TRANSITIONING

November 2016, Klil , Israel

Last month i decided to leave the rainny pacific north west coast for the winter and i am living in the north of Israel for a few months , in a small Moshav – a little village.  I found a great Studio here and it is as close to ‘nature and peace’ as you can find in modern israel. I enjoy visiting my beautiful elderly mother who lives now in a nursing home in Israel and i benefit from spending special times with some close friends, so my heart is wide open .

However, coming from the beauty , peace and spaciousness of western Canada and now experiencing daily life in this small crowded and conflicted middle east country i must admit i am acutely aware of how much public life can be  stressful . While i try to stay open and calm my limitations , sensitivities and wounds get constantly in my way of ‘accepting reality as it is here’  and the only thing left for me in order to keep my heart open is transforming it all to ‘Art’ . After all the artist is the voice of the people and as James Baldwin said –  “Only an artist can tell … what it is like for anyone who gets to this planet to survive it ” .

I hear Toni Morrison whispering in my ear don’t despair  – “No! No, no, no!  This is precisely the time when artists go to work — not when everything is fine, but in times of dread. That’s our job!”   yes i must agree that this is precisely the time when artists are mostly needed — in “Trump Times” .

But what kind of art ? from where and to where ?

I remember many years ago while living in Montreal and reflecting on the meaning of making art in this modern world how these words by Adrienne Rich touched my heart and resonnated with my feelings :  ” This kind of art – like so many others uncannonized in the dominant culture – is not produce as a commodity but as part of a long conversation with the elders and with the future – and yes i do live and work believing in a future – such artists draw on a tradition where political struggle and spiritual continuity are meshed . Nothing needs be lost , no sacrifice is needed, the heart doesn’t turn into a stone. ”

Indeed , my heart never turns into a stone but it feels more and more like an icebreg melting in global warming especially as i see the faces of so many, many many individuals running around unhappy and stressed or simply feeling and saying  :                ” i am too ‘busy’  ” .

i believe the most valuable thing in life is Life itself.  been constantly busy  seems like the most amazing trap of modern life, a true paradox , what is the use of ‘progress’ and ‘ technology and comfort’ if not to free us to enjoy our lives more and to enjoy each other and the natural world around us more and more ?   Is this ‘progress’ – for whom and for what  ? are we really growing up or growing further and further away from our true natures while our hearts turn into plastic stones ?

How do we transition from the past into the future in a healthy way ?  from the slow organic pace of the natural world into the busy fast life of modern urban centers ? how do we incorporate the feminine wisdom of mother earth into the constructed rules and ways of the masculine competitive and technological world of today ?

One thing is certain and obvious – we are all children of mother Earth and without our close and healthy connection with her, without her nourishment and guidance, we cannot keep alive, healthy and in balance with all Life on Earth. When we damage  our place in the web of life, we are ‘dead’ while still breathing.  Simply , when the interconnection of humans to Earth breaks we become like cancer cells, organisms that destroy the very home that shelters and feeds us, progressing towards a painful and stupid death, so stupid since it is of our own creation.

I see my old mother becoming a charming child, and i think : if growing old is returning to be a child , let us stay conscious children through life and not just in old age, let us keep the inner child alive and healthy and loving the mother that loves us the best , our one and only ,amazing generous beautiful mother – EARTH .

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Finally, as i transition from one world into the other one more time ( i have done it for many years , moving back and forth from the spacious ‘virginal’ beauty of wild nature in Canada to the urban life in the middle east ) , i feel my old film from 25 years ago – ” Lilith and the Tree “   tells the essence of my In-Sights in the way of a visual-musical poem that still speaks to me today .

ART SAVES LIVES.

Dream Workshop

2 nd DREAM WORKSHOP, Summer 2016 Gabriola     LILIANA KLEINER, Ph.D

“A DREAM NOT INTERPRETED IS LIKE A LETTER THAT IS NOT OPENED”

DREAMS  CARRY  MESSAGES  FROM  OUR  UNCONSCIOUS  AND  SPIRITUAL  SELF,  GUIDING  US   TOWARDS  SELF  KNOWLEDGE,  INTEGRATION  AND  WHOLENESS.  THEY  BALANCE  OUR  EGO   ATTITUDES,  DEEPEN  OUR  CREATIVITY  AND  HELP  THROW  LIGHT  ON  ONGOING  CONFLICTS,   INCLUDING  ANXIETY,  DEPRESSION,  PHYSICAL  ILLNESS.

