Transcendental Realism

Section 4

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Adi Da's Artistic Discipline

from the Introduction
by Erik van Erp, PhD

Against this background, the specifics of Adi Da's artistic discipline and His manner of creating images can be understood and appreciated.

For example, Adi Da's description of the process of abstraction in relation to the always present meaning-context of His art, and His rejection of the alternatives of "subjective" self-expression versus "objective" representation, are clarified and grounded in that universal consideration.

Conversely, the essays in which Adi Da elaborates the principles and details of His artistic process add further clarity to His consideration of Reality, by showing how, very concretely and specifically, Reality Itself is set to work in the spontaneous discipline of His image-making, and how no "point of view" needs to enter the picture.

The various layers of meaning of the text are thus inseparable. Ultimately, what Adi Da communicates here is not something that is meant to be grasped by mental effort alone. Real "understanding" would entail the transcending of "point of view" in the reader.

It is exactly to serve that process that Adi Da makes His art. "Art is the setting-into-work of truth", says Heidegger. In the sensuous sphere of mere perception, in direct participation in the "space" of Adi Da's images, the fullest meaning of the text is tacitly communicated.

So enjoy and be illuminated by these words and images. Let the "geometry" of Adi Da's text fold itself into the tissues of your thought — its straight lines of analytic clarity, the circular and centerless unity of its origin and purpose, and the sharp angles it makes with the plane of the familiar.

Through the rapture of aesthetic pleasure, and the cracks of inevitable discomfort, Adi Da reveals His secrets and opens up the groundless ground of Being.

Next: "The Unobservable Totality of Light"
by Adi Da Samraj

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