Visualizing Your Spiritual Ideal

In traditional religion, the spiritual ideal is the hallowed ideal or personage that a spiritual aspirant wants to emulate or otherwise identify with: Jesus, a saint, a bodhisattva, an avatar, a holy guardian angel, the “higher self” …

(Check out my essay on the Chosen Ideal in a separate blog) For the intellectually geekier among you....

That ideal is usually something treated as “other” although the point is to realize that we are or at least are meant to be that ideal. Most folks opt to idolize their ideal through religious posturing and devotional reveries rather than do the work to really “get,” integrate, and act from their spiritual ideals.

In any case, I tended to think of a “spiritual ideal” in the conventional sense—something having to do with God or angels, devas, avataras, bodhisattvas, or spiritual heroes. My Spiritual Ideal Project was even spurred by an image that popped up during a meditation sit in which I saw myself as a heavenly being—a graceful female entity clad in pink and lime green garb, festooned with flower garlands, sitting on a moon disc and glowing in a sun disc. I began to contemplate what it “feels like” to be that in hopes I could hardwire the thought form into my consciousness. To help solidify the image, I made a picture of it. Then, I began to ask friends what their spiritual ideal was and how I might portray it in portraiture.

I was surprised and impressed by how different folks interpreted the question. Presented here are the first few images of this Project.

My friend DT as The Goddess of Sensual Desire. I was kind of  surprised when DT's response to "What is your spiritual

ideal?" was "I want to be the goddess of sensual desire" because, before beginning this project, I equated "spiritual ideal" with some ethereal lofty religiously spiritual concept. But she honestly really does value the "good life,," and her response helped me get my feet back on planet Earth.  My first thoughts were to work her image into a Babalon Rising type of motif, but I wanted to convey the  luxury, joy, and hospitality that reflects her ebullient personality. I constructed this from freehand drawing and photo manipulation in PhotoShop Elements. It prints as a 24 x 24 inch glicee.

My good friend EC, author of the blog Neognostica's Book of  Thoth--A Modern Translation Ed is into planetary magic inspired by work developed by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. His response to my question was to say that he wanted the wisdom of the cosmos to be reflected in his actions--like the famous Hermetic adage:  As above, so below. H suggested I make an image of a fellow  walking on a lake in which the planets are reflected. This image, is constructed from freehand drawing and photo manipulation in PhotoShop Elements. It includes pics of planets and landscape from NASA.  It prints as an 18 x 24 glicee.

SS is the head steward of the Scalzi Riverwalk Nature Preserve in Stamford, Connecticut. She intrepidly went into a neglected, overgrown, roadside riverwalk that had become a haven for drug activity and illicit loitering and cleaned it up for safe and thriving community use. Together with a band of volunteers and folks training to be gardeners, horticulurists, and land managers, she is restoring the area to its natural habitat--on a shoestring budget: weeding-out invasive species, planting and protecting native plants, and helping to restore native wildlife to the area.  When I asked her what her spiritual ideal was, she simply replied, " When I die, my remains must be placed in an oak grove." She proceeded to tell me that oak--and trees in general--do not naturally grow as singular plants but grow in groves where their roots intertwine so that that grove is actually one single organism. Her spiritual aspiration is to be one with that. This was the first image I ever made that is completely constructed from photo manipulation (no drawing) in PhotoShop Elements. She would never go for that glam shift I put her in--but I figured she could look a little sexy if she were an oak-grove sylph.  It prints as an 18 x 24 image on paper.