Art of Synergistic Seeing

Unleash the transformational power of Art

to expand your sense of vision, break free from the limitations of your mind, and enter as a co-creator into the synergistic space of Art (even if you don’t think of yourself as an artist)

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If you love the art of painting…

But know you aren’t fully tapping into its power to inspire and transform your life… 

(which, by the way, is true for every single one of us, because this power is infinite).

If NOW is the right time for YOU

• to expand and deepen the presence of Art in your life,

• to discover the deepest secrets of seeing and practice this sublime art with help and inspiration from its greatest masters,

• and to integrate their insights into your moment-to-moment experience of life and its creative expression (whether or not it has anything to do with painting…)

And if (especially if!) you sometimes feel imprisoned by your own mind and by the daily realities of life…

Please keep reading, because the “Art of Synergistic Seeing” suite of programs has been created for you!

The thing is, there is much, much more to looking at paintings than “meets the eye”

(But then, you know this as well as I do… )

A single encounter with a great painting can become a peak experience, which transforms your life and uplifts the state of your being… even in your darkest hours.

Because each great painting is a revelation, a unique insight into the nature of reality, beyond anything our talkative rational minds can possibly process or imagine.

It expands the realm of visible, and thus, the realm of knowable…

It transcends all false dualities that constrain and distort the human experience.

And all we really have to do is simply open our eyes, hearts and minds to these experiences, to these insights…

This simple, almost child-like, act allows you to share in the artist’s vision, to see more, to see through the mind’s limitations and projections, and in doing so, to transcend these limitations and grow into your highest potential.

But life has a way of interfering with our connection to the sublime, ever-present, synergistic field opened (and made visible!) by Art…

There are so many (seemingly) more urgent things to do… and pausing the flow of life simply to look at paintings may feel like an indulgence….

It is so easy to forget, in the relentless flow of modern life, that not only your body and your mind need nourishment, but your spirit as well … that in order to breath out — to produce, to create — you also need to breath in…

(this is what inspiration means, after all).  

Art is always present, is always here for us to breath in, to cleanse our eyes and minds from the visual noise of (post-)modernity, to be inspired.

But even if you know that this presence is vital to your state of being, to your very sense of being alive, the multiple demands of “real life” may keep getting in your way…

(Especially if you live far away from major museums and cultural centers, isolated from any art-focused cultural institutions and social structures). 

Here is what it comes down to:

If you know that deepening and expanding the presence of great art in your life is essential for your well-being and creative expression — but struggle to integrate it into your life…

If you want to expand your sense of vision and to break free from the limitations of your mind with the ever-present help and inspiration from the world’s great artists…  

And if you wish you have had some guidance, some support structure, some space & time to do so in 2020, then you are in the right place,

because I have a solution! 

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But before I go any further, let me tell you more about myself…

My name is Elena Maslova-Levin (although some people know me as Lena Levin, and some, as Elena Maslova). My very name, for me, is an expression of synthesis and (finally!) integration between two aspects of my life: an artist and a scholar…

But beyond and above that, I am a lover of great art, forever and ever fascinated with its miraculous ability to liberate the human mind from the prison of its own making, to open our eyes and awaken our hearts to the sheer beauty of the world we live in, and, ultimately, to expand and intensify our conscious experience of life itself: to cleanse the doors of perception (using William Blake’s famous words).

And so it has become my life’s work to truly see, to fully experience what the greatest artists have shown, and to comprehend how this process works

(so that I can integrate it into my work — and share it with you…).

I experienced and witnessed this process for decades, in museums, and in my studio, and everywhere really… through deliberate looking, and reading, and painting, and contemplation.  

Here is the most important thing I have learned:

Every great painting is both a unique insight into objective reality and an intrinsic part of the eons-long co-evolution of art and human consciousness

— a synergistic project in which artists are explorers and pioneers, often far ahead of all other realms of human inquiry.

A grandiose, larger-than-life, project of synergistic seeing, in which the human sense of vision gradually expands by transcending its own limitations, again, and again, and again.

And in this project, the spectators’ job is no less important then the artists’:

It is to open our eyes, minds, and hearts to truly see the works of art, to embody their insights…

… so as to live and work from this newly expanded vision, to become conscious co-creators in this synergistic space.

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There are three key qualities that transform a spectator into a co-creator, a conscious participant in the evolution of human vision:

Knowing:

• You see the evolution of Art and vision as a whole, so that you experience each work of art as a part of this unfolding story and understand the essence of its unique insight in this expanded context.

Connection:

• You open your inner space to the insight expressed in the painting, so that you begin to see in the world around you what the artist has shown in the painting. The boundary between the space of art and the space of art dissolves.

Integration: 

• You deliberately and consistently practice the new way of seeing, so that it becomes an intrinsic part of your vision, your moment-to-moment visual experience of life. 

But the time we live in doesn’t make it easy for us:

• The relentless push towards specialization means that there are few people in the world who have the bird’s eye view of the whole story of co-evolution of Art and Consciousness. (And every single day, I thank my life for the remarkable and quite unique opportunity I’ve been given: to spend decades exploring and integrating this view, free from the usual demands of building a career or making a living…) 

• The modern cultural stories around Art keep it firmly separate from life, in a closed space, so that its transformational power cannot be unleashed. 

• And it is notoriously difficult to create and integrate new habits and rituals of deliberate practice without support structures, feedback, and guidance.   

Which is why I created this unique suite of programs, Art of Synergistic Seeing, a crystallization of all my decades of studies, research, and studio work, into (at least) six months of inspiration, guidance, and support for you.

