Welcome to the Everyman Visual Poetry Collection by RAK
NEW: "The EVERYMAN Illustrated, an Artists Journey Within" is a new book featuring the art and writings of world famous artist RAK (Robert A. Kraus). Limited to only 1,000 copies, it is a truly special collectible, reasonably priced at only $10.00!!!
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"The Everyman print series was created by me, RAK, to capture a thought or emotion in a single image. |
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Below is my first set of the Everyman Series. I've included my thoughts on a few of them so enjoy!!!
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Everybody wears the melancholy cloak of heartache from time to time, and it has been worn by me on many a joyless period in my life. However real and intense it seems its roots are based in selfishness.
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"The trouble with taking a middle- We often find ourselves at an intersection of choice which will change the direction of our lives. Usually the choice is between things as It is better to have to do a u-turn down the road than to spend wasted years idling at the crossroads.
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Depression is rampant in the world today, and people do all sorts of things to combat it. Drugs, therapy, self-help seminars and books, etc. I was taught that the spirit leads the mind, and that the body follows the mind. If this is true, the depression is a place we have taken ourselves. At first this sounds like a cruel thing to say, but if it is true, it actually is a portent of good news. If we have gotten ourselves lost, we can get ourselves unlost. You may need a doctor or drug to help you get back on the right path, but I firmly believe you can come back from the wilderness. If you find hope, refuse to falter, and respect your body, depression will fall away like a dream forgotten upon awakening .
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Here is a poem and a thought about this powerful image Drifting away
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A comedian once said, "Happiness is good health and a bad memory." Happiness should not be some far off destination or some future time when things will be better. An enlightened life is one where your joy overcomes your pain, and your laughter drowns out your tears. Be Happy! Here are some sayings which help remind me that we should always • Being content will bring you happiness, yearning will bring you worry.
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The juggler juggles We all know the problem. Too much stuff to do and not enough time to do it. The solution is to find balance in our lives. I hate to tell you what you already know, but you can't have and do it all. You must prioritize and simplify your life. Focus on what is most important to you, and spend the quality time to really immerse yourself in the length and breath of it.
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Just as we create locks which keep our hearts closed, we also hold the keys to unlock it. We keep a lot of stuff locked away. Emotions, loss, dreams, thoughts and words are just a few of the things we try to keep protected in this way. Soon we have accumulated an overwhelming assortment of locked rooms that close off our spirit and separate us from the world around us. In the end, we must open these locks, reveal and face them all, and search for keys to keep them open. The keys are everywhere, within and without. Sometimes the key is a passage from a book, a prayer mouthed in reverence, a smile from a stranger, or the comfort of an oversized sweatshirt. The great thing about keys is the fun and adventure you will have in searching them out!
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It's hard to slow down or sit still, yet that is what one must do to defragment a cluttered mind and bring relaxation to a tense body. It really helps if you don't live a lifestyle contrary to harmony in the first place. The following tenets will help you live a meditative lifestyle:
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This was the first illustration in my "everyman" series. It was a simple sketchbook drawing I used to express how I was feeling while experiencing a long hard day where nothing seemed to go right. Looking back, I am now grateful to have had that day which opened a doorway of new thoughts and visions for me. Maybe things do happen for a reason... I think some things we really should strive to control, but many events in life we cannot affect one way or another despite our best efforts. Perhaps our time would be better spent just enjoying the chaos life pours into our teacup of experience. I've come to trust that God, spirit, fate, the universe, or even plain old dumb luck may be more qualified and able to pull the right strings than I am.
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Sometimes the weight of the world seems strapped on our back, and like Atlas from mythology, we wearily try to hold up our whole world. Many of these burdens are very real, and we carry them with us as we make our way through life. They are the wounds and scars which identify us and mark us as we walk the journey of life. Many people spend fortunes and mountains of effort to exorcise this weight. The hard truth is that we can never fully remove the burden.
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There are angels all around us, which have helped support, nurture, protect, and heal us as we have traveled our path. Think of the friend, the parent, or even the stanger who was there at a critical time of your life. The mentor who gave you advice, the teacher who gave you knowledge, or the person who gave you directions when you were lost. Angels do not have to have wings to teach you to fly, and you do not need to perform miracles to be an angel for others.
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A prayer is a grateful submission to a force larger than us
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"What are the questions you need answered?" The remarkable power of a question is that it helps define what you don't know. Once you know the question, you can go about finding Here are a few questions to ponder:
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If we must suffer, let us suffer nobly. This illustration is one I did while working a long and boring day during which I felt the life was being sucked right out of me. Day after day of the same monotonous work, the same mind-numbing boredom. It was sad and scary to see the workers around me without the spark of hope, the faith that a better day or happier fate would be theirs. I was young and didn't dare imagine that I would ever be free to follow my dreams. The road is long and hard when you cannot see its end. |
Regardless of how much you have been taught or have experienced, you have to apply the knowledge you have acquired. Introspective questions are a way for us to make what we know more usable. It also helps us see what we need to further learn about ourselves, Think about these questions for awhile:
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