Destruction

I want to talk about the role of destruction in art, in nature and in our lives in general. In the tarot there are a few cards which symbolise destruction that everyone dreads... the tower, the death card, the 10 of swords... these are fun cards to get!!!! They symbolise destruction, disruption and endings in our lives but on the flip side they also signify change, transformation, rebirth and generally shedding the old to make space for the new. Nature has its ways of renewing itself through extreme weather, erruptions etc... the artist finds ways of destroying his or her work in order to find something new in it and progress or evolve. I find it very difficult to go back and work on old paintings because i am constantly evolving and changing so it is impossible to know what will happen because i am not the same person who began the painting. There are painters who deliberately stick things onto their paintings knowing that they will be ripping them off or pour substances on the painting in order to see it in a new light or create filters and glazes which change the way we see the colours. They do this not knowing what the outcome will be. This is a very important part of the creative proccess. There is a whole movement in art called deconstruction. It is undefined because it is impossible to know where it is taking us. The death drive in Sigmund Freud's Beyond the Pleasure Principle speaks of this too. Freud spoke of two major forces which navigate our lives, the libidos and thanatos. He spoke of instinct as a need to return to a singular state or to the beginning, this is the death drive. To destroy and return to the beginning. While the sexual desires of our libidos push us towards life and creation of the new. In Buddhism we are encouraged to find balance by letting go of all attachments and being present. Understanding that all we have is the present moment. In my own life I have had to demolish or let go of many things in order to achieve non-attachment and live a more authentic life. This is a constant proccess that we go through.