Week Word: Sacred
Our Week Word is hosted this week by John, check out his blog to see how he and other bloggers have interpreted this word.
So, first the official definition of sacred: “adjective
connected with God (or the gods) or dedicated to a religious purpose and so deserving veneration” and while we are at it, veneration: “regard with great respect; revere”. Both of these words bring me to my take on sacred. In my religion, Judaism, we have lots of sacred things, well specifically, books, time, places, words, traditions, and so on.
Waiting for Shabbat Lunch
Of course, we haven’t always received the respect we deserve for these sacred things. The above definition really rings true for me. People have sacred stuff, time, places, etc., but these sacred things also are deserving of veneration. Think about it. Think of all the wars and hatred that have happened in the world and if there was more respect for other people’s sacred places, etc. there would be a lot less suffering. Oh, this land is sacred to you, yes I can respect that. You can’t work on such and such day because it is a sacred holiday for you, oh that is fine, I understand. This food isn’t what you eat because you believe in eating only certain foods that are permitted by your religion, then let’s try and accommodate you, no problem.
As the definition says, sacred is a 2 way thing, it is special and revered by you, but deserves respect from others.
What is your take on this word, sacred?
Read more at: Week Word.
Week Word: Catharsis
I am a little late with my week word, but I am happily participating! This week’s word is provided by The Gift Shed, check it out for other people’s take on this word.
The dictionary definition for catharsis is “the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions.” This word nestles itself right into the art world. How many artists had to paint that painting or make that sculpture to release their emotion about something??
I will give a personal example. After my father died in 1996, I felt I couldn’t pick up a paint brush. My friend, artist Bill Scott, told me to get any painting that was partially finished and just work on it. It didn’t matter, he said, what I did to it specifically, just paint and see what happens. I took an old watercolor I had started in a workshop and I added some flowers and a background. I realized, one vase had only 1 flower and the other had several. And, the background I chose was black, which I rarely do. It was a colorful joyful painting with a message of longing. I have titled it, “Wish You Were Here”.
wish you were here
Read more at : Week Word, Oh.
Week Word: Sinister
This week’s word is from Diaro and it is sinister in honor of Friday the 13th. I never much got into certain days being evil or sinister, I am really not a big fan of Halloween. I guess growing up with a Dad who used to sing, “look at the sunny side of life…” I just never resonated with the notion of bad or sinister days.
However, there are definitely paintings that have a sinister element to them. According to my Word Dictionary, sinister is “giving the impression that something harmful or evil is happening or will happen”, so here we go artists!
We have the old master’s sinister mythological painting,
Classical sinister
Then of course, the surrealists,
Surrealists
Then there is the plain weird, creepy art,
Creepy sinister art
And illustration haunting conniving art,
Haunting art
Van Gogh and his disturbing, sinister art,
Van Gogh
What do you think? Sinister enough?
Read more at: Week Word, Simplicity.
Week Word: Gypsy
This week’s Word is Gypsy, provided by Carmen at Biomouse. Check out her blog to see her take and other bloggers on the word.
Gypsy, described in my Word Book online dictionary in the thesauras section as “a caravan of gypsies: Romany, Rom, traveler, nomad, rover, roamer, wanderer”. I am going to concentrate on “wanderer” today.
I am a wanderer in the world of color in my artwork:
Red Lilies
Love to wander through flowers with their reds, greens and yellows,
Poppies, cropped
Slice of Tea
And I love to wander through the pastels of blues, pinks and greens!
How about you, what does “gypsy” make you think of?
Read more at: Give Me Anything Blue.
A Word: Freedom
Exploding
Everyone blogging in our small Week Word community is taking a break this week. However, my word of the week is freedom. I will be celebrating Passover with my family this upcoming week and one of the themes of Passover is freedom. The Jews were finally able to leave Egypt and the holiday is a celebration of this freedom given by God.
But what does it mean to be free? Freedom can make it difficult at times to maintain a meaningful life. Why? Because one then is governed by the freedom of choice and there is an abundance of choices to be made, including choosing what makes your life meaningful. As Dostoyevsky pointed out in his The Brothers Karamazov, If there is no God then everything is permitted.
I believe in our democracy, having freedom is essential, in my opinion, to honoring human rights and dignity. But tradition and my religious doctrine is also essential to meaning in my life. Some may think it takes away my freedom, but I feel that choosing to follow tradition and the precepts in my religion, I have been given even greater freedom in my spirituality. It gives my life meaning in so many ways, and to me is what it is all about.
I will not be blogging until later next week. I wish everyone a good holiday no matter what you observe and am looking forward to getting back to writing my thoughts about creativity.
Read more at: Simplicity.
Week Word: Anticipation
Dreaming of Oscar
This week word is brought by Christine at Silver Linings. Check out her site for other takes on this word!
Anticipation, waiting for something that you think you will love, fear, savor. Sometimes we anticipate too much, or get too anxious in our anticipation of an event.
I have a couple of thoughts on anticipation. First of all, our cat Oscar would patiently sit by our kitchen door waiting to be let in in anticipation of his nap. His wish would come true.
I anticipate our Shabbat meal together as a family with pleasure.
Waiting for Shabbat Lunch
And I am anticipating summer at the shore with excitement!
Margate Bay
What are you anticipating?
Read more at: Transition
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