Find a place where and a position in which you can sit comfortably for fifteen minutes.
Stretch your arms in front of you, palms together, elbows straight, arms parallel to the floor.
As you inhale through your nose, open your arms completely as if creating giant wings and say to yourself:
"I open myself fully to receiving creative inspiration."
As you exhale through your nose or mouth, bring your palms back together again.
Repeat in sets of ten, three times for thirty mantras. Take your time, no rush.
Showing posts with label spirituality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spirituality. Show all posts
January 18, 2010
September 09, 2009
WRITING YOUR RELIGION
WHAT IT IS: A six-week workshop that uses writing exercises and class discussion to help you explore, define, and most importantly write about religion and/or spirituality. The emphasis is on tolerance, support, and intellectual inquiry. The goal is to help you create a particular piece.
WHAT IT IS NOT: An attempt to indoctrinate or proselytize for any particular religion (or religion at all, for that matter).
WHO IT IS FOR: Writers of any genre, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, film, and TV. Writers looking to delve into their own faith (or lack thereof). Writers looking to create or finish a piece with a religious theme.
THE DETAILS: Wednesday evenings, 10/7 to 11/11, 7-9pm, at the Brewery in downtown
ABOUT THE TEACHER: Gordon Haber's fiction, criticism, and journalism has appeared in The Forward, Killing the Buddha, Zeek, the Nebraska Review, and Heeb Magazine. Gordon has taught writing at
January 30, 2009
January 26, 2008
more questions for eric maisel
In the book, you say, "The centerpiece of a meaningful life for creators is meaningful creating." In aiming to achieve this, do you think there are benefits for people to create outside their "usual" medium? (i.e., artists try their hand at writing; writers dabble in a visual art project, etc.)
E: There are; and obvious dangers, too. Our first job is to make meaning in a particular discipline over time, because this gives us the best sense of continuity and completion and is the best way to make ourselves feel proud, existentially speaking. If we are a writer, we want to write well and regularly, other mediums come second. If we are a painter, we don't want to neglect our painting because of some momentary meaning enthusiasm. So, first things first: our lifelong apprenticeship in one discipline. That having been said, it can be wonderful to work in another discipline, especially if your primary one is at the mercy of others: for instance, if you are an actor waiting to be hired, it can be grand to get your performance piece written and produced. So the short answer is yes, but beware that you don't shortchange your primary discipline.
Could you explain more about the importance of creating a life plan sentence/statement? Should a life plan statement change over time, or is it best if it is written in general enough terms so that it isn't altered by time, circumstances, and life changes?
E: If you agree to commit to active meaning-making, you need to know where to make your meaning investments, both in the short-term sense of knowing what to do with the next hour and in the long-term sense of knowing which novel you are writing or which career you're pursuing. Having a life purpose statement or life plan statement in place serves as an ongoing reminder of the sorts of meaning investments that you intend to make, both short-term and long-term, and helps you make the right "meaning decision" about where to spend your capital and how to realize your potential. But it also necessarily changes over time, as you have additional life experiences and refine and reformulate your sense of what is meaningful to you. Create a beautiful one for right now and then revisit it periodically, especially if the blues have crept in.
With depression having existential roots in many creative people, do you think that antidepressants and other psychiatric medications are over-prescribed in modern culture?
E: Yes. They work for some people some of the time and checking in to them may make good sense, but they are not at all as effective as the public has been led to believe. A recent study showed that 95% of published reports praised the effectiveness of antidepressants and 90% of unpublished reports disputed the effectiveness of antidepressants - reports that went unpublished because of the clout of pharmaceutical companies, psychiatrists, and the medical-industrial complex. They sometimes have their place, but they are no real substitute for actively making and maintaining meaning.
January 23, 2008
a conversation with eric maisel
Over the next few weeks, I will be posting excerpts from an interview with author and artist advocate, Eric Maisel re: his book THE VAN GOGH BLUES. Check back weekly for more of our conversation.
WHAT ADVISE DO YOU GIVE TO ARTISTS TO HANDLE THE POST-CREATION BLUES? The blues that happen when a project is done and you've worn yourself out.