THIS  WORKSHOP  WILL  REVIEW  THE  BASIC  PRINCIPLES  OF  JUNGIAN  DREAM  ANALYSIS,   TEACHING  TO  IDENTIFY  AND  WORK  WITH  OUR  UNIQUE  DREAM  LANGUAGE  AND  SYMBOLISM   TO  UNDERSTAND  ITS  MESSAGES.  YOU  WILL  LEARN  HOW  TO  REMEMBER  DREAMS  AND   RELATE  THEM  TO  YOUR  PRESENT  LIFE.  ANY  DREAM,  BIG  OR  SMALL, THROWS  LIGHT  ON  OUR  SHADOWS.

Please  bring  a  recent  dream  that  you  would  like  to  work  with.

Monday,  July  25th  18:00.  481  Spruce  ave. (Directions will be sent upon registration)

3  HOUR  SESSION,  COST  -­‐  $60  (please  register,  limited  space)

FOR  INFO  AND  REGISTRATION  PLEASE  CALL  MIKA  AT  250-­‐327-­3861  or  write  Liliana  -­   using the “contact” form.

LILIANA  KLEINER-­‐  (Ph.D  IN  CLINICAL  PSYCHOLOGY)  IS  AN  EXPERIENCED  JUNGIAN  THERAPIST,  WORKING  WITH   INDIVIDUALS  AND  GROUPS  OVER  25  YEARS.  SHE  IS  ALSO  AN  ACCOMPLISHED  VISUAL  ARTIST  AND  TEACHER  WHO   PRACTICES  IN  CANADA,  ARGENTINA,  MEXICO  AND  ISRAEL.

DANGEROUS IDEAS

“ DANGEROUS IDEAS “

by  LILIANA KLEINER,

PRESENTED AT THE EXHIBIT   “WOMEN OF THE BOOK”, JERUSALEM  2016

I SEE THE TRUE ARTIST AS A CREATOR OF CONSCIOUSNESS, ON ONE HAND, BATTLING CONSTANTLY WITH THE ARCHETYPAL FORCES OF THE UNCONSCIOUS AND ON THE OTHER HAND, AWARE OF THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF THE TIMES AND PLACES SHE LIVES IN. UNLIKE A PREACHER OR MORALIST, THE ARTIST AS AN INDIVIDUAL LIVES BY DIRECT PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND REFLECTION, EXPRESSING THE VOICES, IMAGES, VISIONS OF HER IMAGINATION, HER INNER SELF.  SHE HAS ONE EYE LOOKING IN AND THE OTHER EYE LOOKING OUT.

THE UN-REFLECTED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING,
BUT
THE UN-LIVED LIFE, IS NOT WORTH REFLECTING UPON.

ARTISTS, POETS AND SAINTS  HAVE THE COURAGE TO CHALLENGE THE STATUS QUO JUST BY BEING THEMSELVES AND OFFERING A VISION OF LIFE ON EARTH THAT COMES FROM THEIR OWN EXPERIENCES AND REFLECTIONS.
BUT A DESTRUCTIVE VISION OR A DETACHED INDIFFERENT ONE IS NOT ENOUGH, ARTISTS AND ART AS CREATORS OF CONSCIOUSNESS MUST BRING THE DARKNESS INTO THE LIGHT.

MYTH USES THE TOTALITY OF THE INDIVIDUAL RATHER THAN JUST THE INTELLECT, THAT IS ITS POWER.
IN ALL MYTHS, THE TRUTH THAT HAPPENS INTERNALLY IS PRESENTED AS EXTERNAL FACTS.

IN THE BIBLICAL STORY OF ADAM AND EVE AND THEIR EATING FROM THE APPLE OF THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL, THE (LAST POPULAR) MYTH PRESENTS THE DRAMA OF THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW HUMAN (MORAL) CONSCIOUSNESS .

