Notes
Installation Goodbye! It is time for a new coat
I n this installation reference is made to the text of the Bhagavad Gita - a classic esoteric document from Ancient India- describing the eternal cycle of life and death.
- Just as a person casts off worn-out clothes in order to don new ones, so the embodies Spirit discards old bodies and enters new ones.
- Weapons cannot cleave It, nor can fire burn It. Water cannot drench It, nor can wind dry It.
- It (the Spirit) cannot be cut, burned, drenched or dried because It is eternal, changeless, all-pervading, stable and immovable.
Bhagavad Gita II, 22 - 24
‘Casting off old clothes and donning new ones’ can also be seen as a metaphor for saying goodbye to a phase of life that is no longer appropriate for taking new paths. That could be anything: work, relationship and so on.
The man is wearing his old, trusty coat with visible worn patches. He has fully experienced life or the phase of life and learned his lessons. It is finished, it is time for a change. When the ‘buttons’ are pressed, they no longer work. The man seems to sink into the earth. His head and part of his familiar coat are still visible. He endures it with melancholy.
Offering
As an offering - a tribute to what has been - roses are strewn from ‘heaven’. (roses are the symbol of love, white covers all the colours). Petals still seem to swirl around and have already descended. The process is in its final phase, the moment of saying goodbye is there. It will not be long before the man has been absorbed into the earth.
Reflection
It is a sacred moment for reflection… how does my jacket fit? Dare to live and leave behind what is no longer part of you. You have learned from that and as a result you are grateful (offering/tribute). It has made you grow in consciousness as a human being. That is your wealth. Giving up the things you have bee familiar with for a long time can be difficult, but it is part of life to be able to start a new adventure freely and open-minded.
