God Bless Henry Miller!

"The way of life is towards fulfillment, however, wherever it may lead. To restore a human being to the current of life means not only to impart self-confidence but also an abiding faith in the process of life. A man who has confidence in himself must have confidence in other, confidence in the fitness and rightness of the universe. When a man is thus anchored he ceases to worry about the fitness of things, about the behavior of his fellow men, about right and wrong and justice and injustice. If his roots are in the current of life he will float on the surface like a lotus and he will blossom and give forth fruit. He will draw his nourishment from above and below; he will send his roots down deeper and deeper, fearing neither the depths nor the heights. The life that is in him will manifest itself in growth, and growth is an endless, eternal process. he will not be afraid of withering, because decay and death are part of growth. As a seed he began and as a seed he will return. Beginnings and ending are only partial steps in the eternal process. The process is everything... the way... the Tao.

The way of life! A grand expression. Like saying Truth. There is nothing beyond it... it is all."

- Henry Miller, Sexus: The Rosy Crucifixion I

Physician, heal thyself!

Reading William Stafford's Writing the Australian Crawl (which I'm feeling pretty optimistic about finishing this week!) is reminding me that I'm a big fan of good books about the creative process. I love it when artist's write about their routines, random thoughts, inner life, personal pen preferences and relationship to solitude. It makes me feel in good company with "my people" to read these texts, and I always find them INSANELY inspirational... no matter how cheesy they might be. I'm a utter sucker for the creative process.

One of my all-time favorites is Agnes Martin: Writings. For me, her insights into what it is to be an artist are as profound and deep as any philosophy book I've read. And she's incredibly CLEAR, which is such a gift. Maybe it's the intense passion for minimalism that has helped her to become so friggin' eloquent.

Heck, I even love The Artist's Way and a wild and wide range of straight up self-help-ish literature. The intention behind it all (other than the profit motive part) is beautiful: unlocking all the latent creative energy in the "common man", removing whatever trash is holding folks back, and working to create a world full of happy, expressive, creatively stimulated & stimulating communicative human BEINGS who not only participate in their world but help consciously CREATE it and make it BEAUTIFUL. Amen.

I recently read David Lynch's Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity which was utterly BOSS. Not only do I love him and his films, this book totally made me love his process and the potential of my OWN process. It was one in a series of events that inspired me to take a big 'ol leap into the void and learn Transcendental Meditation. Hell yeah. As of 11am this morning, the adventure hath commenced. This shizz is ON, nickels! :-)