Meaning must be made at all times or else we start to get those existential blues. But that isn't to say that we can't frame a day by the beach or a week incubating a project as meaningful time. The art is in our self-talk, where we consciously address our meaning needs by announcing where we want to invest meaning today: in a good rest, in a visit to the bookstore, in a little office organization, in a visit with a friend, and so on. What we want to guard against is the experience of meaninglessness that follows the completion of a project, and this we do by investing meaning wisely even though we may not have a new big project wanting to launch.
HOW CAN ARTISTS BEST FILL THE TIME IN PERIODS OF DORMANCY?
The answer revolves around how long the period of dormancy is and what the quality of that period is. If you tend to take three years off between projects, there is something going on there that needs to be addressed and you need to do a better job of forcing life to mean. If we're taking about two weeks, that's a very different matter. If it's that shorter amount of time, then you can catch up on business matters (there is always something in that realm that needs doing), remind yourself why you love your art discipline by visiting a museum or reading a book, and passionately living your "parallel life," that life of relationships and other meanings not connected to your creative projects.
ARTISTS OFTEN FACE CRITICISM IN THE FORM OF NOTES OR REVIEWS. HOW CAN AN ARTIST KEEP THEIR "SPIRIT UP" AND "FAITH IN THE WORK" IN THE FACE OF NEGATIVE FEEDBACK?
The first step is remember that everyone has an opinion, that great works have been roundly panned, and that you and you alone are the arbiter of meaning and quality in your life. If you don't buy that at a visceral level, you will block when criticism comes. You have to have more than an intellectual understanding that your opinion must count the most: you must feel it in your bones. Once you possess that absolute certainty, then you can examine the criticism to see if there's something there for you to learn, for often there is. The tricky dance is to reject all criticism while at the same time making use of feedback that serves you, a dance that no artist manages perfectly. Some err of the side of grandiosity and listen to no one; others, lacking in self-confidence, err in the direction of caving in and blocking.
SHOULD YOU FIGHT THE BLUES OR LET THEM COME?
It is my opinion that we should fight them, though not necessarily in the first five minutes or the first hour. Being in "that space" for a little while may be unavoidable and even necessary, but remaining in that painful place of inaction and despair has nothing really to recommend it. As soon as we can - and if we have gotten in the habit of disputing the blues, this will be sooner rather than later - we stand up tall, remind ourselves that we make the meaning in our life and that there is no meaning until we make it, and decide where we want to make our next meaning investment: in a new project, in the business of art, or in another sphere like relationships. If we can nip the blues in the bud before they even come by making that next meaning investment before meaninglessness even has a chance to rear its head, so much the better!
WHAT ADVISE DO YOU GIVE TO ARTISTS TO HANDLE THE POST-CREATION BLUES? The blues that happen when a project is done and you've worn yourself out.
Meaning must be made at all times or else we start to get those existential blues. But that isn't to say that we can't frame a day by the beach or a week incubating a project as meaningful time. The art is in our self-talk, where we consciously address our meaning needs by announcing where we want to invest meaning today: in a good rest, in a visit to the bookstore, in a little office organization, in a visit with a friend, and so on. What we want to guard against is the experience of meaninglessness that follows the completion of a project, and this we do by investing meaning wisely even though we may not have a new big project wanting to launch.
HOW CAN ARTISTS BEST FILL THE TIME IN PERIODS OF DORMANCY?
The answer revolves around how long the period of dormancy is and what the quality of that period is. If you tend to take three years off between projects, there is something going on there that needs to be addressed and you need to do a better job of forcing life to mean. If we're taking about two weeks, that's a very different matter. If it's that shorter amount of time, then you can catch up on business matters (there is always something in that realm that needs doing), remind yourself why you love your art discipline by visiting a museum or reading a book, and passionately living your "parallel life," that life of relationships and other meanings not connected to your creative projects.
ARTISTS OFTEN FACE CRITICISM IN THE FORM OF NOTES OR REVIEWS. HOW CAN AN ARTIST KEEP THEIR "SPIRIT UP" AND "FAITH IN THE WORK" IN THE FACE OF NEGATIVE FEEDBACK?