CREATIVITY ALWAYS PROVOKES THE JEALOUSY OF THE GODS – THE RULING FORCES OF THE COLLECTIVE UCS. – WHO REACT WITH ‘PUNISHMENT’. THE DISTANCE OF ART FROM MADNESS IS VERY SHORT, AS HISTORY TELLS US.
CREATIVITY AND CONSCIOUSNESS ARE ETERNAL STRUGGLES TO BRING THE INSIDE OUT, TO DIVE AND SWIM IN THE DARKNESS, AND FIND THE FIRE IN THE WATER, CARRY THE TREASURES THROUGH THE DARK TUNNELS OF THE LABYRINTHS AND REACH THE LIGHT OF THE DAY AND OPEN SPACES AT THE END.
TO STEAL THE LIGHT FROM THE GODS IS A DANGEROUS PATH, ONE CAN DIE OR GO MAD OR BE LOST FOREVER.
REMEMBER THE MYTH OF PROMETHEUS WHO STEALS THE FIRE FROM ZEUS, THE OLYMPIC GOD, AND IS PUNISHED TO BE BOUND FOREVER TO MOUNT CAUCASUS WHERE A VULTURE EATS HIS LIVER DAILY, ONLY TO GROW IT BACK AT NIGHT.
THOUSAND OF YEARS LATER, THE ONE AND ONLY BIBLICAL FATHER GOD – YAHWEH – FORBIDS HIS CREATIONS – MAN AND WOMAN – TO HAVE CONSCIOUSNESS OF GOOD AND EVIL AND THE UNFORTUNATE ADAM AND EVE ARE  DRIVEN OUT OF LIFE IN PARADISE- EDEN INTO A LIFE OF SUFFERING FOR EATING THE FORBIDDEN APPLE, THE FRUIT TO ALLOW THEM MORAL KNOWLEDGE.
IT SEEMS THAT THE MALE GODS-FATHERS ( GREEK, OR BIBLICAL ) DO NOT WISH HUMANS TO HAVE INDEPENDENT ACCESS TO MORAL CONSCIOUSNESS OR TO THE POWERS OF CIVILIZATION .
THESE MYTHS REFLECT THE BASIC IDEAS AND BELIEFS -THE COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS – UPON WHICH WESTERN CIVILIZATIONS WERE CREATED IN THE LAST 6 THOUSAND YEARS. WE CALL IT ‘PATRIARCHAL SOCIETIES’ , RULED BY THE COLLECTIVE FATHER MALE PRINCIPLE IN THE UNCONSCIOUS, ‘GOD THE FATHER AND HIS SONS’ .
THIS PRINCIPLE IS AFRAID OF ITS OPPOSITE – THE MOTHER FEMALE ONE, THE ETERNAL ALL INCLUSIVE BIRTH GIVING, LIFE FEEDING AND DEATH EMBRACING FEMININE PRINCIPLE. OUR SACRED MOTHER EARTH.

MALE GODS ARE AFRAID HUMANS WILL OVERCOME DEATH, BECOME ETERNAL BY BEEN CONSCIOUS.
THE PROBLEM OF FACING DEATH, OF OUR MORTALITY AS HUMANS IS THE DRAMA BEHIND THESE PATRIARCHAL MYTHS. IT IS THE INABILITY OF THE MALE ARCHETYPE TO ACCEPT ITSELF IN HUMAN FORM, TO EMBRACE THE PHYSICALITY OF DEATH, THE SIMPLE LIMITATIONS OF FORM.  THE MODERN EGO IS ALL ABOUT FORM.
THE MALE INTELLECT,  SO CALLED “ MIND “, REACTS WITH RAGE TO DEATH, WITH PUNISHMENT AND HEROISM.
BUT FOR THE FEMALE INTUITION IN US ALL – “ SOUL -ALMA”- MORTALITY IS ETERNITY. THE FEMALE, WOMAN LIKE MOTHER EARTH, KNOWS THAT THERE IS NO BIRTH WITHOUT DEATH, THE TWO ARE INSEPARABLE , AND BOTH ARE PART OF THE ETERNITY WE LIVE AND DIE IN.

