Bill Moyers

"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.

Norman Vincent Peale

"Imagination is the true magic carpet."

— Norman Vincent Peale

Author, Minister

1898 - 1993

 

Our minds are very powerful.  What we imagine, think and say can impact what we do.  Creative leaders should use their imagination not only for their creative work, but also for their personal lives.  Can you see yourself as a successful writer, artist or actor?  Can you see yourself sitting at a desk typing that great novel or standing at a easel painting your best painting?

Do you want to change some habit or relationship?  Begin by imagining yourself in a new role or relationship.  See yourself successfully behaving in a new way.  We call this positive visualization.  Most of us already do negative visualization.  Do you ever worry about the future?  Worry is a negative form of visualization.

Through the process of visualization we can change who we are.  This is the power of positive thinking.  The easiest thing in the world is to be negative.  It takes a lot more will power to be positive in a negative world.  I challenge you to take five minutes each day and visualize your success.

Francis Bacon

Self-Portrait
(1971)

"The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery."

— Francis Bacon

English Artist

1909 - 1992

The Study After
Velazquez's Portrait
of Pope Innocent X
(1953)

Life is mysterious and full of questions with few answers.  The job of the creative leader is not to provide the answers but to help his audience to explore the questions at even deeper levels. Life at its core is spiritual in nature.  The artist connects the spiritual with the mysterious and fills the heart with joy.  Our challenge has writers, artists and creative leaders is to reach deep within our spirits and share the magical mystery of the heart.  


What spiritual questions are you exploring in your art?  Your writing?  Your acting?  Your dancing?  What is the mysterious hidden within your creation?  What is the song sung from your heart?

Toni Morrison

"If writing is thinking and discovery and selection and order and meaning, it is also awe and reverence and mystery and magic."

— Toni Morrison

American Novelist

1931 -

This quote from Toni Morrison captures the essence of the creative arts.  Yes, the creative arts are about finding meaning in the world around us, but the arts are also about the magic of that world.  Yes, the creative arts are about creating order in a chaotic world, but the arts are also about accepting the mystery of that world.  Yes, the creative arts are about discovering new visions of the world, but the arts are also about kneeling in reverence before the altar.  Yes, the creative arts are about thinking deeply about how the world should be, but the arts are also about the awe that we feel when the work of creation is finished.  

Are you in awe of what you created and how you created it?  Do you appreciate the mystery and magic of the experience?  Learn to honor and respect the creative gifts that you have been given.