"Poets live the lives all of us live with one big difference. They have the power to make the experience of life both magical and real. The life they reveal is our own."
— Bill Moyers
American Journalist
1934 -
Commentary
While Bill Moyers is talking about poets here, I think his statement applies to all creative and artistic leaders. Creative people are normal people with the challenges, opportunities, successes and failures that all people face. The difference is that creative leaders see the world through magical lenses and are able to show others what those lenses reveal. The power of magical lenses rests in what the lenses reveal about the world and those who inhabit it.
What do your magical lenses reveal about the world? What do you see that others cannot? What is your unique vision of how things should be? What doors can you open for others? What gifts are you giving the world? What insights are you sharing with others?
Creative Practice
Follow your vision and reveal the world as seen through your magic lenses. Paint that world. Write about that world. Compose the music of that world.
Biography
Bill Moyers was born in Hugo, OK and grew up in Texas. His father, a laborer, was John Henry Moyers and his mother was Ruby. He began his career in journalism as a cub reporter at the age of sixteen. When he was twenty, Senator Lyndon B. Johnson hired him as a summer intern. He graduated in 1956 from the University of Texas with a degree in Journalism and worked for radio and TV stations owned by Lady Bird Johnson. In 1959 he earned a Masters Degree in Divinity from the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He served as a Baptist minister in Weir, Texas.
During the 1960 Presidential election, Moyers served as an aide to LBJ and also served in both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. He was the White House Press Secretary from 1965 - 1967. After his experience in politics, Moyer worked for PBS, CBS and NBC. In 1986, he and his wife started their own company and produced documentaries such as Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth.
Moyers has written several books of non-fiction including The Language of Life: A Festival of Poets, transcripts of his conversations with 34 poets.
Video:
Here is the trailer for the Language of Life video.
Here is the trailer for Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth.
