The Temple Within

The Temple Within emerged during the final unit of the meditation course I’ve been taking over the past several months.

I’ve come to realize that while many people process what they’re learning by writing, I process it through paint.

This painting became my way of integrating one of the course’s central teachings: that the union we seek with the Divine isn’t something to be found outside ourselves, but something experienced within.

In the yogic tradition, meditation is taught as the most direct path to experiencing that union.

At the heart of the painting sits a meditating figure. Behind it is the vesica piscis—one of the oldest symbols in sacred geometry and one I’ve painted repeatedly over the decades.

Formed where two circles intersect, the vesica piscis symbolizes the meeting of heaven and earth, spirit and matter.

I placed the meditating figure so the lower chakras remain grounded within the earthly circle while the head rests in the sacred space where the two become one. For me, it symbolizes that communion with the Divine happens within our own consciousness.

The illuminated chakras trace the inner journey of awakening.

In the upper circle, a dotted lotus emerges once the crown chakra naturally opens, following the work done on the other 6 chakras.

The dots represent energy in motion, while the lotus symbolizes enlightenment, self-realization, and the Divine. It feels like a field of awakening unfolding in vibration—subtle, alive, and radiant.

The labradorite stone resting within the cupola of the temple symbolizes intuition, transformation, and spiritual awareness, enhancing those energies in the beholder. It felt like the perfect energetic focal point—quietly inviting our awareness upward while reminding us that the light we seek is already within.

Nothing about the making of this painting was rushed.

Over the course of nearly fifty hours, countless layers of paint, thousands of tiny dots, and shimmering interference pigments slowly came together.

Some of those hidden details only reveal themselves as the light shifts or as you move around the painting.

It struck me that meditation is much the same. The truth doesn’t change, our awareness does. As our minds become quieter, we’re able to perceive what has been there all along.

…

Can I make a confession?

The peak of the temple roof isn’t perfectly centred. It’s off by about a quarter of an inch.

I’ve had this happen before in my paintings… was it distraction, or a happy accident?

Years ago, I probably would have been frustrated. This time, I smiled.

It felt like one more teaching hidden within the painting.

How easily we lose our focus.

How quickly we drift out of alignment.

And how gently meditation invites us to notice… and simply return.

Most people will probably never notice that tiny imperfection. I notice it every time I look at the painting, and instead of seeing a mistake, I see a loving reminder and invitation.

Every meditation begins exactly the same way—not by being perfectly focused, but by noticing we’ve wandered and returning to our centre.

Indeed, that’s what The Temple Within has become for me. Not simply a painting about meditation, but a quiet invitation to remember that the temple we’ve been seeking has always existed within us.

Indeed, the path isn’t about being perfectly aligned. It’s about noticing when we’ve wandered, and lovingly returning to the temple within.

One final note. Before I even finished varnishing it, The Temple Within found its new home, becoming the first of my paintings to be collected here in Ottawa. A beautiful being came to pick it up yesterday, once the varnish had cured.

It felt like one final reminder. What began as a personal journey became an offering. The circle widened.

The path inward to discover the Divine within ourselves is also a path toward recognizing that same Divine in one another.

The Vesica Piscis at the heart of the painting reminds us that we are never truly separate—we simply awaken to the connection that has always been there.

In the end, that’s what my art has always been about.

Not ownership.

Not even creation.

But quietly helping one another remember who we truly are.