pre-prom in the park

Students from PGL school in Outremont got together for a pre-prom social event in the park, where parents could take pictures of the young people dressed up in their prom outfits.

Lohbado thinking concrete and abstract

A plate of beans, the ideal form of beans, or the universal essence, the thought of how it might feel once the beans were in the body, all this and more floated through Lohbado's mind.

The big challenge sometimes is to not be distracted. The mind is clear for a few seconds. Next, the mind clouds over. It gets swept away into a mental image, memory, fantasy or some wishful thinking, or into a hazy, soft cloud of dullness. The mind often is lazy. It looks at things and attaches mental labels. Someone shows you a picture. You say, “Oh, a picture,” without actually seeing the picture. You walk past trees. You’re vaguely aware of trees along the street. The trees melt into a generalized mental blur, the label “trees”, so that one barely notices the trees. One’s eyes might be directed towards a tree without actually seeing the tree. The word tree might flash in mind, but does one actually see the individual tree with its wealth of sensual qualities?

demons at dusk

ink drawing

Lohbado put on noise cancelling ear phones. His nose was damp with fluid. Parasites emerged from the pores of his cranium. His stomach growled in hunger. Lohbado closed his aching eyes and tried to understand existence. So far, he couldn’t understand it, other than to say that one is born into a structured, social situation and then one dies. That’s the natural order. Language is an obvious example of the kind of structure that makes human interaction possible. Although the events of one’s life might seem, from a self-centred perspective, chaotic and meaningless, reality manifests meaning and structure. Without a meaningful reality, knowledge would be impossible. It might not seem meaningful for a rational person to be slave to a master and to undergo endless suffering for no purpose other than to survive, or to fulfill social responsibilities. Lack of personal meaning doesn’t mean reality is absurd. Science, for example, discovers endless sensible arrangements.

Lohbado lived a meaningful life of making texts and images. Imagination and reason unlocked doors leading to infinite exploration of the inner and outer cosmos.

the clinic

ink on paper

Lohbado dream today

Lohbado dream

Cosmic Saliva

As he got older, Lohbado frequently dreamed about death. He dreamed about walking across the Secret Desert. Dangerous doors leading into inner sanctuaries or holy tabernacles lured him into twilight zones. Sometimes, while in the temple, Lohbado sensed the divine presence of the goddess Oorsis. She stroked him with pleasant touch. Blissful feeling transformed Lohbado's body into a vehicle of love, while Oogah roamed the mountains and looked for rocks to break.

Lohbado experienced oneness with Oorsis. Their essences mingled into ecstatic union. Sensual images possessed his mind stream, for example, the sense of spaciousness one feels while standing at the edge of the ocean during sunset, or watching sun rise over distant hills. His visual field vibrated with the rich sensations of rose buds and orchid petals and lily pistol and stamen. His ears bathed in the music of the spheres, vibrations of wellbeing. The pleasurable bliss was so intense, Lohbado felt his body melt away. He dissolved into a perfumed mist over the altar. He saw lightening and heard thunder. He felt Oorsis drool into his ear. Her saliva leaked into his brain. He realized his body was a finite reference point, with access to the infinite.

When he woke up, he knew his life would never be the same.

inner wealth inner void

Lohbado in a cafe

Do you feel wealthy or empty inside? Lohbado was shocked to hear many people speak of ennui, anxiety, inner void, lack of interests, not knowing what to do, lack of purpose. Many people who complain about feeling empty, bored and without purpose are people who have a lot of financial resources, job security, in other words, all the material things necessary to create a rich and meaningful life. So why are they suffering? Lohbado could empathize with their pain. Nobody has an easy ride through life. Everyone faces challenges.

Christina's Graduation

Yesterday Christina graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Concordia University, Montreal.

door between life and death

Lohbado approaching the dangerous door

Actually, life and death occur every moment. Each time you exhale, you're breathing out stale air that once was in your lungs. When you breathe in, a new lung experience occurs. Keeping the cycle of life and death in mind is a positive experience, in that it could stimulate a person to wake up to what's going on, to notice sights and sounds, to live each moment to the full. Each instant, the moment dissolves and gives birth to a new moment. The past is soon forgotten. The present slips away as one anticipates or has intentions about what to do or what will happen next.

getting ready for graduation

On Wednesday Christina will graduate from Concordia University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

fallen tree

The fallen tree reminded him of his father's corpse, as it lay in the coffin. Lohbado sat by his father's corpse for half an hour and marvelled at how a man, once so powerful and influential, had been reduced to a heap of material, that would soon be absorbed into the earth and forgotten. So much fuss for nothing. While alive, one struggles to be noticed or at least acknowledged. After death, it will be as though one never even existed. One might be remembered for a while, but then even the people who remember you will eventually die. Anyway, which part of you would you like remembered? Which one of your character traits would you single out as being the essence of yourself? Which version of yourself, at what age, could be the official portrait?

heavy downpour

before

after

Lohbado sat down in a cafe on Rue Sainte-Catherine in Montreal just before it started to rain. The heavy downpour came in short sessions, with lighter rain in between. It ended around 5 PM.

magnifying glass

The clamp, magnifying glass device is highly useful for detailed work. It's also an elegant, beautiful looking object. It resembles a fantasy creature from a science fiction story, a space alien.

young cat old cat

old cat

young cat

The cat is a sacred animal in Montreal. Feral cats, alley cats, cats who are well nurtured, old cats, young cats populate the city.