Baba’s Art School – 101: #21 - "Who's Your Guru?"

“You can’t begin too soon to encourage an appreciation of art! And each artwork has a story.”

WHO'S YOUR GURU? - by Paul G. Chandler

Baba sharing with his two older grandchildren a painting by Turkish artist Oktay Bozkurt titled "The Guru"

On my recent trip to Amman, Jordan, a good friend who lives there asked if I would sit down with his two teenage sons and share with them about my own personal spiritual journey and a little of what I have learned through it. It was an honor to be asked to do this, and it was a deeply meaningful experience. Reflecting on what I wish I had been told about the spiritual life as a youth myself, two lessons quickly came to mind. First, I encouraged them to not confuse their personal spiritual journey with adherence to a specific religious tradition. While religion may or may not facilitate the deepening of one’s spiritual life, it cannot replace it. Secondly, I encouraged them to always allow their beautiful Creator to work differently in everyone’s life, never assuming that someone else’s spiritual journey should look like their own. In other words, I encouraged them to have a limitless and liberating view of “the Divine Artist.”

Upon returning from my trip, that experience led me to share with my two oldest grandkids a favorite painting by the Turkish artist Oktay Bozkurt that I purchased in Istanbul a number of years ago. Bozkurt was born in 1944 in the eastern part of Turkey. Painted in 2004, it is titled “The Guru.” It depicts an individual sitting in front of a spiritual teacher, likely a Sufi master, soaking up his wisdom. Bozkurt shaded the figure in the foreground in such a way as to not show any specific features, inferring that he or she could be anyone. I love how the wise old sage has his eyes closed, as if he is searching his interior life to share spiritual depth he has gained over the years.

Oktay Bozkurt, The Guru, 2004, Oil on wood, 22 x 33 cm

Bozkurt’s painting reminds me of how I once drafted a list of the key individuals who have served as spiritual mentors in my life, whether in person or through their writings. Reflecting on that list, I recall being struck that most of them were not religious figures, and were either outside institutional religious systems or lived “on the boundary,” a phrase used by the noted 20th century German theologian Paul Tillich. In fact, following my recent time in Jordan, while in Beirut, Lebanon, I had the privilege of visiting one of my spiritual mentors on that list, a best-selling Syrian writer and natural mystic, whose presence in my life has significantly deepened my own spiritual pilgrimage.

All this leads to the question, “Who are our gurus?” Who are those individuals that have played or are playing formative roles in our own spiritual journeys? For we all need inspiring spiritual mentors and guides.

At the same time, thinking about my grandkids and the spiritual journeys they will take, I am reminded of some words by the Lebanese born poet-artist and mystic, Kahlil Gibran, another one of my spiritual mentors:

“God has placed in each soul an apostle to lead us upon the illumined path. Yet many seek life from without, unaware that it is within them.”

P.S. Truth be told, my grandkids were most interested in knowing why the guru’s noise in the painting is crooked!  

Artwork:

Oktay Bozkurt, The Guru, 2004, Oil on wood, 22 x 33 cm