The Artist
There is a story about a certain man who considered himself fairly level headed. He was practical, analytical, reasonable and religious; as if all of these characteristics could go together. Anyway, he was wandering...
Airport Art
From my place in the security line, all I could see was the spider web. Until a TSA officer behind me sneezed, and she turned slightly to reveal the spider crawling up her left...
The Creative Action Figure: Put Your Muse to Work (and Play)
Forget for now the image of Buddha crouched still beneath the boddhi tree or the image of DaVinci standing still and gazing upon a blank wall until he “sees” inspiration.
In fact, forget waiting for...
The Bow Of Love
Love bent down to listen
to what was in your heart,
and found only good there
—that you wished to impart.
Love then became a rainbow
that bridged the infinite sky,
to bring to others all that it had heard,
so...
Not Your Grandmother’s Sweetness: Active Compassion and Writers
When I traveled to South India several years ago to study with my teacher, I didn’t intend to bring my father. But sure enough almost every morning, among the smell of chai and dust,...
Five Ways to Root a Creative Spring Mind
Each late March my mind explodes. Like earth, it becomes bloom-happy, indiscriminately popping out one idea after another. The Canadian Arctic Inuktitut have a word I relate to creative spring mind - Puijilittatuq. For...
The Mnemosyne Weekly: Poem Twenty-Nine (Stevens)
Wallace Stevens
"Gray Room"
Sometimes a poem builds in perfect and unanticipated ways towards the last line. The journey is beautiful, though seemingly not extraordinary, and then BAM--we're hit with that line--the one that makes our...
To Be Inspired or To Inspire Yourself: Is the Muse Out There?
[Note: I know conventional wisdom is to keep blog posts short and snappy. Alas, my mind doesn't work well in sound bytes. I hope the post merits the length. I'd love to hear your...
Go Into a Wilderness
Angelus Silesius was a German mystic. I believe I discovered him at around the same time that I was rereading Walt Whitman, and I became intrigued by the similarity in their thought. Silesius said...
motivation
Jeff,
After writing a piece and revising it, myself as well as I'm sure others feel that the piece is "finished."After writing and and re-reading it I find it very difficult to go back into...