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Hi folks, this is my February series on Golden Advice. I like to spend the month of February digging into the wisdom that has come my way, and that guides my art, my craft and my life. I find having some wise stuff in the soul helps me write stories with purpose. This week's thoughts are my musings on Aldous Huxley's essay: "Sermons in Cats."
I've had author crush on Aldous Huxley since my teens. He wrote books like Brave New World. I read it, and we became best friends. He wrote screenplays: Pride and Prejudice (1940)and Jane Eyre (1944). He wrote essays, poems, travel journals, and even (gasp) a children's book. (You are making me look lame, bestie.)
This week I'm musing about his essay "Sermons in Cats." A young author once asked Huxley how to become a novelist. Huxley encouraged the young author to buy lots of paper, a pen, ink, and write. The young author was not satisfied with this answer and begged Huxley for his writing formula. Huxley then urged the young writer to go to a fancy university and study writing. The young author was still unsatisfied and asked Huxley "did he keep a notebook or a journal," did he jot things on napkins or did use cross indexed cards, did he read novels exclusively or be well read across all subjects, and more questions.
Finally Huxley had enough and he offered this: "My young friend," I said, "if you want to be a psychological novelist and write about human beings, the best thing you can do is to keep a pair of cats."
The young writer left disconsolate. He wanted some magic formula, but Huxley put some heavy truth on the table instead. What makes stories interesting is when we look under the veneer of "manners, conventions, traditions of thought and feeling." Cats are malcontents. Imagine the marriage of two Siamese cats. They are at each other throats and fur flies. It's no fairy tale. Watching the behavior of cats will keep you from banality and untruths that parade as true relationships.
I have two cats and they are true characters. They are friends one minute and sinking in fangs in the next. Those twitching tails indicate perverse plans in the future. They are also affectionate, nuzzling and rubbing, and then out of nowhere, biting. My cats will moan like the world is coming to an end at night outside my door, and then purr like motorboats when I let them in, and then scratch me a few seconds later. Yes, Huxley has something here. Some big sermons for writers are hidden in the lives of cats.
I hope that this series helps you no your journey. I will be back next week with my Lucky March series.
Here is a doodle for you:
A quote for your pocket:
The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which mean never losing your enthusiasm. Aldous Huxley
Hi folks, this is my February series on Golden Advice. I like to spend the month of February digging into the wisdom that has come my way, and that guides my art, my craft and my life. I find having some wise stuff in the soul helps me write stories with purpose. This week's thoughts are my musings on Francis Bacon's essay "Of Boldness."
Francis Bacon was a philosopher and scientist who lived from the late 1500s to early 1600s. He's the guy that came up with the scientific method. His thoughts of methodology came onto my radar when I was college. I was so moved by his thinking that I read all of his essays and bits and pieces of his thoughts wove into the fabric of my life. One of his essays, "Of Boldness," resonated. And now for my musing.
Here I put some of his thoughts into the plain English. The heart of boldness is action. The only downside of boldness, humans are generally part genius and part stoopid. This makes boldness a tricky thing. If you are standing on a foundation of ignorance and/or "never going to happen," boldness is worthless. It will get you in trouble. You boldly make a promise and then, heck, you can not really pull it together. Then you end up reneging on that promise after failing shamefully. What artist hasn't had this day?
One true thing is that perfectly bold people refuse to admit they have bitten off something bigger than they can chew and instead brush over their failure and then turn in a different direction. It's a wonder to behold such bold people. Boldness is often ridiculous. Here is the plain truth: great boldness always comes with some extreme absurdity.
Boldness doesn't see danger or inconveniences. It's probably not a good idea for bold people to serve as commander in chief. They need to be seconds under the direction of others. At the end of the day, it's a good thing to see dangers, but when getting art done, it's good not to see those dangers unless the commander in chief taps him or her on the shoulder and says stop now!
As an artistic person, you may chafe because of all the bean counters, market gurus, editors and fans that direct your art. You are a person of ACTION. You have boldness in your soul. Yep, and now you have a clear idea of what that is all about. Trust the process, trust the gate keepers, trust the critique group members, trust your fans, trust them all.
Hope this strikes a chord with you. I will be back next week with the last of this series.
Here is a doodle for you. "Flowers"
Knowledge is power. Francis Bacon
Hi folks, this is my February series on Golden Advice. I like to spend the month of February digging into the wisdom that has come my way, and that guides my art, my craft and my life. I find having some wise stuff in the soul helps me write stories with purpose. This week's thoughts are inspired by I Corinthians, Chapter 13, The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis, The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman, and a vast number of other books.
I can barely touch a teacup of this topic in one blog. I hope that this little cup helps.
