Gandhi Spiritual Amnesty

We all may or may not know who Mahandi Gandhi was, one thing is for certain he was a human being. Mohandas/Mahatma Gandhi, lead Non-Violent Protesting Great Salt March of 1930 to demonstrate against British oppression Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule, and to later inspire movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. As recently discovered his earlier indoctrination embodied a racist undertone that has now engendered his entire legacy.

What does forgiveness look like?

What does Spirituality look like?

What does Amnesty look like?

What does Peace look like?

Here are some foot notes and inspirations behind the painting.

"Gandhi Spiritual Amnesty”

Red Cardinals:1. Love 2. Loyalty 3. Fertility 4. Renewal and Life 5. Spiritual Messengers 7. Passion

The Staff: The rod represents God’s discipline and the staff represents God’s guidance. Both are used to protect God’s followers from harm. Rods and staves are also used as symbols of leadership or authority in the Bible.

The Halo: The halo is symbolic of universal energy,

The Triangle: The Triangle is symbolic of the mind, body, and soul. The Father, The Son, and Holy Spirit. Love, compassion, and forgiveness.

Orange Lilies: Orange has always been a color that’s associated with a refreshing sense of confidence and energy. The bright, bold, show stopping color speaks to feelings of warmth and positivity around the world. Orange lilies stand for happiness, love, and warmth. Luke 12-27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Matthew 6:25-34: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these..

"Gemini" The Art of Duality

Following my 32nd, Birthday I want to start it off by blogging about something I’ve longed to explore. The law of polarity is a universal law that governs the state of this physical existence, It is described to be: In the presence or manifesto of two opposite or contrasting principles or tendencies. Being a Gemini myself born June 1st, 1986 I am here to offer some perspective on Duality. We are well known for our dualistic nature, after all we are the twin sign. “Gemini” is the third astrological sign in the zodiac originating from the constellation of Gemini. Under the tropical zodiac, the sun transits this sign between May 21 and June 21. Gemini is represented by The Twins Castor and Pollux.[3] The symbol of the twins is based on the Dioscuri, two mortals that were granted shared godhood after death.[4] Sign characteristic of a Gemini Wind - Air. Side note: Reflecting back I always went with the flow of things growing up, it just flowed. It was only when I did not go with the flow of things I experienced the most resistance in my life. When I became aware of astrological information regarding my sign I began to identify with its many aspects and it only gave me a deeper understanding of the “person” I am.

Exploring some of the strengths, Gemini’s are generally known to be versatile, quick-witted, sensitive, intelligent, creative, artistic, social, passionate, disciplined, thoughtful, crazy, loving, and funny. They have a deep appreciation for the arts, philosophy, writing, history, nature, and the cosmos. Just as they have all these really cool strengths, they have their weaknesses some of which are, indecisive, nervous, short-tempered, frustrated, non-social, detached, isolated, forgetful, impatient, and the most notorious of them all inconsistent. We are considered to be the jack of all trades but master of none, this is dualism revealing itself. Keep in mind that it is the characteristics of both the strengths and weaknesses that make up the identity of the whole. For as long as I can remember I have always experienced a deep yearning in always being split for an example, walking a human journey and a spiritual one. Living the day to day is our human experience, expressing the will of our soul is living a spiritual one. This is a form of duality yet, I never took the time to gain a deeper understanding of what I was regularly experiencing. As an artist and photographer for a while I created with both entities independent of each other I treated them as if they were separate. When I first decided to unify the two talents my work immediately evolved, it was a benchmark in my life. I have creatively found a way to merged two talents and it birthed the project "Shards Of Glass" I Blogged about how much of an amazing experience this was. http://lorenzopphotography.com/new-blog/2015/8/20/shard-of-glass This was the birth of something incredible.

Weather If we like to acknowledge it or not we experience duality on an everyday consistent basis.  As the old saying goes, “Opposites Attract”. Have you ever asked yourself why? When these forces are equally unified it creates harmony, by understanding these laws it helped to identify with what needed balance in my life. Think of it as a reciprocal relationship, a constant give and take. Theologian Richard Rohr refers to this relationship as a “Divine Dance” Even the cells running through your body operates in with the same mechanics it is a universal law. You are by nature attracted to you’re opposite I would consider this divine orchestration a reflection of completion. People in romantic relationships are generally attracted to someone who is completely opposite of them and when they unit they act as a mirror to one another. When these qualities or energies of both parties are met subsequently you have something that is complete. When there is balance, there is unity, and where there is unity there is strength. Literally one cannot exist without the other, anytime God created something he divided it from its opposite. Duality speaks of conformation and witness; the number 2 represents division to show you both ends of the spectrum. In many Chinese traditions, they understand this law as Tao, living in harmony with the “Yin and Yang”. The Gnostic belief in the dualism of flesh and spirit—with the flesh being evil and something to be freed from, while the eternal spirit was good—also originated in the lie Satan told Eve. Gnostics, in general, believed that the purpose of human existence was to return to the spiritual realm from whence all originated. Death, then, was seen as liberation of the spirit.

