Everything Everywhere, All at Once (My Way)
My world — or at least my experience of it — is becoming increasingly chaotic at the moment.
I’m overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of events and the extremes they carry. I am restless, my mind pulled between opposing ideas and paradoxes. The taste of infinite joy still burns in my core, but it collides with exhaustion. I battle obligations and repulsions.
I keep reminding myself that everywhere I go and everything I do is just an experience. Not me. Just awareness moving through.
I question my internal reactions. I watch myself in fatigue and in rage. I sit with the clash of voices. My uncle’s cantankerous opinions versus the fiercely progressive views of my friend. The endless arguments that assume there must be an ultimate right and ultimate wrong, tearing the world apart, forgetting that both are but opposite ends of the same thing. I practice not biting back and struggle with that decision too. I try to move judgment together with my ego to the side.
Some argue it’s time to stand and fight for what one believes. Maybe this is my way of doing that: to sit with all of it and calm the storm down, by seeing Everything Everywhere All at Once.
To do this, I turn toward an old Buddhist teaching about the 108 defilements. Greed, hatred, delusion, and all their offshoots, long held to be the roots of humanity’s suffering. I will use them not as doctrine, but as a cracked filter, a map — 108 Windows onto the landscape of humanity’s troubles. One disturbance at a time. Writing my way through.
Energy: Event Horizon 2020, Giclée printed on archival Hahnemühle German Etching paper (310gsm)
Here is the palette I am working with, the 108 qualities of an awakened mind needed to overcome the shadows of the suffering world:
- Generosity (open hands)
- Ethical conduct (clean spine)
- Renunciation (letting go of shiny distractions)
- Wisdom (seeing things as they are)
- Energy (staying in the game)
- Patience (not biting back)
- Truthfulness (raw speech, no varnish)
- Determination (walking through fire)
- Loving-kindness (mettā)
- Equanimity (the storm passes through)
- Faith (trust without proof)
- Mindfulness (being here, exactly here)
- Concentration (laser on the now)
- Humility (knees in the dirt)
- Modesty (not hogging the light)
- Pure speech (words that don’t corrode)
- Stillness (the deep well)
- Joy (sudden laughter, uncaused)
- Acceptance (the unfixable stays)
- Courage (meeting the knife edge)
- Compassion (heart split open, bleeding and alive)
- Reconciliation (bridging broken edges)
- Curiosity (eyes wide, even in darkness)
- Non-attachment (hands unclench)
- Letting go (burning the old scripts)
- Clarity (seeing without fog)
- Balance (neither high nor low)
- Honesty (no self-deception)
- Wisdom of impermanence (nothing sticks)
- Insight into non-self (no one owns this body-mind)
- Contentment (enough is enough)
- Gratitude (awe for the crumbs)
- Compassionate listening
- Forgiveness (unhooking the barb)
- Sympathetic joy (rejoicing in others’ light)
- Simplicity (bare bones)
- Reverence (bowing to mystery)
- Diligence (showing up again)
- Fearlessness (walking with death on your shoulder)
- Generative creativity (making worlds)
- Service (carrying water for others)
- Spaciousness (not crowding yourself)
- Non-judgment (dropping the gavel)
- Self-compassion (holding your own cracked heart)
- Integrity (inner and outer align)
- Respect (honoring all beings)
- Steadfastness (not blown off course)
- Softness (strength in gentleness)
- Surrender (yielding into flow)
- Reverie (being carried by wonder)
- Discernment (cutting through bullshit)
- Perseverance (keep walking)
- Flexibility (bending without breaking)
- Playfulness (holy mischief)
- Generative silence
- Trust (leaning into the unknown)
- Groundedness (feet in the soil)
- Radiance (inner glow)
- Awareness of interconnection
- Awe (the gasp that empties you)
- Balance of effort and ease
- Compassion for the self you once were
- Stepping aside (ego not in the way)
- Tenderness (unguarded heart)
- Inclusiveness (nothing left outside the circle)
- Lucidity (transparent seeing)
- Inner freedom
- Tolerance (not snapping)
- Empathy
- Mutuality (I and you rising together)
- Right livelihood (work that doesn’t poison)
- Right intention (no hidden daggers)
- Right view (aligned perception)
- Right effort (balanced striving)
- Right mindfulness (anchored awareness)
- Right concentration (focused presence)
- Wonder
- Non-harming (ahimsa)
- Benevolence
- Inner peace
- Loving speech
- Respect for elders and children alike
- Caring for the earth
- Content silence (not every gap needs filling)
- Right timing (not forcing the bud)
- Generous listening
- Warmth
- Hospitable spirit
- Openness to mystery
- Devotion (to truth, to path, to love)
- Compassionate action (not just thought)
- Kind humor
- Poise (in chaos, in calm)
- Detachment from outcome
- Healing presence
- Mercy
- Insight into suffering
- Equanimity toward praise and blame
- Unshakable love
- Inner spaciousness
- Quiet strength
- Clear conscience
- Pure perception (seeing essence beyond form)
- Generosity of time and attention
- Joy in service
- Deep listening to nature
- Endurance
- Awakening itself (the quality that contains them all)
If you wish to purchase any of my work or sponsor me, please get in touch directly.
I’ll walk you through the next steps. And I’ll do it with gratitude—and fire.
📧 maria@maria-agni-art.com
📞 +44 (7)552 145 680
With love and ink-stained fingers,
Maria Agni
Explore & connect
🖼️ View my work: maria-agni-art.com
📷 Follow along on Instagram: @maria_agni_art
📬 Join my mailing list for updates, studio notes, and upcoming shows
💌 Reach out for inquiries, collaborations, or conversation:
Leave a Reply