Gouache on paper

Signed on the front.

The Mirror Sect

The Mirror Sect was borne out of a common frustration with existing practices aimed at liberation from the flesh, most of which required the devotee to force concentration on the sense of self, or breath, or various gods, to the exclusion of all else. For many, this required a continual contortion of the mind, a straining denial of physical reality, in the hopes of transcending the gross body and illusory objects of space and time.

Diripe, was one such devotee. For twenty years he had dedicated every spare moment to the steadfast pursuit of the ‘source of being’. This brought him respect, renown and loyal followers of his own. His discipline had shaped his character into one of stoic equanimity. But inside, Diripe felt cheated. The only thing that he truly desired - liberation from the flesh - seemed to have receded ever further from his grasp. A promise, fading away without apology.

When Diripe lost a beloved, long-time devotee to illness, his grief was doubled by its implication; evidently, he had not progressed one hair's breadth from the earthly claims of the body. Compounding this was the fact that the deceased devotee, a woman, had been the source of inner conflict for Diripe for years, as he struggled to remain one-pointed, against the magnetic forces of nature.

Nature had bested Diripe. Not with force or violence, but with its own slow, inimitable power. A power that works by its very ignorance of the plight of any individual. Diripe now saw the folly of his life-long, narrow-minded pursuit.

For the first time he sat down with no purpose or intent. The wind blew through him. The sun did not acknowledge him. He did nothing, made no attempt, no claim. The fire of his previous mission and forceful intent was now less than an ember. It was an ash. To some, it could seem that Diripe had been crushed. Belittled. But the opposite was true. By allowing himself to be reduced to the smallest possible part, he had been swept up and carried aloft by the timeless currents of nature.

He added nothing to what was, and in this he became a perfect mirror. He became the rain, the sunrise, the rustling of leaves. Equally, he was the crushing thunder of a waterfall, the surging of the sea and the sudden strike of lightning.

Diripe, as he was previously known, seemed to recede and re-emerge, sharper at the same time. The person was a shadow, but his powerful presence grew. He appeared with animal skulls atop his shoulders, ghosts of nature watching over him and peering into those that faced him. Followers accrued, forming an orbit that escorted him from a distance as he drifted across the landscape. The Mirror Sect is invisible by nature. Less a belief system, and more a new human dimension, a way of being that remains impenetrable until one has crossed its threshold, at which point there is no chance of return.