I think a lot about love. I think we live in a love-starved culture. People consume and consume trying to fill the love void in their lives. The McDonald's culture prevails. We are a throwaway, instantaneous, junk food society with a huge bucket of voyeurism and gossiping thrown in. Ugh.
Love does not thrive in this society; I am talking real love. Love is not safe; it's about risking all of yourself for nothing in return. It demands many things of you, but on the love journey, you gain your true self. I think of every story I write as a love journey. I think of my life that way too.
My definition of love flows right out of I Corinthians, Chapter 13. Here's a verse: Love is patient. When was the last time you saw patience lifted up as a good thing. Patience often means spending mega time waiting for someone to change and suffering some wrong while waiting. It may also mean you wait and the other person never changes. Dang this tough.
Here is the big deal. Love is kind. It's about not digging into someone else even when you are are in pain. Kindness is about listening. It's about hearing. It's about admitting you are wrong.
Love does not boast. I come short in this one because I feel inadequate. It's not about tooting my own horn -- cough, avoid Facebook. I hope everyone who knows me feels more connected to me than my possessions, my achievements and my abilities. You know, I want to keep it real.
Love does not dishonor others. Ack. I struggle with this one too. I look at the mega success of others and feel like the smallest potato in the bag. I have found myself saying ill favored stuff about others, because I feel lame and he or she has what I want. Dang, I don't deserve any cake. Taking time to offer kudos instead of degrading: note to self, get with the program. Creating characters who cling to honor, really is what I want to be all about.
And at the end of the day, love never fails, even if you are shattered into a million pieces. Drag them all together and love through those pieces. You might nick others with the shards inside of you, but don't let that keep you from loving.
So that is the teacup of love for the day.
As you create you artistic works, let each stroke be lit by love. Let each word be lit by love. Love is the light in darkness. Let it shine. Let it shine. Every little thing is going to shine.
Here is a doodle for you: Tangled Hearts
You still fascinate and inspire me. You influence me for the better. You’re the object of my desire, the #1 Earthly reason for my existence. I love you very much. Johnny Cash to June Carter Cash
Hi, folks, this is my February series on Golden Advice. I like to spend the month of February digging into the wisdom that has come my way, and that guides my art, my craft and my life. I find having some wise stuff in the soul helps me write stories with purpose.
Today I'm going to reflect on Ralph Waldo Emerson's Essay XII: ART. You may read this essay
here if you wish.
Emerson always stirs me up. He shares that the soul is on a journey. It's not a static thing. Artists look out on this would and see the unseen. We see the light in this moment that will be lost forever if we do not capture it. We don't see the surface of the world but also the character of the world, especially when we turn the vision on ourselves and try to reveal ourselves through art. No mechanical device can capture what the human mind perceives -- we are attempting to interpret that spark of life we sense and place it on our canvases, in our songs, our dances, our stories, in our every form of expression. We are capturing our moment in time.
The art of every age is a reflection of more that just what is seen but the unseen times of the artists. If you want to know what is going on in your culture, what are the signs of the times, look at what artists are producing. They can't but help but let what is going on in their world seep in and shape what they are creating. That said, there is an inherent understanding in artists that we are an expression of this vast Universe -- an imperfect picture of the glory that we perceive. There is no other creature on Earth that is so desiring to interpret what they perceive. We feel the invisible undercurrents and bring the invisible to the forefront. When we create our art and then consider it, we always find things that we didn't intend and that takes our breath away.
Art has a big purpose in the course of human history. It's is our record of things unseen. It is also the thread that reveals who we are and what we want. We are not unconnected with the art that has gone before us. I think about the explosion of superhero, fantasy, and science fiction stories in our days as a good example of this. These stories are extensions of the human journey of myth. I feel an undercurrent in them that we very much all looking beyond our times, staring into the void and wanting to be much more than we are now. We are also wrestling with "villains" so great that they boggle the mind. Also a perception is evident: a desire to do good will triumph, it will overcome the darkness.
Does this seem like our world?
So what does all this mean to me personally. When art is making me uncomfortable, making me squirm in my seat, I must take note, especially when art slips away from a pursuit of beauty. I consider our larger world and reflect about what darkness looms. I cannot help but respond. For me I am searching for the good and lovely of my times and seasons. I hunger for every voice to be heard. I want to find beauty and holiness in new ways. I want to be brave and earnest and see what springs up from my heart. This is my prayer. My heart's cry. My deep hope. I hope that you join me on this journey.
I will be back next week with more golden advice.
Here is a quote for your pocket:
Faith is what makes life bearable, with all its tragedies and ambiguities and sudden, startling joys.
Madeleine L'Engle
Hi folks, this is my February series on Golden Advice. I like to spend the month of February digging into the wisdom that has come my way, and that guides my art, my craft and my life. I find having some wise stuff in the soul helps me write stories with purpose.
