My New Tattoo: Vray-OI-yah-dauw

Yesterday before the Boulder premiere of Sex, God, Rock ‘n Roll I got my fourth tattoo. This tattoo was born from a significant shift in my life, contemplatively and in my relationships. I originally wanted a sleeve tattoo, but it just wasn’t right for what I was feeling. I ended up deciding that I needed only a phrase in black. Raw, to the point. This would serve as a reminder of the new space I’ve opened up to and has opened within me, that I am still and will always be working with.

However, I realized what I wanted to say could not be contained in an English phrase – too much paradoxical truth to embody. I then started considering other languages when the perfect idea came to me – I would have Stuart Davis interpret what I wanted to say into the language he created called, “Is”. So beautifully perfect. First and foremost, Stuart is a dear friend and I consider him one of my main mentors. He fully embodies what I am saying with this tattoo. He lives it. Secondly, I knew the inspiration behind Is and its qualities. Stuart has created the language to communicate spiritual truths and realizations that is normally very difficult to do in most languages, and particularly to hold paradoxes within the a single word or short phrase.

So, I sent him a few paragraphs of what I wanted to say and asked him to intrepret it into Is, which he did, creating an entirely new word in Is using roots of Is. The result is what you see below and in the video, pronounced Vray-OI-yah-dauw.

Hey Stu -I’m trying to capture a paradox within this verb. Generally speaking, it’s this non-dual mix of ascending and descending currents (see, you can’t even say that shit right in English).

Love without wanting. This is really only half of what I’m trying to say, more the ascending current, but it applies equally to “all beings”, as well as say, your lover. Both a surrendering and a giving. To love both in the absolute and relative completely openly, without pretense, without expectation, completely letting your love for another person flow without limitations or boundaries.

The other half is being completely fucking passionate about the people in your life, friends, family and your lover. You want to be ravished by them, and you want to ravish them. Perhaps I could say “Love without wanting; ravish without hesitation.”

A big part of this for me is a surrender that is tender, yet passionate. It is NOT some other wordly disconnect. It’s like “Drown” and “Immanence” rolled in one. It would seem like a paradox to people, but both are possible; that’s where it’s at for me.

Ryan Gets Inked – “Is” Tattoo from Ryan Oelke on Vimeo.

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