Referencing Genesis 1 King James Version (KJV)

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

You can see how the creator engineered this existence to be an exact opposite of itself. People would always refer to my brother and I as "Day & Night", I was “Day” and he was “Night”. http://lorenzopphotography.com/new-blog/2018/6/6/night-day Paired together we are a brotherly couple unmatched, were are a reflection of each other literally. I exemplified qualities of a positive vibration he on the other hand, display frequencies of a negative one. It is only when you have a charge from both a positive and negative source can a battery be powered! Speaking of which, being positive and negatively charged I have theorized the Sun and Moon act as a power source for planet earth one has energy contrary of the other. The idea of duality is subliminally perpetuated throughout our culture. If you direct your attention to characters in the comic books such as the Iconic Superman, who walks a human journey simultaneously walking a superhuman one. In the likeness of being human he is Clark Kent on the job working the day to day. When he is Superman his abilities are ultimately used for the greater good of the world. Although he possesses all of these great abilities appearing Godlike to humans his weakness is Kryptonite, it is often used by his enemies to weakened Superman. Metaphysically speaking this is symbolic of duality. One is not independent of the other, It evolves as one entity or one unit. You have your human assignments and you have your spiritual ones, and It does not matter how powerful you are, all superheroes have a weakness. Using superheroes as an analogy the same principle applies to characters such as Spider-Man, The Hulk, Batman, etc..They all share a duality, in the big picture they all are one.

Understanding is the greatest lesson in all of this, as Gemini’s, we tend to hide or separate these things in fear of being rejected or misunderstood.  The flaws and imperfections are apart of the same elements that make us great. This makes me beg the question are Gemini's undercover superheroes? Hmmmm...... I can attest at times I’ve held back at revealing my true nature in fear of being judged or misunderstood.  I no longer wish to hide my “true self”, and to my fellow Gemini finding balance will help you flow with the wind, so be fluid and you will adjust much faster. Knowing when to be fluid also entails knowing when to be still, so always be mindful of that. There are many facets of dualities we see in today's world, essentially they all share an underlying theme, there is an infinite cycle of balance "One cannot exist without the other". It is my belief that people who are born under this astrological sign are excellent conduits of balancing these dualities on this physical plane! 

"We Live In a World Governed by Polarity"

Alpha & Omega

Start & Finish

Past & Future

Male & Female

Masculine & Feminine

Strong & Weak

Prey & Predator

Cause & Effect

Light & Dark

Good & Evil

Heaven & Hell

As above - So below

Gift & Curse

Top & Bottom

North- South

East - West

Yin & Yang

Rich & Poor

Giving & Receiving

Adding & Subtracting

Order & Chaos

Life & Death  

Positive & Negative

Protons & Neutrons  

Sleep & Wake

Conscious & Unconscious

Sun & Moon

Day & Night   

Speaking & Silence

Creation & Destruction

Beauty & Grotesque

Ego & spirit

Heart & Mind

Hot & Cold

Fire & Ice

Liberty & Imprisonment

Bitter & Sweet

Republican & Democrat

Right & Left 

An Intimate conversation with Lorenzo. P. "My uncle was a Soldier"

This is by far one of my most intimate projects to date primarily because it is so personal. An enormous amount of time and energy was spent putting this together. I must admit that I became discourage on many accounts due to the countless road blocks I encountered along the journey. Throughout it all I remained persistent because I knew what my end goal was, and that was to tell my uncle's story. I understand that it is a lengthy video, but I strongly encourage you all to watch it in it's entirety!!! As we transition into this new year I will give the world more of me, I thank God for putting me in the position to do so. Follow me on this Journey people I promise it will be worth it.

For all who do not know the first quarter of 2014 was by far a really rough start for me. On January 1, 2014 my uncle Roger Waddell Pickett Jr. was shot and killed by retired Jersey City police officer James D. Corley, following an alleged dispute between the two men at Moore's Lounge aka Bill and Ruth's in Jersey City, New Jersey. Corley was originally charge with attempted murder and a weapons offense related to a handgun. Given the death of my uncle the charges were later upgraded to murder.

 

An intimate conversation with Lorenzo P. "My uncle was a soldier" PT2

I want to thank you all for your precious time, patience, love and support, I also want to give a huge shout out to @yourhostmartine for seeing me through this entire process, this could have not been possible without her!!!!

NJ.com posting regarding the incident
http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index.ssf/2014/01/retired_jersey_city_cop_charge.html
http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2014/01/ex-cop_now_charged_with_murder_in_new_years_day_bar_shooting.html