MAN SEARCHES FOR IMMORTALITY IN HIS FIGHT FOR LOVE AND GLORY, THROUGH DESCENDANTS, OWNERSHIPS OF PEOPLE, LAND, POSSESSIONS, CONTROL OF THE PHYSICAL WORLD, OF THE BODY, ALWAYS WANTING CONTINUITY OF LINE AFTER DEATH AND NEGATING THE FINALITY OF THE EGO AS WE KNOW IT.

WOMAN EXPERIENCES IMMORTALITY DIRECTLY THROUGH HER BODY BY HER ABILITY TO FACE THE BIG MYSTERY OF LIFE AND DEATH IN GIVING BIRTH, AND IN FACING MONTHLY BLOODY PERIODS. SHE INTUITIVELY CONNECTS BIRTH AND DEATH, DEATH AND BIRTH AS A CONTINUUM EXPERIENCE, HER SENSE OF WHOLENESS IS “INTACT” IN A NON-INTELLECTUAL BODILY WAY.

MEN EXPERIENCE THEIR ORGASMS DIFFERENTLY THAN WOMEN, THEY ARE CALLED ‘THE SMALL DEATH’ AND ARE LITERALLY SEEN AS EJACULATIONS. FOR WOMEN THE SEXUAL ORGASM EXPERIENCE IS MYSTERIOUS AND HIDDEN, THE SINGLE AND MULTIPLE ORGASMS OF THE FEMALE BODY CAN ENRICH HER DEEP INDIVIDUAL CONNECTION WITH THE UNIVERSE, A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF DIVINE ENERGY FLOWING IN AND OUT OF US IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS.
EMBODIED SPIRITUALITY IS THE ULTIMATE WISDOM, IT IS THE SACRED FEMININE DOWN TO EARTH AND THE ULTIMATE FREEDOM EXPERIENCED IN EARTHLY LIFE.
NO WONDER THE MALE GODS AND ITS FOLLOWERS ARE SO AFRAID OF IT.

LILITH, THE DEMONESS FROM HEBREW-JEWISH MYTHOLOGY- IS A MANIFESTATION OF THAT WISDOM .
THE STORY TELLS THAT SHE WAS CREATED EQUALLY WITH ADAM, FROM THE SAME EARTH, AND TOGETHER PUT IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN. WHEN ADAM ASKED HER TO OBEY HER AND LIE UNDERNEATH HIM, LILITH (UNLIKE EVE AFTER HER) REJECTED HIS AUTHORITY AND CONTROL OVER HER. SHE CHOOSE HER FREEDOM, SPREAD HER WINGS ( SHE IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE OWL, A NIGHT BIRD ) AND FLEW AWAY TO THE RED SEA, WHERE SHE COPULATED WITH HUNDREDS OF DEMONS PER DAY. LILITH REPRESENTS THE ULTIMATE FEMALE FREEDOM, SHE BELONGS TO HERSELF AND AS SUCH SHE WAS REJECTED AND PUNISHED BY GOD THE FATHER IN ALL THE RELIGIONS OF THE BOOK, IN ALL WESTERN MALE MYTHOLOGIES OF THE LAST 6 THOUSAND YEARS, THE VERY PILLARS OF SOCIETY THAT CREATED THE EGO CONSCIOUSNESS WHICH DOMINATES AND RULES US ALL TODAY, ALL OVER THE PLANET.
LILITH HAS BEEN IN EXILE FOR TOO LONG, THE INDEPENDENT FEMININE PRINCIPLE HAS LIVED IN THE DARKNESS FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, IN THE UNCONSCIOUS OF MEN AND WOMEN, AND POETS, WRITERS AND ARTISTS LIKE MYSELF AND MANY OTHERS, WE ARE CALLED TO BRING HER BACK INTO THE LIGHT.