I like to start with American poet Carl Sandburg. I always have this feeling that Carl is with me on my writing journey. His words whisper in the back of my heart. Something about his homespun writing gives me hope that I can be so much more. This week I'm going to respond to Carl Sandburg's broadcast in the 1950s called "My Fellow Worms."
Here's the first thing up. You grow older and you start getting a sense of what you really believe. This is the stuff that is tried and true. If you ask the question, "What do I believe?" and then answer it -- you end up writing a book or making a cute poster with a smart saying on it. Carl believed in "getting up in the morning with a serene mind and a heart holding many hopes." I am one the fellow worms. This little thought makes me want to put on some music and dance. Life is all about the small, tried and true things. I hope that you are waking up to this truth.
We are small in this universe. Tiny, tiny, tiny. Like Carl said about us: insignificant speck of animate star dust each of us is amid cotillions of billion-year constellations. When you realize this, it helps put perspective on all those hills you are trying to climb. In view of the universe, the towers of achievement that men proclaim just don't make a lot of sense. Note: I wrote a poem to bless my friends or I wrote a book that reached the planet -- not much difference in the scheme of things. Always keep things in perspective.
Next up, stop being so freaked out by pride. Pride is a good thing though it has a bad rap as a deadly sin. Be proud of your achievements but stay out of the sticky glue of arrogance. You know, don't lose your perspective and jump into vanity -- look at me! Not so easy in this life -- we live in the look-at-me generation -- selfies, social media, online life. Keep out of the mirror gazing. Your personality is sacred. It's a holy thing. Keep that in mind every time you share a bit of yourself. If you cut off enough, you will lose who you are.
Finally, I share a love of platitudes like Carl. Occasionally I here someone disparage my love platitudes but old well used thoughts are hard won. Moral content and thoughtfulness is much more than banal. You won't convince me otherwise. We should hold old sayings dear and not use them as lip service.
Share the platitudes that you have earned the right to share.
I especially like Carl thoughts about preserving our freedoms. We live in a world that seems to forgotten that "eternal vigilance is price of liberty." We are all in the struggle of freedom. You must get up today and fight. You will do it again tomorrow. Every life will find some "fiery trial and agony." Don't forget that as you share those tried and true words and suffer degradation because you have trusted others.
We are small but wondrous. Every little thing is going to shine, shine. Every little thing is going to shine. I hope my response to Carl's wisdom helps you find your way. Let it guide your creative journey. I will be back next week with more Golden Advice.
Here is a doodle: Spring is around the corner.
Here is a quote for your pocket.
Time is the coin of your life. You spend it. Do not allow others to spend it for you. Carl Sandburg
Hi, folks, this week the golden advice is all about avoiding stumbling. This is my version of the story of the Cult of the Golden Cow.
Once, way back, there was this nation, and they knew the heart of the Universe, the living God, had a plan for them. But it was taking God a long time to get back to them. The messenger who was going to bring the good news was up on some mountain doing his thing and wasn't giving this poor nation the time of day. This messenger was gone for 40 days. Ugh.
So with no immediate direction, someone in this nation got the big idea to pour a bunch of gold into a mold, and make it into a big golden cow. Making the shape wasn't the bad thing, but when it was put out for all to see and everyone began calling it God. That was a problem.
Right then the God messenger showed up, and he had a serious to-do-list from the heart of the universe that included a "No Golden Cow" clause or the "Do not make stuff and then worship it" clause. Yeah, that sucked for them. If they only could have waited.
This story resonates with me. The whole Golden Cow thing, I mean you get this vision from the heart of the Universe of what you are supposed to do. Perhaps, you are supposed to write a book that is important. Maybe, you've even written it. And here's the rub, the messengers are not getting back to you.
In the words of Douglas Adams, "DON'T PANIC!"
Just chill. Don't go do other stuff because you are afraid it will not work out. Fear is the enemy. You can't control when the good news will come. All you can do is remember what the vision is, and do that. Don't waver. Don't give up. Avoid golden cows. Avoid stumbling. Doing something else and ditching your true purpose is not going to help you. It will just be a time suck and keep you from doing useful things.
This is what you have to do: Wait.
I know how hard that is. I have been waiting so long that sometimes it feels like my heart will break from the weight (hahaha) of it. Hope deferred does make the heart sick. But hope is something you need to cling to, because of this, hope is not going to disappoint you. Hope is the anchor of your soul.
Whatever you are waiting for, keep in there. I will be back next week with more inspiration.
This week, I offer a photo instead of a doodle, "The Signs Are Everywhere."
Quote of the week:
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how. Friedrich Nietzsche
