It’s probably best to not have very many things that you can’t part with.

If modern people are in a state of constant adaptation, then anything that you cling to, or anything that clings to you will some day come to an end. Otherwise it would mean that you stop changing, and you depart from what must be. That would result in suffering before too long.

On top of that, in spite of it, having something that defines you, something that allows you to go on living, is what, I think, makes you human.

In the middle of busily preparing for the Kobe Gaudi Exhibit, I took the time to think about that for some reason.

I wonder what I have that defines me.

Family, friends, country, religion, faith, being a person who puts in effort, being honest
Cats

A successful carrer, beautiful legs, beauty, savings, showing intelligence, showing talent,

Authority, power, or lack thereof …

Whether one can list what they can’t let go of in their hearts, I think it is still what defines who they are.

I have been thinking about what Gaudi was content with defining himself as, or put another way, what he was content with being attached to.

He probably would not have been the same without the presence of his parents from an early age, his family and the nature surrounding his hometown. Those would probably have been very hard to separate from himself.

He was probably defined by becoming an architect in the big city of Barcelona, and gaining confidence in himself as an artist in various ways.

One thing that didn’t change and stayed consistent among all that, was him being someone who knew the bueauty of the light of the Mediterranean.

Another is that he was a Catalonian.

But I wonder about his later years.

I guess that aside from the idea of having God as a client, along with the desire to show his lack of concern for himself and his extremely simple diet during his later years as he devoted himself to the building of the Sagrada Família, he did not have anything else he was attached to. It’s been said that he was dressed so shabbily when he was hit by a tram and passed away, that it it took several hours for him to be recognized as the Gaudi.

As an aside, I feel that the Gaudi of his later years, who gave the sense that he was living with zero attachments, has something in common with Japanese Shintoism with the idea purfiying oneself by casting away uncleanliness.

Gaudi is world famous, but even within that, the interest and passion displayed by Japanese for Gaudi is something unique that can’t be seen in other countries. Many Spanish people asked me why that is, and it may be because the attitude of Gaudi has something that resonates with us.

Back to the main topic.

I think that from his youth until his death, if there was one thing that Gaudi would have defined himself as and something that he would have wanted to continuing being one with, it would have been the foliage of nature.

I imagine that a large part of what he thought of as God would have been consistent alongside that foliage of nature.

And so sometimes people view his creations as eccentric (those who aren’t used to seeing the forms of nature would say everything is eccentric). And so he trusted the materials of the region and the traditional manufacturing techniques of the region (also required because of the weather conditions), and gave his partners and students the opportunity and responsibility to display it.

He realized that he would not live to see it completed, and so he aimed to make it as good a design as possible up until his death.

“Gentlemen, let us make this even better tomorrow.”
It’s been said that those were his last words to the people working together on the Sagrada Família, before he was hit by a tram.

He was probably very strongly aware of passing something great along to the next generation.

All of this cannot be separated from how you are naturally meant to be.

He was probably also naturally modest, in contrast to his famous reputation.
Nature is not looking for any single one of the elements it is comprised of to stand out alone by itself.

There is no mistake in how nature is organized, the beauty and function of the foliage of nature is the answer that us people are looking for. People need to continue to discover it and continue to experience it.

I don’t think there is any difference on that point between Gaudi and us.

・The Kobe Gaudi Exhibit will be held at the Hyōgo Prefectural Museum of Art until May 24th.
http://www.gaudinoue.com