OPENING INTUITIVE FLOW THROUGH ARTWORK

A guide to finding authenticity and meaning through art.

Carmi had enjoyed a long and successful career as an illustrator—in Israel and in the United States—when he decided to study art therapy at New York University. This book is informed by his practice as both an artist and a counselor, as well as the 12 years of intensive study in Chan meditation. While Carmi does share scenes from his work as a psychotherapist and provide advice that seems directed at clinicians, the modality he describes here isn’t just for mental health professionals. It is, rather, for anyone who would like to use art as a way to connect—or reconnect—with their truest, deepest self. Suppressing or ignoring this true self is, Carmi suggests, the root of human suffering. His aim is nothing less than to help readers “learn to allow that unique energy of who we are to stream through us and become our doing.” Intuition is essential to this process. “Intuition comes from a place inside us that is beyond thoughts and emotions,” Carmi writes. “It is not affected by them. As I see it, intuition comes from that place within us where there is deep understanding and unconditional love for all.” At the heart of Carmi’s method is using art not only as a form of intuitive expression, but also as a heuristic device for interpreting subconscious minds. This author is never prescriptive, but he does offer useful, concrete methods. For example, he directs readers to envision various objects/situations in order to help them tap into an awareness of “direct experience,” something that enables an easier transition into intuitive flow in art making. Carmi’s desire to be of service shines through the text. His sense of mission can, perhaps, be summed up in this sentence: “When people are happy, they will do what is good for themselves, and for everybody else as well.”

Inspired and inspiring.