LET ME ANSWER WITH A QUESTION

Curated by Cassandra Mayela

September 14 - October 3, 2021

Let me answer with a question documents a web of current meditations on spirituality

Basie Allen, Colleen Herman, Courtney Yates, Djali Brown Cepeda, Dwight Portocarrero, Florencia Alvarado, Hombre Adobe, Johana Palmieri, Majenye, Maria Padilla, Mulato Pinto, Mujer Barro, Roca Tarpeya, Tuky Ilustrado, Santiago Méndez Arvelaez and, Vero Romero.

‘Goosebumps are a good sign. When I am speaking with—or listening to—another and a wave of energy washes under the skin of my limbs, standing all the little hairs upright, I understand this as a marker of metaphysical significance, and lately, I’ve come to consider the phenomena a signal that I have made contact with the web of life. That there is an energetic network connecting all the material and immaterial beings in the universe is not so much a new thought for me as it is, rather, an ever-increasingly emergent clarity I enjoy. Network science, astrology, cell biology, ethnobotany, telepathy, quantum theory, love, and bereavement are some of the realms of thought and behavior comprising a nexus of certainty that the boundaries between us are illusion. The core violence of contemporary Earth’s dominant cultures is that in order to be as extractive as they still feel they must be, the fact of our relational porosities must remain illegible. Spirituality resides right here where the forces of relational extraction cannot go. Spirituality is recognition of interconnection. Spirituality is a network of electrical signals that link us all across the whole of the universe. Keeping this sublime schematic close at hand has made every aspect of my life engine’s hum with increasing grace and potency. The hero, Julia Cameron, writes of spiritual electricity saying, If you think of the universe as a vast electrical sea in which you are immersed and from which you are formed, opening to your creativity changes you from something bobbing in that sea to a more fully functioning, more conscious, more cooperative part of that ecosystem. Here we are together, alone, in the universe; its vastness is our own. This is a small town and you will be here for a while. Be as kind as you can. We are never not touching. Let spirit remind you of this when material has confused you. We are never not touching. You are as vast as the universe because you are a small part of the universe. Act accordingly, have fun, and be careful. Goosebumps are a good sign.’

Foreword written by Adjua Greaves after a conversation with Curator Cassandra Mayela