Thank you to Daniel for sharing with us.
Daniel Auberle, a member of the Detroit Recovery Dharma Sangha, thinks art can happen as effectively on a dinner plate as a canvas, as long as he’s tapping into a shared creativity that springs from an interconnected sense of creativity and expression.
“I stopped drinking and attended a few Alcoholics Anonymous meetings but the religious aspect never fit me so I stopped going,” said Daniel. “I soon realized I could easily turn any process of behavior into an addiction and decided I should seek out help more suited to my philosophical temperament; I have always had a strong interest in Buddhism and Eastern philosophy in general so when I found a Buddhist recovery community, I was immediately interested. I have now been attending, leading and participating for four years now at Dharma Gate Temple in Troy MI and I absolutely love it. Buddhism provides the guiding principles I needed to find, and recovery is both the reason I continue and the benefit I derive from it.”
“I studied fine art in college for three years at a local community college, but soon realized the art I wanted to make would not be financially viable as a career. So I moved downstate I switched to Culinary Arts, having had many cooking jobs and being interested in food as a five dimensional art form in itself. That has been my career for almost 30 years now. I paint as a hobby and therapy and plan to sell some paintings at some local craft shows in the summer but the joy comes in the doing and selling them is just to make more space to paint more!
“Painting is therapeutic, just as is any form of using creativity. I feel that we are all conduits for creativity and when we create we are opening up and allowing the universe/tao/god/force to flow through us. It is rewarding to do and one thing most people don’t know is that the more you create, the easier the creative flow will come. If we show up at the page everyday and write, draw, play music or whatever it is we do just do it everyday, we take care of the quantity and god/tao/the universe/force will take care of the quality. The more you do, the better it gets.”
“Most importantly, I try to make art that is for me, that makes me happy and is just the way I like it. Whether it is portraiture, pottery, comic books, fine dining pastries or macaroni and cheese, the only important thing is that YOU really feel it, that it calls to you somehow because that is the Tao trying to flow through like a river trying to find it’s own course. Leap, and the net shall appear.”
