Theodore Roethke — Being, not doing

I must confess that being is very difficult for me. For years I have been caught up in the culture of doing — setting goals and working to achieve those goals. I find it very difficult to sit and just be. I must at the very least doodle. If I go on vacation, it often takes me a week to relax and forget my day job. But I still feel I must be doing something. Write. Draw. Read. Produce something of value. Rarely can I just be.  I simply cannot sit and doing nothing.  My thoughts continue to flow.

How about you? Are you caught up in the culture of doing or have you learned like Roethke to enjoy just being?

Here is my favorite Theodore Roethke poem. I love the first three lines. This is a poem to be read out loud. Listen to the interaction of sounds.

The Waking

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.

We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Of those so close beside me, which are you?
God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.

Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me, so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.

This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

I learn by going where I have to go.

William Baziotes — The Process of Creation

Evolution is the way a poem happens for me. I don't know what the poem is about until I'm finished writing. The poem evolves as I write. I know there are writers who outline everything they do. They know what they are going to write every step of the way. For me, it does not work. I like not knowing. The excitement is in the writing. The same thing happens when I write a story or a novel. Only at the end do I know what I was writing about.  And even then I might not be sure.

When I travel I am the same way. I want to discover new places. My wife and I once were on a trip with another couple. They had everything planned down to the minute and became upset if we deviated from the plan because it put them behind schedule. I can't travel that way. The joy is in the discovery.

Art for me is also about discovery.  When I draw a mask, I never know what a mask will look like until I am finished.  The joy is in the process of creation. The joy is in not knowing where you are going. 

Zentangle 2016

I have been studying Zentangle, a meditative art form, for the last four years.  A basic principle of Zentangle art is that you don't plan your work.  The fun is in the exploration — of discovering where you should go.

One of the things I have learned over the years is that creative leaders have many different ways of working. What works for one person does not work for another. How do you work? Do you map out your story in advance of writing it? Do you know what your painting will look like before you start painting it? Are you confined by the expectations of yourself or others?

Henri Matisse

I have heard many wanna-be writers and artists say they are waiting to be inspired. They can only write or draw when inspiration strikes. Unfortunately, that is not the real world. If we wait for our muse to come, she may never arrive.  She is a fickle mistress who has her own agenda and cares not for our needs.

The key to finding your inspiration and to being creative is to work every day. Maybe it is for a half an hour or an hour, but one must do the work.  And when you least expect her, your muse will arrive wearing dancing shoes.  She will lead you into the heart of creativity and dance until your feet grow tired and your limbs ache.

And after your muse has left and gone to visit other lonely artists, don't throw your work away even if you feel that what you did was terrible. Let it sit and come back to it later and you will see it in a different light. Creativity is a process. It is messy and unorganized.  To produce great work, one must produce junk.  To achieve great work, one must fail again and again.    

Creative work is not easy.  Our conscious mind works against the spirit of creativity.  Our conscious mind attempts to distract us from the deep spiritual work by sending us to the refrigerator or demanding that we wash the clothes and vacuum the carpet.  We must be vigilant and not be deceived. 

May your muse fill your heart with joy 

and your soul with the spirit of creativity.

Harley King

Conversation is becoming a lost art.  People pass each other like shadows in the night, absorbed in their small worlds.  We seldom listen to the stories that people have to share about their lives.  We have little time for family and friends and rarely do we risk speaking to strangers.

Growing up in a small midwestern farming community, we left our doors unlocked and our cars running when we went to the post office.  Everybody knew everyone else and rarely did we meet a stranger.  Our conversations were filled with stories, gossip and laughter.

Yet, today I live in a much different world.  I lock the doors of my car even when it sits in my driveway and I always lock the doors of my house even when I am home.  And most of the people I meet are strangers and rarely do we speak.

Life is about the relationships we develop with family, friends and even strangers on the paths that we choose to travel.  Some of the best conversations that I have had in my life have happened on an airplane with someone I had never met and will never encounter again.  

