Yes, certainly.
But lately, I think I am starting to get an inkling of something. There is a feeling of pure focus that happens when I am throwing a pot, when it becomes centered and somehow just works. There is a particular moment and a feeling when it happens. It's almost like I have to ask the clay if it's ready before I begin, and then if it says yes, it works. Once it happens, I am mesmerized by the wheel, by the feeling of the clay running circles against my hands when it is centered, and by the way it fits the form my fingers draw as they raise it up into the shape of a vessel. It feels like the clay and I are working in unison.
Other times I fight the clay and it pushes my hand in off-kilter circles around the wheel like an unruly beast. I have always been convinced that when I can't center the clay, it reveals my own off-center state of mind. When I watch my classmates throw pots with ease I imagine that they are zen masters. But now, when the clay is off center, I think maybe I just forgot to ask the clay if it was ready. Or maybe I asked and it said no!
I don't know if it is really the clay that is needs to be ready, or if it is myself. I also don't know whether it matters; the point is that I'm checking in with myself at the same time as I am focusing all my attention on the clay. Attunement.
I have the same feeling when the spindle starts to make smoke as I run my bow across it. Everything has to be ready first. I don't know how to explain it, but I feel like there is an energy in that circular motion, and that there is an art to harnessing it.
Of course, to master that art I will have to go out and practice instead of sending my pseudo-profound musings out into cyberspace.
A photo Jenny took of my (so far fruitless) bow drill efforts. More of her beautiful photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Laughing-Lens-Photography/181467861907943