IN THE BIBLICAL STORY OF JACOB, RACHEL AND LEAH, RACHEL IS CLOSE TO LILITH EVEN MORE THAN LEAH.
SHE IS LESS OF A MOTHER AND THE ONE TO STEAL THE ANCIENT IDOLS FROM HER FATHER AND HIDE THEM UNDER HER SKIRTS, SHE CARRIES THE SEXUAL FEMININE ENERGY IN A POSITIVE WAY.
NEXT TO HER LEAH REPRESENTS THE MAN-MADE WOMAN, LIKE EVE BEFORE HER, SHE IS ‘OWNED’ BY HER HUSBAND AND CARRIES THE CONSERVATIVE EGO CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE PATRIARCHAL WOMAN. THE TWO WILL NEED TO BE INTEGRATED AND EVOLVE.
RACHEL EVENTUALLY GIVES BIRTH TO AN ‘ANDROGYNOUS DREAMER’ – JOSEPH- ONE THAT BRIDGES BETWEEN OPPOSITES AND BRINGS DREAM AND REALITY, METAPHOR AND BODY, HEBREWS AND EGYPTIANS TOGETHER. JOSEPH ‘THE MAN OF DREAMS’, REPRESENTS A NEW INTEGRATED ENERGY OF MALE-FEMALE, CONSCIOUS-UNCONSCIOUS, A CONSCIOUSNESS THAT LATER ON JESUS WILL BRING TOO.

WE KNOW THAT 6 THOUSAND YEARS AGO, FOR CENTURIES SOCIETIES EVOLVED AROUND THE FEMININE EARTH GODDESS PRINCIPLE.
IN SUMMER OF THE MESOPOTAMIA, THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION AND THE BIRTHPLACE OF THE FIRST ALPHABET AND WRITING, WE FIND THE MYTH OF INANNA. THIS PRE-PATRIARCHAL MYTH, TELLS ANOTHER STORY, ONE OF A
FEMALE GODDESS THAT BRINGS ABOUT THE UNITY OF THE SEPARATED WORLDS: HEAVEN, EARTH AND UNDERWORLD, AND ABOUT THE CREATION OF A NEW MAN AND A NEW WOMAN – A PSYCHOLOGICAL ANDROGYNE. INANNA PRECEDES LILITH AND THE PATRIARCHAL SPLIT OF THE FEMININE ( LILITH AND EVE, THE VIRGIN MARY AND MARY MAGDALENE THE WHORE ). INANNA, LIKE MOTHER EARTH, IS THE INTEGRATION OF CREATOR AND DESTRUCTOR, DEATH AND REBIRTH AND THE ONE TO CREATE THE NEW WOMAN AND NEW MAN.

MONIQUE WITTIG, FRENCH FEMINIST NOVELIST, WRITES
“ THERE WAS A TIME WHEN YOU WERE NOT A SLAVE. REMEMBER THAT. YOU WALKED ALONE, FULL OF LAUGHTER, YOU BATHED BARE BELLIED. YOU SAY THERE ARE NO WORDS TO DESCRIBE THIS TIME, YOU SAY IT DOES NOT EXIST. BUT REMEMBER; MAKE AN EFFORT TO REMEMBER; OR, FAILING THAT, INVENT “
I REMEMBER THOSE TIMES, AND MANY WOMEN DO TOO, I ALSO RESPECT MY ‘ANCESTORS’, LIKE LILITH AND INANNA, AND DARE TO ‘INVENT’ THEIR STORIES FOR TODAY’S MODERN WORLD.

‘MATERNALITY’ BEEN A MOTHER IN A PHYSICAL WAY IS BY NO MEANS THE SINGLE STRONGEST FORCE IN FEMALE CONSCIOUSNESS.
NEITHER IS ‘POWER AND CONTROL’ THE SINGLE MAIN FORCE IN MALE CONSCIOUSNESS. BUT WE HAVE LIVED BY THESE MYTHS FOR TOO LONG.
WOMEN AND MEN HAVE IMAGINATION, ULTIMATE TRUTHS THAT LIVE IN US ‘IN THE DARK’, VISIONS THAT ARE WAITING TO COME OUT TO THE LIGHT.
WE ALL, WOMEN AND MEN OF ALL RACES AND CULTURES, HAVE A LILITH IN OURSELVES LIVING IN THE SHADOWS, IN EXILE, AWAITING TO RETURN AND UNITE WITH EVE AND ADAM.

