Beginning in the winter of 1880, at age 49, due to declining health, Edouard Manet found it increasingly difficult to work on larger paintings. How creative, instead of packing up his brushes and calling it quits, he put his waning energies into sixteen small paintings of flowers in humble containers.
The painting we see here (1882) is of a purple clematis with leaves and a single spray of pink dianthus (sometimes called pinks). They have been placed in a crystal vase, with a delicate painted decoration, filled with clean water.
A bouquet can be an extravagant affair, "Nothing succeeds like excess," the Dowager Countess says in Downton Abbey. But here, the arrangement of flowers is simple in the extreme. Indeed, Manet's arrangement of flowers is perfect simplicity, inviting us contemplate these few flowers in silence.
Here's a little meditation we might practice. We meditate when we lock or fix our minds. But the locking needn't be on an overtly religious image. May we use our imagination? Some say, no, because our imaginations can go off unreliably. Before we know it we're fixed on superficiality, foolishness, resentment or even lust. I'd say rather, cultivate your best imagination.
Here! Imagine picking up the little vase of flowers, then mindfully walking off to make a gift to anyone I know who needs forgiveness. Forgiveness is central to Jesus's teaching. Forgiveness breaks the cycle of violence. His last words from the cross are, "Father forgive." John 20:23. Forgiveness means, "I wish you well." "I wish you all you need for salvation." I visualize handing off the gift of Manet's flowers with these words:
I hand off the flower-gift to someone who has hurt me — I wish you well.
I hand off the flower gift to someone who has failed me — even parents or teachers.
I hand off the flower gift to anyone who has abused me — spouse, clergy, sibling, employer.
I offer the flower-gift to someone whose conscience is unevolved —
who doesn't know right from wrong or who thinks, "What's the big deal."
I offer the flower-gift to anyone whose behavior
makes me crazy or
depresses me.
I offer the flower-gift to anyone I find repulsive —
those of whom I think the most negative thoughts.
I offer the flower-gift to anyone who needs forgiveness who is deceased.
I offer the flower-gift to someone who caused me suffering —
who frightened me,
lied to me,
betrayed me,
tricked or exploited me,
who harmed my good name,
stole from me.
I offer the flower-gift to those who have caused me pain,
but who carried their own deep wound.
I offer the flower-gift to anyone who has disappointed me —
perhaps even my own children,
a friend,
a relative,
a trouble maker,
an addict.
But don't force this visualization. It might not be time — perhaps in the future. Maybe the best I'm able to imagine is, "I would like to be able to offer this flower-gift and wish for wellness. Perhaps some day."
Finally, I may want to keep the flowers for myself — a token of forgiveness for my own wrong-headed self, especially the mistakes from long ago that still trouble me.