The first step is remember that everyone has an opinion, that great works have been roundly panned, and that you and you alone are the arbiter of meaning and quality in your life. If you don't buy that at a visceral level, you will block when criticism comes. You have to have more than an intellectual understanding that your opinion must count the most: you must feel it in your bones. Once you possess that absolute certainty, then you can examine the criticism to see if there's something there for you to learn, for often there is. The tricky dance is to reject all criticism while at the same time making use of feedback that serves you, a dance that no artist manages perfectly. Some err of the side of grandiosity and listen to no one; others, lacking in self-confidence, err in the direction of caving in and blocking.
SHOULD YOU FIGHT THE BLUES OR LET THEM COME?
It is my opinion that we should fight them, though not necessarily in the first five minutes or the first hour. Being in "that space" for a little while may be unavoidable and even necessary, but remaining in that painful place of inaction and despair has nothing really to recommend it. As soon as we can - and if we have gotten in the habit of disputing the blues, this will be sooner rather than later - we stand up tall, remind ourselves that we make the meaning in our life and that there is no meaning until we make it, and decide where we want to make our next meaning investment: in a new project, in the business of art, or in another sphere like relationships. If we can nip the blues in the bud before they even come by making that next meaning investment before meaninglessness even has a chance to rear its head, so much the better!
October 31, 2007
a thought about not thinking
THANKS TO DAILY CREATOR L.P. WHO SENDS US THIS REMINDER:
A . . . great distraction at times are so-called "running commentary" thoughts such as, "Now I am not thinking of anything," "Things are going very well now," "This is dreadful; my mind just won't stay still" and the like . . . . All such thoughts should simply be noted as "Thinking," and, as Huang Po says, just "dropped like a piece of rotten wood." "Dropped," notice, not thrown down.
A piece of rotten wood is not doing anything to irritate you, but is just of no use, so there is no point in hanging on to it. . . . Nor is there any need to try to retrace the links in a chain of associated thoughts, nor to try to ascertain what it was that first started the chain. Any such impulse should itself be noted simply as "Thinking," and the mind should revert to the breathing. However badly things have just been going, one should take up again at the only place one can--where one is--and go on from there.
- Bhikkhu Mangalo, The Practice of Recollection from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith
A . . . great distraction at times are so-called "running commentary" thoughts such as, "Now I am not thinking of anything," "Things are going very well now," "This is dreadful; my mind just won't stay still" and the like . . . . All such thoughts should simply be noted as "Thinking," and, as Huang Po says, just "dropped like a piece of rotten wood." "Dropped," notice, not thrown down.
A piece of rotten wood is not doing anything to irritate you, but is just of no use, so there is no point in hanging on to it. . . . Nor is there any need to try to retrace the links in a chain of associated thoughts, nor to try to ascertain what it was that first started the chain. Any such impulse should itself be noted simply as "Thinking," and the mind should revert to the breathing. However badly things have just been going, one should take up again at the only place one can--where one is--and go on from there.
- Bhikkhu Mangalo, The Practice of Recollection from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith
October 11, 2007
check out the mantra trailer
The Mantra Trailer
Created out of a 1950’s camper, the Mantra Trailer invites people to chant, their mantras, prayers, creeds, aspirations and petitions for the transformation of self and society.
The interior of the trailer is a traveling meditation space and recording studio. It is a trance inducing, contemplative space, oriented toward the internal. The exterior serves as a vehicle for mysterious aural broadcast and visual presentation of the people’s mantras. The sides of the trailer host a changeable marquis, reminiscent of the church signboard. Mundane, playful and even bizarre personal mantras may take on unforeseen spiritual, cultural or political content to those who witness them. The exterior is equipped with a holosonic speaker that continuously broadcasts a mix of recorded mantras, which can only be heard within the focused range of the speaker’s path.
By-passers drawn to the Mantra Trailer are invited inside one at a time to voice and record their mantras in privacy. Meanwhile face-to-face dialogue occurs outside the trailer as people wait their turn.
What is a mantra?
The Sanskrit word mantra consists of the root man, “to think" (also in manas "mind") and the suffix -tra meaning, "tool", hence a literal translation would be "instrument of thought" or “mind tool”.
