I call this painting; Spiritual Bathing, and this is the story and the meaning behind it.
I once heard an account of a person who had an NDE (Near Death Experience)
She officially died in a canoeing accident. Her canoe capsized and she drowned.
Her heart was officially recorded as "stopped" for 45 minutes and after several resuscitation attempts she was certified as dead by medics at the scene. Minutes later she suddenly began coughing and spurting water. Doctors rushed her to hospital and feared brain damage due to lack of oxygen to the brain.
It is a medical fact that the brain can not survive unharmed for more than 3 minutes without oxygen. After that the brain deteriorates at an extremely fast rate.
Miraculously she had no brain damage whatsoever.
Later the women told what she experienced during her 45 minute period as a corpse and it is her story that is the inspiration for this painting.
She told that she found herself standing on beautiful beach. White sand crystal clear ocean with gentle waves washing up onto the shore. It could have been a beach in the Bahamas but 100 times more beautiful.
She looked around taking in the marvelous scene and saw that there were hundreds of angels standing on the beach and they were all standing still and looking up towards the sky.
The woman looked up to see what it was they were all looking at but could not see anything specific.
So she goes over to one of the angels and asks: "What is it you are all looking at?"
The angel turned to look at her and she saw that his/her face was stunningly beautiful and was sort of male and female at the same time.
The angel smiled at the woman and said "I am bathing in the light of the creator, we all are. The cleansing energy is so soothing and fulfilling. Look, see for yourself. Now you have to excuse me I simply must look back again "
The woman could sense that it was almost painful for the angel to stop looking even for a moment and so she responeded by looking up at the sky again.
This time she saw a bright light in the sky shining like a sun. It was pure white and brighter than anything she had ever seen before only you can look directly at it without the eyes hurting or squinting. The more she looked the more she began to feel a sensation gradually come over her body.
"It was rather like sitting in a warm ocean and feeling gentle waves flow over your body and with each wave yo became more relaxed and felt all your worries and concerns being washed away. The feeling was so wonderful that you simply wanted more and more. I began to understand why the angels found it so addictive" She explained.
I found this account quite moving and somewhat inspirational.
The idea of a spiritual light energy that is so pure of truth that it is quite simply addictive.
The idea that we could bath in such a light in order to wash away our feelings of worry, jealousy, envy, anger etc.
Normally my paintings take months to do as I am rather a slave to detail. This one however I did as fast as I could.
In fact it took 45 minutes. I actually set this time deliberately as the deadline was determined by how long this lady was dead for.
I call the painting. Spiritual Bathing. Acrylic on canvas, 1 meter x 1 meter.
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