by Mel Ohlinger
Finding Om was the first painting in the Truth Seeking Collection. After learning the Socratic method of teaching (and learning), I began examining different theories and answers to the Meaning of Life. At the time, I was going through something difficult and it became a need to figure out how to cope. What began as a way to apply order to the chaos instead became a life-changing, butt-kicking, brain-melting few, passionate few years of studying and putting theories to the test.
Finding Om was the painting that started everything. I wanted to learn how to meditate, but my brain was such a busy place that I wasn't able to do it. It made me wonder if meditation was one of those things that everyone talked about, but no one really could do. With the help of Arthur Pontynen's academic teachings and the Socratic method, I painted this painting and hooked myself up to a bio-feedback machine periodically as a way to examine meditation, to see if it was True, and to find if I could achieve a meditative state through mindful painting.
I was able to have periods of meditation-like moments while painting Finding Om. It was hard at first, but became easier. I did not find that meditation alone solved the mysteries of the universe, nor did it help me with the problems I was dealing with, so I began researching different types of schools of thought to find out what was True (although I didn't have a definition for what True was at this point). This became a much bigger hunt than I had originally expected and ended up turning into an entire series of paintings that I refer to as the Truth Seeking Collection.