Acrylics on 3 canvas drops. 1m x 1.2m

Under this painting is a "first pass", where, in my ego, I decided to by-pass God's Spirit and contrive an idea. What a confused mess. Over-coating the precious canvas drops, I started in again, letting my fresh grasp of 'spirit" (which felt very absent) override. "By faith, not by works"* is taking on a practical meaning in my art practice. Could image-making really be this easy; this child-like faith and play? Where is my intellectual sophistication in all this? (Hmmm. Dictionary says 'sophistication" means "elaborate sham"). Think it through, Girl. My exhibition's goal is to "interface with Christ". My art practice documents this experience. This spontaneous painting process is highlighting vital learning about "faith". What have I learned by just letting go, and letting God.

I see that Christ did not live by the ego. Our culture runs on the ego. Fear-based and death-bound, the ego will cling onto its powerbase whether a "useful" one or not. Surely the jealous religious authorities of the day killed the ego-less Christ because he was undermining their powerbase?

Is this the same reason our ego (the "ruling religious authority" of our own mind) the reason we refuse Christ, who of course is the very undoing of our ego? Stretching the evidence, could the ego be an alien nature that we host in our soul and body, our Earth connection? This ego we know as "I"; could this be what Christ expressed as "the devil". Spell "devil" backwards Friend. Who are we hosting if we are meant to be sons of God.

Have we been seduced unwittingly by our hosted sense of "I", to be alienated from God and our original nature in Christ? Amidst our myth-making regarding our own human story (the post-modern world-view) is this Christ-myth the myth-buster of them all? For those who can believe this, how helpful to have this built-in security to ensure we won"t self-destruct, which is the only direction ego can take us, unto death. Religiously believing we are our ego, are we separated from that which could dis-'spell" the terrible illusion of the cruel ego-construct, in which we judge each other, compete, exploit, accuse, claim power over, oppress, starve and murder, because the ego considers another's gain is self-loss?

The New Testament presents Christ as saying don"t judge. Christ says forgive. Christ says we live eternally in God if we choose to believe his version instead of the ego's, (that just so happens to live in fear of the death it created). It appears Christ "will form in us" if we believe his message, by faith. Egoic-fear (the fear of death) will kick in and snatch away the "gospel message". Faith, believing the unbelievable, is the weapon? Take it on face value? Who created death if we live eternally in Christ? Who would choose death if eternal life is really being offered?

So what is our real nature then? Is it what Jesus took such pains to tell us about - the way back to our eternal nature in God, "our father which art in heaven....thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven"? Is Christ our prototype? Belief, faith and the reading and hearing of his message fires-up Spirit, and while I choose that my ego is history. His-story.

Cheers, Nat Tate 2012