Jacob’s Dream
Jacob dreams of a ladder ascending toward heaven. Even though God promises to watch over him and his family, Jacob tosses and turns from side to side, facing east and west. The idea of the angelic realm enters his mind, yet he remains afraid. Angels, helping hands, are there to lift him up to higher spiritual realms but Jacob is not ready. He sticks with what he knows. He remains on the familiar ground. He keeps dreaming.
If Jacob Climbed the Ladder
If Jacob had let go of his fear, perhaps he would have climbed the ladder to heaven. Hidden angels would have assisted him up. If Jacob had chosen to ascend, what would he have found at the top? Divine light or the graceful perfection of nature? It is only by choosing to climb and by accepting assistance can we hope to be redeemed.
After creating my Jacob paintings I witnessed a tragedy that made me view my paintings in a different way. A young man that I had met died of a drug overdose under the bridge across the street from my house. I watched as the police pulled his body up out of the ravine and was there to comfort his family when they came to see where he had died. Could he have climbed up the ravine to ask for help? Like the story from Genesis of Jacob dreaming of the stairway to heaven, could he have climbed up out of the darkness but chose not to ascend? When asked to imagine what an angel would look like I envisioned that they would take the form of hands that are there to help lift someone up. I hope that this story inspires you to climb up and ask for help if you need it or to take on the role of the angel, to lift up those who are down as best you can.
The Piano Player
We fill the void of silence with music. Notes rise and fall through the air creating a harmony of colors. If you want to climb up out of the darkness listening to music is one of the quickest ways to ascend. Each scale creates steps lifting you higher. This is what Leonard Cohen called “the minor fall and the major lift.”
