
a deep reverence for the dark and shining parent of all that lives.

Mother Earth

Our admiration goes out to Mother Earth
for having achieved the ideal state of a shining sphere
for her contribution to the life of the Universe
for her special beauty as seen from space
amongst the other planets of the solar system.

For her cycles and seasons,
her day and night,
the sublime grandeur of her continents and oceans,
for her flora and fauna
her life giving and death dealing powers
for being the birth place and tomb of her creation.

The third priority:
a love, tinged with awe, for Mother Earth a parent, present within and without, who now needs and demands, on pain of human extinction, our filial devotion and cooperation in the preservation of life on Earth

Life on Earth

It is vital importance to become aware of the interrelatedness of all forms of life on Earth from stones to plants to animals to human beings.

The realization that each region on Earth has its unique quality of life that is enriched by the diversity of the local species.

The realization that life lives in life, and the more species that there are, the richer the quality of existence for each individual.

It has to be learned that the fruits of the Earth should be enjoyed only insofar as they can be replenished and that the Earth's resources should be used only insofar as the quality of future life can be maintained.

Mother Earth, like any creator, needs places to be on her own to evolve in her own way--free, as far as it is possible, from the disruptions of humankind and the invasion of exotic species from one region to another.

The fourth priority:
a deep respect for all forms of life on earth.

Human Family

Our civilization is at a turning point, from living under the material priorities of the industrial revolution to living, of necessity, under the heavens in a harmonious way with the ecology of the planet.

The fifth priority:
fostering harmonious relations within the human family and society that need to adapt to changing conditions.

This fifth priority is as yet being worked out in dreams and the collective unconscious and is still in the process of becoming clear.

But it is certain that a person who embodies the Sprit of these priorities towards life will exert an expanding influence.

Postscript

The purpose of life is to attain a growth of consciousness.

A Growth in Consciousness implies seeing anew into an inner-world or making a leap from one inner-world to another.