With strangers, we often open up and share our stories in ways that we do not with family and friends.  We know that the strangers are passing through our lives and that it is unlikely that we will meet again.  When we listen to stories of strangers, there is so much we can learn about the world and the people that inhabit it.  We will often find that we are alike and have much in common.

Listening to the stories of others can spark our creativity and make us better writers and artists.  Something they say may plant a seed that will grow and bear fruit.  Something they say may free us from the chains that bind our thinking.  Listening to the stories of strangers will give us small moments of pleasure and joy.

Faisal Hoque

"Creative people's openness and sensitivity often exposes them to suffering and pain, yet also to a great deal of enjoyment."

— Faisal Hoque

Bangladesh Author / Entrepreneur / Thought Leader

1969 - 

Commentary

Creativity requires that a person be open and sensitive to the world around him.  Yet this same openness that ignites creativity can put a person in harm's way.  This openness exposes creative people to rejection that often will cause pain and even suffering.  Writers and artists want to capture the world accurately and creatively which requires that they be in and of the world.  We can't stand on the sidelines or we will have nothing to say.  We have to be out on the battlefield finding our way through the mud, the blood and the destruction.  We have to experience life at its fullest.

If people only experienced pain from being creative, most people would avoid creativity.  Fortunately creativity also brings great joy and happiness that outweighs the pain.  The rewards are greater than the costs.  

What do you think?  Is creativity a blessing or a curse in your life?  Have you received more joy or more pain?  Is it a gift that you hope keeps giving?  Share a story of how creativity has been a blessing or a curse in your life.  Tell us what creativity means to you.

Creative Practice

This week write a poem or short story or paint a picture about sensitivity and creativity.  What happens to the sensitive creative person in a hostile, by-the-book, as-we-have-always-done-it world?  What challenges does he or she face?  Is the creative spirit a blessing or a curse?  Does he survive or perish?

Biography

Faisal Hoque was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh.  At fourteen he started a business selling stereo components to raise money to study in the United States.  He left Bangladesh to study in the U.S. at seventeen.  He developed his first software product as a student of 19 at the University of Minnesota.  He has held management positions at Pitney Bowes, Dun and Bradstreet and General Electric.  He has also founded several companies.  He has also written 6 books including The Power of Convergence, Six Billion Minds and the Alignment Effect.  His latest book, Everything Connects, is scheduled for publication in 2014.

http://faisalhoque.com

Morgan Freeman

Acting means living, it's all I do and all I'm good at. If I weren't getting paid well, I would still be acting in a small troupe somewhere.

-- Morgan Freeman

American Actor, Film Director

1937 - 

Commentary

The question all creative leaders must face is whether they would still create if they didn't get paid for their work.  And the answer is in the affirmative for true artists.  Many of us will labor for a lifetime without financial reward or recognition or fame.  The joy we find in the creative process in the end is our reward.  

Do you find joy in the creative process?  Can you get lost for hours creating a story, a painting or a poem?  I find the creative process in and of itself very rewarding.  I feel good.  If I go for any period of time without creating something, I find myself feeling down.  My mood is impacted by whether or not I have spent time creating something.  The creative process brings me joy in a negative, hostile, crazy world.

Why do you think successful writers continue to write?  Why do successful songwriters continue to write songs?  Why do successful painters continue to paint?  Why do successful actors like Morgan Freeman continue to act?  Why do movie stars who are paid millions for some of their films take roles in plays that pay them peanuts?  The answer is the emotional high they find in creating something.  Creative leaders are blessed with the joy of creating.  

Creativity is a gift that we have been given.  Enjoy the gift for itself.  Don't fret over whether you will make any money.  There are other ways to make money.  Just don't give up on your gift.  Keep creating even when you are surrounded by darkness — even when your world is collapsing.  For only in the creating to we find salvation, healing and joy.

Creative Practice

This week create something for the sheer joy of creating — a poem, a painting, a story.  Enjoy the process and don't worry about publication, selling or perfection.

