Erik Jacobsen: Yoga, Philosophy, and Art
Mind–body dualism is a philosophical view which holds that mental phenomena are, at least in certain respects, not physical phenomena, meaning that the mind and the body are distinct and separable from one another.
Of course… If you practice yoga, you know this is definitely not the case.
We feel, think, and often remember through our body. Our body is a part of Prakriti “primary subatomic particles.” Our minds are also a part Prakriti. And what is left after prakriti is gone is simply awareness: Purusha, what we might call “Presence.”
We are awareness you and I. We are linked. This is Paramatman. We are joined this way.
False dichotomies are rife in our society. Red Blue. Body Mind. Them Us. High Brow Low Brow. Our guest today, our dear friend, Erik Jacobsen is a student. Self taught. In that, he’s a life long learner with a passion for understanding being and demonstrating right action.
Erik is a tattoo artist. He’s punk. He’s self made. He went to art school (but that is not exactly school) and has buried his art in the ground. And he’s buried it inside this impermanent flesh — another kind of ground.
But Erik is also this: he’s an artist whose material, whose ground, is the the body. And nothing more so activates his art then his audience… The flesh. Flesh which itself represents the consciousness waking up, aware of itself housed inside this body.
In painting we often refer to the ground. It is two things: First, it’s the treatment of the canvas or wood with a preservative that keeps the oil from eating away at it. Second, it’s the space in which the subject sits—an apple for example. The mistake a young artist often makes is to say that two are separate. That is to say, the subject becomes an object with no context. And to suggest that the context doesn’t affect the subject is a lie. That the light is not a part of the being of the apple is an untruth.
The apple is light. It’s stardust.
From Erik’s homepage:
“I became passionate about art making from a very early age. A place of refuge and contemplation, that encouraged me to turn over ideas in visual ways allowing for intuitive integration and learning. A mix of meditation and exploration, my work is infused with spiritual and philosophical inquiry. Asking questions has always been a primary driver in my life, and various contemplative traditions have been parallel and complementary with my artistic process.
In 2008 I began a career in Tattooing which led me to drop representational figurative painting in pursuit of a medium in which one could express deeper, felt experiences. Tattooing allowed me the unique capacity to ‘converse with the canvas’ and have actual dialogue with my work. A reflective dialogue which would end when my work/client got up and walked out the door. It showed me a necessity to let go of the work and see that my integrity as an artist could be carried with it. This illuminated my needs for better communication skills, radical honesty, empathy and symbolic and historical knowledge, plunging me deeper into Meditation, Sacred Painting, Language, Culture and Art History.
The last twelve years of study has taken me deep within and exposed me to the core of my art making process and from it I have learned to look honestly at myself and use my art process as a reflective tool for the integration of experience. The majority of the Mandala series represents my exploration into Non Duality and the connection of Art as Inquiry. By dissolving the subject/object divide I began to discover that my Art practice is truly a process of healing and becoming Whole. Each piece is an artifact of a process of self discovery that peeled away another layer of separation, a process of liberation that truly never ends.”
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The Finding Harmony Podcast is hosted, edited and produced by Harmony Slater and co-hosted by Russell Case.
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Opening and closing music compliments of my dear friend teaching Ashtanga yoga in Eindhoven, Nick Evans, with his band “dawnSong” from the album “for Morgan.” Listen to the entire album on Spotify - Click Here.
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