Curran Hunter
Stepping Stone 02 Guide
"Few experiences bring me greater joy than picking wineberries and watching spectacular firefly shows in my backyard during the summer."
Hi, I'm Curran Hunter and “What We Believe We Become” has been an instrumental steppingstone in my ongoing journey of awakening. By engaging with this steppingstone, I discovered, to my surprise, that many of my beliefs are not really mine! Why? Because they didn’t arise from within me. Instead, they were downloaded into my psyche during the early decades of my life through the process of socialization. It appears that this is the case for almost all of us… unless and until we choose to wake up.
I became aware of my social conditioning when I decided to compile a list of culturally transmitted beliefs that limited and dimmed my experience of both the world and myself. There was one belief, in particular, on my list that twisted my stomach into a knot when I spoke it aloud to myself. It read: “Creative acts like drawing and painting are for only two groups of people: Those of school age and those with exceptional talent.”
"I felt energized as I began to come home to parts of myself that I had been neglecting for too long."
While my spirit protested against this culturally transmitted belief, my mind dismissed my love of art with refrains like: “You are too old to draw” and “You are not talented enough to paint.” This inner monologue went on to declare: “The pleasure you once derived from art is an insufficient justification for devoting your limited time and energy to it, as you are unlikely to profit financially from artistic pursuits.”
But rather than succumb to this soul-crushing belief, I chose to challenge it through action. My approach was simple. I retrieved an old art pad and began to put pencil to paper, drawing a series of sketches I deemed sacred, including Celtic imagery and ancient astrological symbols. In so doing, I felt energized as I began to come home to parts of myself that I had been neglecting for too long.
Eventually, I felt compelled to pick up a paintbrush. As I began to paint for the first time in many years, I experienced a powerful surge of aliveness coursing through my entire body.
Though I am no Picasso, this exercise of questioning my socially-constructed beliefs led me to rediscover the genuine joy and freedom that become available to me through drawing and painting.