In eastern spiritual traditions a mantra is a sacred word, chant or sound that is repeated during mediation to facilitate the transformation of consciousness. In mass media a mantra is an expression or idea that is repeated, often without thinking about it, as a way of defining, simplifying and controlling complex realities. Consider how the Bush administration’s three word mantra, WAR ON TERROR, has undermined America. In pop culture the role of the personal mantra has gained significantly as an effective tool for centering, managing and self-actualization in a perpetually transitional world.
Record a mantra for this project.
At the intersection of imagination, evangelism and propaganda...
Walter Brueggemann, a contemporary Christian theologian describes evangelism as “an activity of transformed consciousness that results in an altered perception of world, neighbor and self, and an authorization to live differently in that world.” In his book The Prophetic Imagination he postulates, "The task of the prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us."
This is also the task of community engagement projects such as Learning-To-Love-You-More. Likewise, the Mantra Trailer provides an interface for the human voice within the enculturation of consumerism and globalization. It achieves this through an indigenous path, rooted in southern, American, bible-belt culture and the “new age.” Peddling a homeopathic remedy for the mass media slogans of the day, the Mantra Trailer focuses attention on the personal and spiritual mantras people live by, one neighborhood and voice at a time.
The Mantra Trailer deals with the terrain of landscape, globalization and isolation through the scale of the body. The physical trailer mirrors the body’s process of manifestation. It has an interior space for recording, meditation and authorship and an exterior place of broadcast, presentation, and dialogue. As voice and language pass through the operation of the trailer, the private monologue surprisingly reveals itself as social discourse.
Sherri's Bio
Sherri Lynn Wood is an improvisational quilt maker with a Master of Fine Art in Sculpture from Bard College and a Master of Theological Studies from Emory University. Most of her creative projects spring from her daily life experiences and quest for personal growth. She often invites others into the art making process as a way of sharing interior realities and exploring civic relationships that can lead to personal and social change. She has a private practice working with people in her studio, who are grieving or in transition, to make functional improvisational quilts from the clothing of the deceased and the intimate materials of life. She is based in Durham, North Carolina.
VISIT THE WEBSITE: http://www.mantratrailer.com/
May 25, 2007
WRITE A TANKA
Tanka is an ancient form of Japanese poetry believed to exist for the last 1300 years which makes it older than haiku. As a form, the tanka poem consists of 31 syllables arranged in a metric pattern of 5 – 7 – 5 – 7 – 7.
In Japanese, tanka is written in one straight line with no stresses and no rhyme scheme though the sounds and words are meant to resonate emotionally as in contemporary American free verse.
In English, we usually divide the lines into the five syllabic units:
5
7
5
7
7
TANKAS BY IZUMI SHIKIBU
Lying alone
my black hair tangled
uncombed,
I long for the one
who touched it first.
The bamboo’s
old root
hasn’t changed at all –
Is there even one night
he sleeps at home? No.
In Japanese, tanka is written in one straight line with no stresses and no rhyme scheme though the sounds and words are meant to resonate emotionally as in contemporary American free verse.
In English, we usually divide the lines into the five syllabic units:
5
7
5
7
7
TANKAS BY IZUMI SHIKIBU
Lying alone
my black hair tangled
uncombed,
I long for the one
who touched it first.
The bamboo’s
old root
hasn’t changed at all –
Is there even one night
he sleeps at home? No.
March 19, 2007
congrats to daily creator j.a.
Just thought you might be interested in hearing my very first RADIO interview segment that I produced and was broadcast on KPFK on Mar. 2nd. It's pretty cool -
http://www.thetibetconnection.org/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/thomaslaird030207tc. mp3
and to check out the entire program, go to:
http://www.thetibetconnection.org
my next segments will appear on Mar. 30th.
It's all about Tibet...
Julie
http://www.thetibetconnection.org/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/thomaslaird030207tc. mp3
and to check out the entire program, go to:
http://www.thetibetconnection.org
my next segments will appear on Mar. 30th.
It's all about Tibet...
Julie
March 07, 2007
meditation and creativity
Thank you to Daily Creator L.P. who reminds us to slow down and listen as artists. She wrote:
Many paths lead from the foot of the mountain
But at the peak we all gaze at the single bright moon.
Just awaken to the truth; how and where do not matter.
