The Spirituality of a Young Gifted Artist, Akiane

“I define spirituality as a search for love, beauty, happiness and wisdom. Spirituality is a journey that we never finish.” ~Akiane Kramarik, 16 Year-old, Artist, Poet, Mystic


You may have seen Akiane and her incredible art work before when she has appeared on various TV shows. Her talent, which began at a very young age, is quite amazing and inspirational. She considers her talent to be directed by God. Obviously her inspiration not only in her art but in her writings has a strong spiritual essence and message. Her paintings evoke an energy that is pure and loving.

And by the way, I added the word Mystic to her description in the quote above, because from what I have read and heard about Akiane, I would consider her a mystic as she is a visionary and has a connection to the spiritual world.

See what you think after reading her words and seeing her artwork and video. I think you may agree.

(and my thanks to Nancy at Life In the Second Half and her blog article on Special Children for again bringing Akiane to my attention.)

From Akiane's Blog:

Posted on August 16, 2010 by Akiane
187 Comments
a Response to Bloggers’ questions regarding alternative lifestyles.

I define spirituality as a search for love, beauty, happiness and wisdom. Spirituality is a journey that we never finish. It has nothing to do with our levels of development, achievement, awareness or intention.

Both a two year-old and a centenarian might not be wise, happy or altruistic yet highly spiritual. Young children might not be fully aware how spiritual they are, however, without childlike sincerity and purity we cannot even imagine certain touch of holiness.

Hitler, too, tried to create his own version of perfect, healthy and stable society. For many he was an epitome of farsightedness and spirituality. The Pope even blessed Hitler’s army. Was Hitler spiritual? Yes. In his own diabolic and hideous way.

How do we weigh levels of spirituality? Are alternative lifestyles less spiritual than traditional ones? Some people abstain from all intimate relationships, because they believe they have to devote their time to love all mankind in a childlike genuineness. Others form monogamous heterosexual relationships. While others create bonds outside all traditional rules.

From the standpoint of eternity each level of maturity is relative. We are all spiritual, and we are all different. Neither higher, nor lower. Neither farther, nor closer. Neither deeper, nor more shallow. Just uniquely different. Looking at a blossom from a different direction one will see it completely foreign, special, beautiful or revolting depending on where we stand. If the close-up is of a spider attached to the stem, then for those who don’t like spiders the sight will look distasteful. If the image is of a butterfly on a petal the view may appear peaceful to us, but not for a bird hungrily watching the scene.

From the standpoint of our present world we all assign our measurements of preference. Given the choice we will join families and groups based on our interests. We attract those with similar values and ideals. People crave belonging. So whether it is a national, racial, religious, political, educational, vocational or biological identification we try to connect to something familiar and within our comfort zone.

Clear messages of diverse feelings experienced by other people were part of my visionary and extrasensory perception since I was five years of age. I do not condemn any personal choices for intimate relationships. Love is love. I detest only the violence and trauma that any self-centered conduct can cause to others.

[copyright by Akiane Kramarik, 2010]





Akiane’s Website Gallery



~Linda

Messenger: Legacy of Mattie J.T. Stepanek and Heartsongs, New Book

“I believe that peace becomes possible when we choose to make peace an attitude and a habit. I believe that the reality of peace begins within each of us….”
~Mattie J. T. Stepanek, (1990-2004), Just Peace, A Message of Hope



I received an email this morning from Jeni Stepanek, mother of Mattie J.T. Stepanek, announcing her new book to be released Monday, November 2, with her appearance on the Good Morning America show. Her book, Messenger: The Legacy of Mattie J.T. Stepanek and Heartsongs, is not a book by Mattie, but the first book ABOUT Mattie's life, written by the person who knew him best, his mother, Jeni, who shared him with all of us. Mattie was a young poet, philosopher, and peace maker, who lived a short life but while here he gave us the wisdom, the vision, the poetry and essays, from a brilliant, yet young, mind who knew about love, peace and joy, despite his struggle with a terminal neuromuscular disease.

Mattie left this world days before his 14th birthday, but not only did he leave us with his books of poetry, but with memories of his beautiful smile, his wisdom of an old soul, his humor, his love, and his belief that peace was possible.

I will never forget Mattie, will never forget his smile and the sparkle in his eyes. For those of you who do not know about Mattie, please read my review of his Heartsongs books, including the last one he wrote with former President Jimmy Carter, Just Peace, A Message of Hope.

Jeni’s book is now available at Amazon. The Foreword is by Maya Angelou. If you want to know more about an angel, visit Mattie’s website.

“Peace is possible. It can begin simply, over a game of chess and a cup of tea.” ~Mattie J. T. Stepanek, (1990-2004)

This video song, a tribute to Mattie, He Was Just Like Me, was written and recorded by his young friend, Madison Cross. Madison is the daughter of singer, songwriter, Christopher Cross.





~Linda