Introducing the Art of Synergistic Seeing

You can think of them in terms of “Mind”, “Heart”, and “Will”…

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Mind: opening your mind to a new way of seeing and creating daily rituals of synergistic seeing

Seven weeks, 10 minutes a day to expand your vision and, to quote William Blake, cleanse the doors of perception. Join “Synergistic Seeing Space” to get access to this self-guided program.

This Module addresses all three fundamental qualities of synergistic seeing: knowing, experience, and integration:

• It introduces you to the key insights into visual reality achieved in the art of painting since the Renaissance, bringing you to the very edge in the evolution of human vision.

• It creates a support structure for you to introduce and integrate daily rituals of synergistic seeing: a masterpiece a day, with contemplative prompts and email reminders.

• It gives you specific seeing practices designed to integrate the artists’ insights into your moment-to-moment visual experience. 

In short, it gives you the foundation and tools to open your mind to the new way of seeing, and learn the sublime art from its greatest masters (in just 10 minutes a day…) 

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What’s inside SEE WHAT IS:

1. A masterpiece a day: high-resolution reproductions with my seeing suggestions and contemplative prompts, to help you create and sustain a daily ritual of communion with great art, and be inspired by greatness every single day.
2. Daily seeing and/or contemplative prompt to practice deliberate seeing as you go through your day.
3. Seven overview videos (5-7 minutes) introducing key masterpieces of the program.
4. Seven guided seeing videos (4-6 minutes).
5. Protected discussion area to share your experiences, ask questions, and participate in other conversations.

Heart: opening your heart to the sacred bond between Art and Life

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A private transformational journey (49 daily steps, but you can go at your own pace). Start any time. Join the Synergistic Seeing Space for immediate access.

The heart doesn’t respond to “teaching”, it responds to experience and inspiration, when someone shares their own journey fully, with open heart and poetic precision.

This is why in this module, we invoke the help and guidance of Rainer Maria Rilke. The title of this module, The Right Eyes, comes directly from his book, “Letters on Cezanne“: he writes about suddenly having the right eyes as a result of his encounter with Cezanne’s paintings.

In these letters, Rilke shares his insights on the unique place of painting in humanity’s endeavor to comprehend reality, and its inherent connection with the universals of human condition and the artist’s experience in the world.

And in doing so, he opens the path for us, to follow in his footsteps.

What’s inside “The Right Eyes”

1. 49 daily “steps”, to go through your own pace. The steps are delivered to a your own private area on Sutra.co, which you can use as your private journal. The next letter is delivered only when you respond to the previous one. As you dive deep into this module, it transforms into a fusion between your private journal and an exchange of letters between you and Rainer Maria Rilke.
2. Each step combines a quote from Rilke’s letters with high-resolution reproductions of all paintings he was contemplating (and more!), plus seeing practices and contemplative prompts to help you recreate his experience of synergistic seeing in your own life.
3. This journaling experience allows you to add notes and labels, and create collections of entries meaningful to you. This journal, co-created by Rilke, you, and me, becomes an invaluable well of wisdom and inspiration, to revisit and be inspired anew, again and again.
4. This material can be used as a companion to Rilke’s book, or as a stand-alone self-study program.

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Will: opening your will to enter the space of co-creation

Three months, three in-depth encounters with masterpieces of painting. To get access to this self-guided program, please join the Synergistic Seeing Space.

This module takes your understanding of the inner workings of painting to a whole new level of co-creative experience, through in-depth synergistic exploration of three painting masterpieces and a toolbox of new, more active practices, of synergistic seeing.

• If you are an accomplished painter, these synergistic studies will expand the context of your work and open new pathways to your next breakthrough…

• If you are a beginner, they will take you right into the deepest secrets of the art of painting…

• And if you do not paint at all (nor even wish to), they will give you an “insider” view of the art of painting and open up new vistas for your life’s creative expression (whatever it might be).

What’s inside the “Inner dimensions of a masterpiece”

1. Three in-depth, month-long encounters with masterpieces of painting: Rembrandt’s “The Return of the Prodigal Son“, Matisse’s “Table of desserts” after de Heem (plus de Heem’s original “Table of desserts“), and van Gogh’s “Pieta” after Delacroix (plus Delacroix’s original “Pieta”).
2. My weekly notes on different aspects of the painting, and suggestions for active seeing practices, including journaling, structural sketches, and color charts.
3. Optional suggestions for further reading and links to relevant additional resources.
4. Private area on Sutra.co, to keep your own record of this in-depth experience, add your sketches and color-charts and receive one-on-one feedback (optional). This option allows you to go through the course at your own pace, so you are never “behind”.
5. Community discussion area.

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Together, these three programs help you create a multidimensional experience of deep daily communion with some of the greatest artists of all times.

An experience which will expand your sense of vision, liberate your mind, and open new possibilities in your own creative expression.

But here is the thing: although they work best together, there is no one ideal “path” through this program.

Where to start, what is the best way to organize the journey of synergistic seeing for you?

The answer depends on where you are on your own path of growth and evolution, on the circumstances of your life, on what inspires you most, right now in this moment…

Besides, this material is so infinitely deep (after all, these are some of the greatest artists the world has ever seen!) that it has been helpful to many of my students to go through each module at least twice.

The thing is, when you return to this material again and again, it becomes a completely different experience every time.

… which is why I decided to make all components of “Art of Synergistic Seeing” available, as self-guided programs, in my “Synergistic Seeing Space” on Sutra.