Buddhism teaches when contemplating the wavering conditions of the mind, know that when the mind moves...
Buddhism teaches when contemplating the wavering conditions of the mind, know that when the mind moves, it becomes unstable and impermanent (anicca), unsatisfactory (dukkha) and cannot be taken as a self (anattā). These are the three universal characteristics of all conditioned phenomena, including, but not limited to what I experience as "writer's block."
Over the weekend I pulled out this book that I'm sure some of you have read or know about.
The book is by journalist, Julia Cameron, and is called, The Artist's Way. In it she begins teaching artists on how to overcome creative block.
In it she writes, "Art is a spiritual transaction. Artists are visionaries. We routinely practice a form of faith, seeing clearly and moving toward a creative goal that shimmers in the distance — often visible to us, but invisible to those around us. Difficult as it is to remember, it is our work that creates the market, not the market that creates our work. Art is an act of faith, and we practice practicing it."
And she writes, "The heart of creativity is an experience of the mystical union; the heart of the mystical union is an experience of creativity. . . . Creativity is an experience — to my eye, a spiritual experience. It does not matter which way you think of it: creativity leading to spirituality or spirituality leading to creativity. In fact, I do not make a distinction between the two. In the face of such experience, the whole question of belief is rendered obsolete. "
She introduces concepts that are closer to Eastern philosophical teachings about the unity of the universe than the Western notion of a religious sense. Cameron writes:
"If you think of the universe as a vast electrical sea in which you are immersed and from which you are formed, opening to your creativity changes you from something bobbing in that sea to a more fully functioning, more conscious, more cooperative part of that ecosystem."
"I learned to just show up at the page and write down what I heard. Writing became more like eavesdropping and less like inventing a nuclear bomb."
Do you think at the heart of it, a writer's block is caused by a spiritual block?
Over the weekend I pulled out this book that I'm sure some of you have read or know about.
The book is by journalist, Julia Cameron, and is called, The Artist's Way. In it she begins teaching artists on how to overcome creative block.
In it she writes, "Art is a spiritual transaction. Artists are visionaries. We routinely practice a form of faith, seeing clearly and moving toward a creative goal that shimmers in the distance — often visible to us, but invisible to those around us. Difficult as it is to remember, it is our work that creates the market, not the market that creates our work. Art is an act of faith, and we practice practicing it."
And she writes, "The heart of creativity is an experience of the mystical union; the heart of the mystical union is an experience of creativity. . . . Creativity is an experience — to my eye, a spiritual experience. It does not matter which way you think of it: creativity leading to spirituality or spirituality leading to creativity. In fact, I do not make a distinction between the two. In the face of such experience, the whole question of belief is rendered obsolete. "
She introduces concepts that are closer to Eastern philosophical teachings about the unity of the universe than the Western notion of a religious sense. Cameron writes:
"If you think of the universe as a vast electrical sea in which you are immersed and from which you are formed, opening to your creativity changes you from something bobbing in that sea to a more fully functioning, more conscious, more cooperative part of that ecosystem."
"I learned to just show up at the page and write down what I heard. Writing became more like eavesdropping and less like inventing a nuclear bomb."
Do you think at the heart of it, a writer's block is caused by a spiritual block?
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