Drawing

Hi 🙌🏽 ☮️ Thank u for checking out this post.

This is a drawing I completed this past January, ‘19 ⤵️

The idea for this piece – the entire inspiration, actually – came from the song “Praying,” by Kesha. I heard this song – and saw the music video – online, and i rly liked it. It drew me in, rly strongly.

Link to the song: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tLR3Gqz5PEs 

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The song repeats the phrase “I hope you’re somewhere praying”. This “you” is not identified in the song. So, the person who’s being addressed is not identified. But in my interpretation, this “you” can easily refer to God. Even though God doesn’t pray to anyone, I don’t think (since ‘he’s the supreme being and there’s nothing greater than him/it’ is the logic, I think) – the “you” in this line can still refer to him. The way in which it could refer to god would be (addressing him); “I hope you’re at peace, and I don’t have any venomous feelings towards you. I release you, and I am letting all the hurt you have given me, go.” So, the term “praying” here wouldn’t be a literal praying, but a figurative term for being ok – at peace. The speaker (or Kesha) is telling god “I hope you are at peace. And I release you.” This interpretation of mine is supported by many other verses in the song, like: “Well, you almost had me fooled – told me that I was nothing without you” (the opening lines); “You brought the flames and you put me through hell – I had to learn how to fight for myself”; “After everything you’ve done, I can thank you for how strong I have become”; and “I’ll just say this is I wish you farewell.” These verses can all, together, refer to God. Again, it backs up the idea that the speaker is peacefully letting god go. 

It’s a really beautiful and unique idea, that one ‘hopes God is somewhere, ‘praying.’ It’s a unique way to express one’s releasing of god. 

To be honest, I’m not sure if the singer/songwriter (Kesha) would say that this interpretation of mine is valid (regarding her song). But at the same time, one of the beauties of music, lyrics and all art is that the audience can interpret it…rather than there being no chance of more than one interpretation. Or ‘answer’, as in math and other things. 

*Also: I researched a bit about Kesha online, and learned that she does believe in god/a higher power. But maybe the song is sung from part of her that lets go of the idea of god. (Because – you know – we’re multidimensional beings. All of humanity is, I’m sure.) Or maybe the song is sung from the perspective of someone else. Someone else who is letting god go. In which case my hypothesis would still hold valid, and the “you” in the song could refer to god. I hope all these theories of mine about the song are strong/good..

“Praying” is a really beautiful song – I loved it. I think it’s one that a lot of people should hear/listen to.

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Just like how the song, in my personal interpretation, features someone letting god go, my drawing depicts a woman doing the same. She’s addressing god (who’s depicted with the multicolored shapes and lines. I, like many others (most Muslims, i think, for one example), don’t actually think god looks like anything in this life. Since he created this world (supposedly), he has to be separate from the things he created things, in essence. So, for example: he created leaves. So, leaves were not in existence before he created them. So, logically, how could he look like a leaf, if they didn’t exist before his creating them? Same goes for anything else in life – anything we can see. Islamic Hadith (along with many other faiths) asserts god is not like anything in (his) creation. Therefor/for that simple reason, When I think of “what god might look like”, it’s more like energy and color and, like, glittering/glowing thing. (*although: those are seeable/visible things in this life, too, of course. But I think it’s somehow closer to how he/it actually is, more so than the more concrete, touchable/physical things. You can’t touch color, or energy. They’re more like concepts. And so, that’s closer to how god is/appears, I think. more so than say, an animal, or object, or person. ‘Spirit,’ I guess (along with ‘energy’ and ‘force’) are more accurate depictions, i guess. So, in this pic I tried to represent ‘energy’ and so on, as best I could. I feel like I can do better, actually… I should have added more colors (orange, blue, etc.), and more shinyness/luminousness. I think I’ll def edit this pic, and add those elements, in there. >.< ). –note: I fully love and respect all religions. If people of certain faiths say god (or deities, in polytheistic faiths) look(s) like things in his (their) creation, I fully respect that. Besides*, he might have created creation, and then took on the form or shape of something in it. It doesn’t necessarily have to be that he looked like that thing from the get-go. (And even if he did, it’s Perfectly fine, to me- I’m not bothered at all. All I care about (at this point in my life) is that he exists. I want to have a higher being to believe in. I don’t really want to be an atheist or agnostic. >.< I want there to be a loving, caring energy who loves us and will give us peace and freedom and contentment, after this life. So: I don’t want there to be nothing, after this life. (Actually: I don’t think anybody wants that, not even atheists and agnostics. But from what I sense, they feel that they have no other choice but to disbelieve in god, and a hereafter. Life is too bad for there to be a a deity. Which I respect – I think that’s sound.)

To go back to the earlier statement I was making: Just like how the song “Praying”, in my personal interpretation, features someone letting god go, my drawing depicts a woman doing the same. She’s addressing god (depicted with the multi colored shapes and lines), telling him that ‘she hopes he’s somewhere, praying’ (words borrowed from the song). The woman is physically abused, mentally ill, and alone, in life. That may or may not be the reason why she says goodbye to god. In addition: the drawing depicts some aspects of the suffering and unbearableness of life. Things like war, murder, mental illness, slavery, and homelessness are symbolized by my renderings of a bomb, a gun, psychiatric medication, chained hands, and a family living on a street. I thought I’d include the idea of life’s misery in general, in addition to the woman’s specific misery, to strengthen the message of letting god go. Of there being too much misery in life for a benevolent god. -I’m not actually saying to my audience to let god go – it’s more of a spotlight on the idea. A highlighting of the concept, itself .

I personally believe in a god//a higher power (just like Kesha does. hehe 🙂). But I don’t blame people who don’t. I think their position (of unbelief) is a legitimate position too, considering everything. -I believe in an afterlife very strongly… so I guess by default I have to believe in an entity that administers (or is in control of) that afterlife. (That’s not the only reason I believe in a higher power, though 😬).   -I’m really confused as to the level of suffering around us, though. I think that some suffering – up to a certain level – does give you good character, and so on. Very strongly. It gives you sensitivity to and empathy with other people’s pain and etc., very much so. But sometimes life is unbearable. I don’t know what the point of that is. That’s something I’m grappling with. As in; I know you can’t have a rainbow without the rain, but sometimes the rain is an outpour. And it’s freezing. And it goes on for seemingly forever. So, I don’t necessarily see any meaningfulness in that. I don’t see why life has to be insanely bad, sometimes. The unbearable-ness of life (poverty, mental illness, domestic abuse, crime, etc.) is something I can’t quite understand why. But I’m trying to.. And I’m open to whatever answer may come to me, of course.

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hehe ok ty🙏🏽🙏🏽 byee

😬🌺

-e.h.