Longing – from the Unbound series

‘Longing….the defenseless inner secret that frightens and emboldens, humiliates and beckons.  A lifetime’s journey living deep inside at some unknown area, set adrift in the tide, gripped and lifted by a passing hand.  Longing has its own secret destination and emergence… put into relationship leading us back, indifferent to our wills.  With its dangerous edge we are here to risk ourselves in the world.  A form of invitation to others, a rite of passage to ourselves. Pilgrims, moving through life in the blink of an eye, made real through contact.  The courageous life equal to the unceasing tide and strangely beneath all….stillness.  The destination is inside us and beyond us.  We give ourselves into vulnerability and arrival. The memory of then, the experience of now and the hardly possible just about to happen’. – David Whyte

So often we are bound by unseen forces– limiting beliefs formed from stories of the past and heartache.  Far too often, shame underscores the emotions surrounding these events.  Shining a light on shame disempowers its grasp.  So much of our inner work is about breaking free from the past – free from the wounds, the heartaches, the self-doubt, anger, fear and the people who reinforce these limiting beliefs.  Choosing instead of the ones who champion our dreams. The series “Unbound” is about this process, this letting go or breaking free.

In this piece, I examine the aspect of Longing.  Longing without risk leads to a life of unrealized dreams and misplaced possibilities.  How much you want something is proportionate to the risk you are willing to take to achieve it. Risk is so different for each of us.  For one it may be hosting a dinner party, for another, a change in career. For another it is saying I love you, for someone else, it is saying I don’t.  Risk is being All-In, saying Yes!.  It is Stretching – emotionally, spiritually, physically or intellectually.  Longing is the road map that leads to Risk; it is essential.

Symbolically, the book-like structure represents us as both, a collective and individual.  It was created from one sheet of paper, torn, soaked and peeled apart.  The paper curls and folds naturally in reaction, much like how our own lives are shaped by events.  It is purposely left blank, leaving the fibrous scars formed from the pulling apart.  Beautiful. Rough. Scarred. Every WoMan. The thread– the binding – is unraveling, yielding to the force of the paper as it curls into its self.

Tess Mosko Scherer |‘Longing’ — from the ‘Unbound’ Series |12 x 12 |Pastel, graphite, watercolor, with Irish linen thread on paper sewn onto canvas

Inspired by David Whyte’s book, “Consolations”, I rewove his essays on Longing and Pilgrim to create the text for this piece.