Biography

Morgan Freeman was born in Memphis, Tennessee to Mayme Edna, a teacher, and Morgan Porterfield Freeman, a barber.  He moved frequently in his childhood, living in Mississippi, Indiana and Illinois.  Freeman made his acting debut at the age of nine in a school play.  He won a statewide drama competition at age 12.  He turned own a partial acting scholarship to college to join the US Air Force.

After the Air Force, Freeman lived in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, finding work as an actor in various plays.  He made his off-Broadway debut in 1967.  The following year he debuted on Broadway in Hello, Dolly!  His first film appearance was in 1971.  He had TV roles in the soap opera, Another World and the kid's show, The Electric Company.  He has supporting roles in feature films in the 1980s and closed out the decade with powerful roles in Driving Miss Daisy and Glory in 1989.  He played Red, a convict, in The Shawshank Redemption in 1994.

Freeman has received 4 Academy Award nominations including Best Actor nominations in Driving Miss Daisy and The Shawshank Redemption.  He won Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Million Dollar Baby.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

"Creativity is a central source of meaning in our lives . . . most of the things that are interesting, important, and human are the results of creativity . . . when we are involved in it, we feel that we are living more fully than during the rest of life."

— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Hungarian Author, Psychology Professor

1934 -

One of the things that makes us unique as human beings is our creativity.  We have a desire to create something beyond ourselves — to leave something of ourselves behind.  I have often thought that if I could not write, could not express myself creatively, that I would be very depressed and may even die.  I am happiest when I am in the midst of creating something — whether that be a story, a poem or a speech.  When I am creating the ideas flow through me and I struggle to capture them all.  Some slip through my fingers like water.  Others are planted in the soil of my mind and take root.  When are you happiest?

Aristide Maillol

"Carving is a source of joy to the artist. . . . To attack the raw material, gradually to extract a shape out of it following one's own desire, or, sometimes, the inspiration of the material itself: this gives the sculptor great joy."

—Aristide Maillol

French Sculptor

1861 - 1944

Summer
1910 - 11

Does your creative work bring you joy?  Do you become lost in the moment?  To create something out of nothing should make you happy.  It is a gift that you have been given.  Accept the gift and enjoy it.  Enjoy the work that you do.  

Does the work you create inspire you as you are creating it?  When I am writing a story I become caught up in the moment and become excited by the ideas that are flowing through my mind.  I find joy in writing.

Philip Guston

"I come into the studio very fearfully.  I creep in to see what happened the night before.  And the feeling is one of, 'My God, did I do that?'"

— Philip Guston

Canadian Artist

1913 - 1980

Does your creative work surprise you?  Have you set a poem or story aside and came back a month or two later and were surprised by what you read?  Have you painted a picture and were pleasantly surprised the next day by what you had created?  Often times we are not aware of what we are creating while we are in the process of the creation.  It is only later that we discover the beauty of what we created.  And that is the joy of creation -- discovering something new.

Max de Pree

"We need to give each other the space to grow, to be ourselves, to exercise our diversity.  We need to give each other space so that we may both give and receive such beautiful things as ideas, openness, dignity, joy, healing and inclusion."

— Max de Pree

American Author/Businessman 

1924 - 

How we relate and interact with others is important to our success.  We need to treat others with the same respect and courtesy that we wish to be treated.  If we give others the space to grow, we will grow.  If we allow others to be themselves, then we can be ourselves.    it is only with others that we find ideas, dignity and healing.  How we interact with others impacts how others interact with us.  What we give is what we get back.  How are your relationships today?  Healthy?  Growing?  Inclusive?  Joyful?

Vincent Van Gogh

Age 13

"I sometimes think there is nothing so delightful as drawing."

— Vincent Van Gogh

Dutch Artist

1853 - 1890

Woman
(1882)

Do you take delight in your work?  Are you having fun?  I pass the time in meetings by doodling.  Some would say that doodling is not drawing and I probably would agree.  But there is something about moving a pencil across a piece of paper that relaxes me.  What do you take delight in?  What do you enjoy doing?  What relaxes you?

