About

The Purpose of this Site

[ Please read the latest post ] A Life-long atheist and Buddhist, I nevertheless found God and became a Christian. Seeing that I had not abandoned my beliefs, but expanded them, that I can still be a Buddhist, and yet more than a Buddhist, I wonder that such a thing happen. It is true, however, and I remember that path because it was an exciting adventure.

So, an atheist can become a believer. But what is that road, and can anyone find their way down it? Does God chase one down and wrestle one to the ground? What makes it possible to make a transition from the passive acceptance of one religion to the dynamic activism of another? How does an atheist do the unthinkable, find God? And is that finding the end of one’s life, or the beginning? Or is it both?

It is certainly presumptuous of me to attempt to show the logical path from one way of thinking to another. But if anyone reading this is drawn to God and still follows a Buddhist path, or an atheistic path, perhaps these stories, insights, and comparisons between godless philosophies and a God-centered religion will throw light on the bravest path to spiritual peace that awaits you. Start by reading this personal memoir called “My Invisible Friends”.

About the Author

Robert Lewis is a native Californian but has lived in many parts of the country including Alaska, the Northwest, the South, and the East Coast. Perhaps this has contributed to his long fascination with the stunning and varied beauty of the landscape. He starts from a direct point of view that practices dislodging the usual filters we place between ourselves and the world. Practicing this, he tries to convey the beautiful mystery of the landscape. An online catalog of over 500 pieces of original work can be found at www.robertlewisart.com.

The combination of two enduring themes of his life, a love of landscape and the practice of seeing directly, has led naturally to plein air painting. Plein air painting is the perfect expression of love of landscape and the desire to show it as it is experienced. Unlike a camera, which sees with a blind eye, the artist sees with emotion. Finding ways to capture that emotion, that feeling one gets when looking at a landscape, is the art of painting. Lewis paints in oil on canvas on location, finishing his paintings on site usually in a single sitting.

Plein air painting, however, being a complex struggle of mind, nature, and time, tends to push the artist down a path that he already knows. Experimenting on location is less likely, and so development of the artist’s skill progresses more slowly. This is where studio painting becomes the perfect balance to plein air. In the stable environment of the studio, the artist has the luxury to experiment, to play, and to learn, bringing what he has learned back to the world outside. Plein air makes a better studio painter and studio makes a finer plein air painter. Lewis maintains a painting studio in the Pacific Grove Art Center building, Pacific Grove, California, where, when not painting outdoors, he works hard at play.