Painting the Dao

57 stirring of air, ephemeral images of sylphs and sages, as the inkstone pond glistens with infinite potential. Taking up the brush, now an extension of body, mind and heart, I step again through the Gates of Wonder. My intention here has been to sum up what it is I aspire to, and how I perceive and express it. The underlying point is that what I aspire to in creativity is neither ‘modern’ nor ‘traditional’; it is timeless. Shock value, novelty, propaganda for surface issues, all have their place in communicat- ing meaning. All are part of creativity, of existence, but to fulfil conscious- ness rather than only briefly to entertain it, we need the alchemical wedding of practice and theory. Another seal I use frequently was carved for me by my friend, the radical Hong Kong calligrapher Fung Ming-chip: ‘Let ink be my immortality’. Let my art, and all the inscriptions dealing with the philosophy of art, con- sciousness and life, be my immortality. But no rush; if it all happened before I died, I’d have to deal with it elegantly, which might be a challenge. Hugh Moss At the Water, Pine and Stone Retreat at the Garden at the Edge of the Universe surrounded by nodding stones Overleaf ak13.79 82–3