Joye Moon

"Every day is a gift — a new beginning . . . bound out of bed with the enthusiasm of a child."

— Joye Moon

American Painter

How do you begin your day?  With a cup of coffee?  A cold beer?  With steak and eggs?  Or a doughnut?  Do you drag yourself out of bed wishing you could spend the day sleeping?  Are you wide awake and full of energy?  Some people get up in the morning and say:  "Good morning, Lord.  It is great to be alive!"  Other people get up and say: "O Lord, it's morning again."  Which are you?  Someone who appreciates each day she has been given?  Or someone who finds no joy in living?  How you begin your day can have a positive or negative impact on your creative work. 

Do you begin your day with meditation?  Or prayer?  Do you take a walk?  Or lift weights? Do you eat a healthy breakfast or do you skip the most important meal of the day?  Be thankful for every day you wake up.  The alternative to waking up is being six feet under.  Celebrate the day and give thanks for all you have been given.

Placido Domingo

"I hope I have given back half the joy music has given me."

— Placido Domingo

Spanish Musician

1941 -

Does your creative work give you joy?  When you have completed a session of painting or writing, do you feel good?  I think it is a privilege to be a creative leader.  Our work brings us so much happiness and joy.  Celebrate your work.  And remember that creativity is about giving back a little joy to others.

Listen to Domingo sing.  You can feel the emotion even if you don't understand the words.

Harley Brown

"Making art is the most relaxing, joyous, therapeutic stimulating way to spend your time, as you unleash the part of your brain that's been itching to get at it."

— Harley Brown

Canadian Artist

1939 - 

Unlike like writing which sometimes can be difficult, painting for me can be very relaxing and fun.  I become lost in the process and sometimes wake up several hours later only to realize that I had disappeared in the work.  I experience some of the same feelings when I write long-hand and do not use a computer or a typewriter as in the old days.  There is something about putting pen to paper that makes a difference in how one experiences the process.

Are you eager about your creative work?  Do you wake up in the morning anxious to go to work?  Or do you find excuses to avoid going to work?  Do you stare at the canvas or paper unable to lift brush or pen?  Do you enjoy the process of creating or do you agonize over it?


Here is Harley Brown talking about his art.

Nancy Grossman

"When I was a little kid I always drew on the walls, on books, on scrap paper.  I loved to draw.  It was something to rejoice upon.  It was magical."

— Nancy Grossman

American Artist

1940 -

Do you enjoy painting, drawing, or writing?  Creativity is magical and fills us with joy.  It is one of the best gifts we have been given.  Remember the joy you had drawing as a child.  That is the same feeling you should have as an adult.  If you don't have fun creating, then maybe you need to reevaluate your life and go in a different direction.  Producing creative work should fill your spirit with joy.  To create something from little or nothing is magical.  

Truman Capote

(1959)

"Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor."

— Truman Capote

American Writer

1924 - 1984

People, unfortunately, strive to be perfect and not make any mistakes.  For creative leaders, perfection creates paralysis and immobility.  Painters who seek perfection stay with the tried and true because they don't want to risk failure.  Writer won't step outside their comfort zone because of the fear of failure.  We are a society driven to be perfect and we don't tolerate mistakes.  Yet, without failure there is no success.  Failure provides the flavor to life.  

For a society that dwells on perfection, we crave seeing others fail.  We love to watch the mighty fall.  We cling to our entertainment shows to see which celebrity screwed up.  Who is going through a divorce.  Who is sleeping with who.  Who is fighting with who.  If I began naming names, the list would never end.  Every moment of every day someone stumbles and falls.  

Yet, it is in the moments of failure that some of the greatest novels have been written and some of the greatest paintings have been painted.  Without the pain of failure, there would be no joy in success.  So I challenge you to step outside your comfort zone and try something new.

