Aaron is granted with an artistic mind which took 4 decades to fully blossom. "All I had was Art, isolation, and spiritual introspection for much of my adult life", he states.
Aaron Gilbert Arnold was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1979. Both of his parents are artists. As a child, Aaron developed a strong intuition due to learning disabilities and dyslexia. His tremendous memory helped him cope. He discovered a bit more each day that he had a powerful and very active inner world: "My earliest memories were nap time. I would never sleep. I would often sit cross-legged on the ground. I would often enter a meditative state the room would be filled of luminous colors. I would also see scenes of my past lives scrolling across the screen of my mind", he says.The teenage years were particularly difficult for Aaron, both psychologically and socially. Aaron found solace in Art after his teacher showed him reproductions of Picasso and Matisse. He had a revelation: "I felt joy for once, and started working immediately". He began socializing at school thanks to his artwork. He was doing much better when he lost both of his grandparents to a car accident. he threw himself in his Art even more while spending the next years at Tri -C East Community College. He went to Kent State to pursue an Art degree and later transferred to Ursuline College to do Art therapy. Aaron worked at the gallery on campus and helped with installations and openings.
During that time he experienced emotional and psychological abuse. He kept drawing. He decided he wanted to heal and started meditating outside, he became interested in 'systematic desensitization': I learned to remain calm amongst the stimuli that made me anxious". He also practiced Tai Chi. This opened a new era for Aaron, one filled with freedom, catharsis, and enlightenment. He had become an extreme extrovert. He worked at the art museum of Cleveland before moving into the Zazen group House. He now teaches meditation while fully being dedicated to his Art: "I am happy now! I am healed! And looking towards an amazing future! that is my story! I am a Survivor!"