FEMINISM TO ME HAS NEVER BEEN MERELY A SOCIAL POLITICAL MOVEMENT BUT AN EXPRESSION OF A STRONG SPIRITUAL HUNGER AS WELL. THE LIBERATION OF WOMEN IN THE WORLD, LIKE THE HEALING OF MOTHER NATURE, IS A DEEP YEARNING OF MY SOUL AND BODY, A SACRED PATH DOWN TO EARTH.

EVERY MOTHER WANTS HER DAUGHTER TO BE FEARLESS, TO TAKE RISKS AND MAKE HER OWN CHOICES, BUT AS SOON AS SHE STEPS OUT OF THE COMFORT ZONE MARKED OUT AS THE ‘GOOD GIRL- PRETTY GIRL’, THAN SHE IS TERRIFIED, AND OFTEN DAMAGED.
LILITH IS THE REBEL, A FORCE TO GRAPPLE WITH, INSIDE OUT, IN OURSELVES AND IN SOCIETY.
I TRULY BELIEVE THAT IF THE WOMEN IN THE WORLD WERE COMFORTABLE, THIS WOULD BE A COMFORTABLE WORLD TO LIVE IN FOR ALL, ONE THAT RESPECTS AND CHERISHES LIFE AND PEACE MORE THAN WARS.
FOR THAT TO HAPPEN, WE ALL NEED TO FEEL MORE COMFORTABLE WITH LILITH, THE REPRESSED FEMININE THAT LIVES IN THE DARK, IN OUR UNCONSCIOUS, RESULTING IN AN ONGOING WAR AGAINST THE PLANET. THIS IS CLEARLY MANIFESTED ECOLOGICALLY IN EARTH POLLUTION, LACK OF RESPECT AND CARE FOR ALL LIVING FORMS, INCLUDING ANIMALS AND PLANTS, OCEANS AND RIVERS, DISREGARD FOR THE BALANCE AND HEALTH OF OUR ONE AND ONLY SACRED MOTHER EARTH; AND SOCIALLY AS AN ONGOING WAR AGAINST WOMEN OF THE WORLD, IN SEXUAL SLAVERY ON MANY LEVELS, FROM MASSIVE ORGANIZED PORNOGRAPHY, PROSTITUTION, RAPE AND GLOBAL TRAFFICKING, INCEST AND FAMILY VIOLENCE.
THE CURRENT SYSTEM IS WELL ORGANIZED AROUND WOMEN SUBJUGATION AND MOSTLY ALL COMPLY, WOMEN AND MEN.
LILITH IS IN EXILE.

I BELIEVE THE ARTIST- POET BY PRODUCING NEW IMAGES-SOUNDS AND STORIES CAN TOUCH OUR PERSONAL AND COLLECTIVE DARKNESS, STEAL THE LIGHT FROM THE RULING GODS AND HEAL OUR SPLITS AND WOUNDS BY WAY OF MOVING AND INSPIRING US TO DREAM NEW VISIONS. ART TOUCHES THE REPRESSED PARTS OF OURSELVES THAT HAVE BEEN DORMANT AND AS SUCH, UNCONSCIOUSLY RULING US TO PERPETUATE THE SAME OLD VISIONS AND STORIES. THE ARTIST CAN HELP US AWAKE NEW WAYS OF BEEN IN THE WORLD, EMBRACING NEW FEELINGS AND FORMS THAT UNITE US WITHIN OURSELVES AND WITH EACH OTHER.
AS SUCH, AS AN ARTIST, I EVOKE LILITH AS THE GOLD IN US THAT HAD REMAINED IN THE DARK AND TURNED SOUR.
BY BRINGING LILITH ARCHETYPAL ENERGY FROM EXILE AND UNITING HER WITH ADAM AND EVE, THE MAIN CHARACTERS OF OUR WESTERN MYTHOLOGY- OUR COLLECTIVE DREAM – I HOPE TO CREATE BRIDGES WITHIN AND BETWEEN US HUMANS AND WITH ALL LIVING THINGS ON EARTH.