(Source of quote: Goodreads.com)

Wilfred Grenfell

"The service we render for others is really the rent we pay for our room on this earth."

— Wilfred Grenfell

English Medical Missionary

1865 - 1940

It is a privilege and honor to be an artist.  We have an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of people.  Creative leaders provide tremendous value to societies and the people who make up those societies.  We entertain, inspire, inform and teach.  We give hope when hope is needed.  

Have you ever read a book that changed your life?  Thank the author with all your heart for the hours he spent writing and rewriting that book.  Have you ever read a novel that made you cry?  Thank the author.  Have you ever listened to a piece of music again and again because it calmed you down?  Thank the composer and the musicians.  Have you ever stood before a statue with your mouth wide open in awe?  Thank the sculptor.  Have you ever sat for hours in a museum studying a painting of a master?  Thank the painter for sharing his talent.

Be thankful for the privilege of serving others — of helping to ease their pain.  For giving them a few moments of laughter, joy and encouragement.  For helping them bear the loneliness of living.  For saving them from their thoughts of suicide.  Creative leaders are seldom aware of the impact and influence they have on people's lives.  If they did, they would be thankful every day for the gift they have been given.

William Holman Hunt

Self-portrait
(1867)

"Art is love."

— William Holman Hunt

English Painter

1827 - 1910

Do you love what you do?  If you can't answer yes to this question, then you need to find something else to do or learn to love what you do.  Failure to love what we do brings about despair and unhappiness.  Creative leaders love creativity and their chosen medium of expression.  Creative leaders have a deep, burning passion for their art, their writing or their dancing.

Life is too short to waste time doing something you don't enjoy.  Yes, we all have a need to make money and we may not make money from our chosen artistic endeavor, but we need to find a way to love the job that pays the bills.  We need to pay the bills so we can do what we love to do.  

Do you have an attitude of gratitude?  Do you say thank you every day for the gift of self-expression that you have been given?  Do you say thank you for being alive?  For breathing the air?  For family and friends?  For your health?  For the food on the table?  For the muse on your shoulder?  We have so much to be thankful for?

Isabella and the Pot of Basil
(1868)

Ernest Hemingway

"We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master."

— Ernest Hemingway

American Novelist

1899 - 1961

This is an amazing statement from a writer whom many would call a master.  I think what Hemingway is saying is that we should never stop learning about our craft.  Even the best of the best can learn something new — can improve their craft.  The task of becoming good never ends.  We are all apprentices — beginners.  We must come to the task of creating each work of art as a beginner would.

Those who believe there is nothing left to learn have stopped growing and will soon be spiritually dead and doomed to a life of repetition.  Life is in the learning.  Life is in the growing.  So don't despair if you don't know everything because you never will.  Don't despair if you haven't perfected your craft.  The joy is in the learning.  The joy is in the discovery of ways to improve your craft.

Theodore Roethke

"Being, not doing, is my first joy."

— Theodore Roethke

American Poet

1908 - 1963

 

I must confess that being is very difficult for me.  For years I have been caught up in the culture of doing.  Setting goals and working to achieve my goals.  I find it very difficult to sit and just be.  I must at the very least doodle and who knows maybe my doodles will one day be famous.  We can dream can't we!  If I go on vacation, it often takes me a week to relax and forget my day job.  But I still feel I must be doing something.  Writing.  Drawing.  Producing something.  Rarely can I just be.

How about you?  Are you caught up in the culture of doing or have you learned like Roethke to enjoy just being?

Here is my favorite Theodore Roethke poem.  I love the first three lines.  This is a poem to be read outloud.  Listen to the interaction of sounds.

The Waking

I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.
I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.
I learn by going where I have to go.

We think by feeling. What is there to know?
I hear my being dance from ear to ear.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Of those so close beside me, which are you?

God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,

And learn by going where I have to go.

Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?
The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Great Nature has another thing to do
To you and me, so take the lively air,
And, lovely, learn by going where to go.

This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.
What falls away is always. And is near.
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

I learn by going where I have to go.