--- Ikkyu
Senior Priest Jean Seiryu Wilkins spoke about the confluence of meditation and creativity. Drawing from the teachings of Roshi John Daido Loori (abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery in Mt. Tremper, NY and author of "The Zen of Creativity"), Jean showed how the qualities of deep concentration, alertness and openness that we strive to cultivate in our meditative practice can also be the foundation of artistic creation.
In this vein, the photographer does not impose the camera upon the landscape, but instead waits for the photograph to arise from the landscape. The writer does not "write" the novel so much as act as a witness and medium, allowing the novel to write itself through the writer.
Many paths lead from the foot of the mountain
But at the peak we all gaze at the single bright moon.
Just awaken to the truth; how and where do not matter.
--- Ikkyu
Senior Priest Jean Seiryu Wilkins spoke about the confluence of meditation and creativity. Drawing from the teachings of Roshi John Daido Loori (abbot of Zen Mountain Monastery in Mt. Tremper, NY and author of "The Zen of Creativity"), Jean showed how the qualities of deep concentration, alertness and openness that we strive to cultivate in our meditative practice can also be the foundation of artistic creation.
In this vein, the photographer does not impose the camera upon the landscape, but instead waits for the photograph to arise from the landscape. The writer does not "write" the novel so much as act as a witness and medium, allowing the novel to write itself through the writer.
January 23, 2007
the self
This quote sent by Daily Creator L.P. who always sends me just the right thing at the right moment:
The way we define and delimit the self is arbitrary. We can place it between our ears and have it looking out from our eyes, or we can widen it to include the air we breathe, or at other moments we can cast its boundaries farther to include the oxygen-giving trees and plankton, our external lungs, and beyond them the web of life in which they are sustained.
--Joanna Macy, World As Lover, World As Self from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book
The way we define and delimit the self is arbitrary. We can place it between our ears and have it looking out from our eyes, or we can widen it to include the air we breathe, or at other moments we can cast its boundaries farther to include the oxygen-giving trees and plankton, our external lungs, and beyond them the web of life in which they are sustained.
--Joanna Macy, World As Lover, World As Self from Everyday Mind, edited by Jean Smith, a Tricycle book
January 09, 2007
not just the body
Hopefully you have had a traditional meal from your chosen country by now. If not, promise yourself that this weekend, you will atleast go to a grocery store and check out the supplies. Start incorporating elements of their cuisine into your diet as you wish.
But let's also move beyond the tummy and explore the soul, spirit and mind of your chosen country's people. How do they take care of themselves, physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally? Are they in therapy or do they pray? Do they have to join a gym to exercise or is manual labor the mainstay of their population? Do most attend colleges or join a monastery? Are public displays of affection banned or encouraged?
TODAY'S CREATIVITY CHALLENGE:
Explore the body, mind, soul and spirit of the people who live in your chosen country by researching these aspects:
Health & Wellness: medicines, folk remedies, doctors, hospitals, healing alternatives
Spirituality: beliefs, practices, holidays, astrology, indigenous versus imported religions
Education: colleges, grade schools, what kids are taught, jobs available
Remember - you're not getting your PhD here - you're really just quickly reading through things to find images, ideas or concepts that catch your attention. Don't turn this into a book report. You are looking for inspiration. A broad overview.
If something catches your eye, you can always come back to it.
But let's also move beyond the tummy and explore the soul, spirit and mind of your chosen country's people. How do they take care of themselves, physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally? Are they in therapy or do they pray? Do they have to join a gym to exercise or is manual labor the mainstay of their population? Do most attend colleges or join a monastery? Are public displays of affection banned or encouraged?
TODAY'S CREATIVITY CHALLENGE:
Explore the body, mind, soul and spirit of the people who live in your chosen country by researching these aspects:
Health & Wellness: medicines, folk remedies, doctors, hospitals, healing alternatives
Spirituality: beliefs, practices, holidays, astrology, indigenous versus imported religions
Education: colleges, grade schools, what kids are taught, jobs available
Remember - you're not getting your PhD here - you're really just quickly reading through things to find images, ideas or concepts that catch your attention. Don't turn this into a book report. You are looking for inspiration. A broad overview.
If something catches your eye, you can always come back to it.
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