Francis Bacon — Mystery

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 as 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?

Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry.  He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.'"

— Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

American Civil Rights Leader/Preacher/Author

1929 - 1968

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

One of those games we play is:  "Where were you when . . ."  On April 4, 1968, I was a nineteen year old college student at Goshen College in Indiana.  Two months earlier I had the privilege of marching with Dr. King at a Vietnam War protest march in Washington D.C. The murder of Dr. King on my birthday in 1968 impacted me both emotionally and spiritually.

For the past twenty-five years I have been sharing this quote by Dr. King in my speeches on leadership.  I believe that work is spiritual in nature.  The work we do helps to cleanse our souls and free our spirits.  Many people see work as a negative condition.  They hate Mondays and grumble about having to go to work.  Many people wish they did not have to work.  But if you have ever lost a job and sat idle for a few months, you appreciate the value of work in your life.

As creative leaders we have a special opportunity to share the fruit of our labor with others. Most of my life I have dreamed of being able to give up my bill-paying job and write full time.  Fortunately, this never happened.  I think I am a better person for having the discipline to get up an hour earlier than everyone and writing before going to work.  Sometimes what we wish for is not in our best interests.  The bill-paying work and the creative work are both important and both have helped to make me a better person.

Be proud of the work you do.  Celebrate the work you do.  Be happy with the gifts you have been given.

Mark Vonnegut

Writing for me is a spiritual exercise. I did not realize this until I read an essay several years ago in which Mark Vonnegut talks about his father, Kurt, one of my favorite authors. This quote opened for me the door into why I have spent 40 years writing without fame or fortune.

Since I rejected organized religion and experienced a spiritual crisis at age 18, writing became the spiritual road I walked. Writing gave my soul the courage and strength necessary to face the traumas of this world. I was called to be a preacher but I could not preach until I first cleansed my soul and made it strong through writing. 

The writing is what makes me whole, gives meaning to my life, and keeps me believing even when I feel there is nothing left to live for.  Writing is my spiritual path, my meditation and my gift of prayer.

What roads have you traveled?  What paths have you taken?  Have you questioned your faith or simply accepted the beliefs taught you as a child?  Is your art a spiritual path that you have wandered down?

Here are several of my spiritual poems.

Many do not understand my form of spirituality.  I do not fit into any mold or preconceived notion of what religion is or should be.  For some I am a sinner lost in the world.  Others ask why do you speak of God?  He does not exist?

For me, my salvation is in my ability to question — in my gift of doubt.  I walk the path of the doubting Thomas.  I shoulder the burden of uncertainty.  I live at the edge of chaos and thrive.

I ponder the question of why we are here — of what is the meaning of life.  I receive no answers, only more questions.  I choose to listen to the languages of God and wait for His Word.  I walk the path of no regret.

The Heart's Code — A Book Review

The Heart's Code: Tapping the Wisdom and Power of Our Heart Energy by Paul Pearsall
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Reading this book is like preparing to run a marathon.  Not because it is long.  It is only 228 pages.  Not because the writing is poor.  It is well written.  This book takes patience and time to read because each chapter, each paragraph and each sentence is packed full of content that needs to be absorbed and understood.  The first time I attempted to read this book, I set it aside after two chapters.  This time I ran the entire race and finished the book.
The essence of the book is best described by the subtitle:  Tapping the Wisdom and Power of Our Heart Energy. Paul Pearsall's key message is that the heart communicates through energy and he backs it up with scientific evidence.  The name he gives this energy is cardio-energetics.
Much of Pearsall's research has been done with heart transplant patients.  He tells a story early on about an eight year old girl who received the heart of a ten year old girl who had been murdered.  The young girl dreamed of the man who had murdered the girl and based on her description, the police were able to find him and convict him of murder.  The heart, Pearsall teaches, has the ability to remember.  He documents throughout the book many stories of heart transplant patients who remembered things from their donor that they should never have known.  Some even change their behavior like the foods they liked.
One of the powerful experiments that he shares occurred in 1993 under the direction of the United States Army Intelligence and Security Command.  The scientists scraped white blood cells from the mouth of a volunteer and placed them in a test tube with a probe from a polygraph detector.  The volunteer was placed in a room and shown violent scenes.  The test tube was placed in another room.  The polygraph detected extreme excitation  in the cells in the test tube even though they were down the hall.  Later experiments documented the same result even when the separation was 50 miles.  Pearsall says, "The donated cells remained energetically and nonlocally connected with their donor and seemed to 'remember' where they came from."
I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in spirituality, energy work and the scientific basis for the power within the heart.  The heart is more than a pump that is at the beck and call of the brain.  The heart has the power to heal and a memory distinct from the brain.  The heart communicates at a much deeper level than mere words with the hearts it comes in contact with.  People in business today talk about leaders with emotional intelligence.  This book provides some of the scientific support for the importance of emotion and the heart.


View all my reviews

Harley King

Are you bored with your life?  Do you wish you could become someone other than who you are?  A 2007 survey of high school students found that two-thirds admitted to being bored in class every day.  Even creative people, unfortunately, allow themselves to be bored.

Many people feel that their lives are boring.  My hope is that your life can be like a bowl of chili — hot, spicy and full of flavor.  I believe boredom is a state of mind that can be overcome by looking at life new ways.  The fact that you are reading this means that you are still above ground and have not been buried.  The world we live in is very exciting and full of hope if we spend a few minutes every day celebrating life.

For creative leaders like you and me, creativity is a crucial antidote for our survival.  Find joy in your creative energy and your creations.  Creativity overcomes the dull, boring and uninteresting.

Every year people in the northern climates grow tired of the cold.  Cabin fever sets in and our rational minds go on vacation.  Hiding indoors during the winter months can be very boring.  We miss moving about in the outdoors.  We keep looking for something to divert our attention from the cold and snow.  

Have you ever been chilled to the bone and the warmth of a bowl of soup or cup of hot chocolate picked you up and made your whole spirit feel better?  The temperature last night where I live dropped to a minus eight degrees so I thought it was only appropriate to make chili today.  Hot and spicy chili to warm up the body and the spirit.

May your life be like a bowl of chili — 

hot, spicy and full of flavor.

Harley King

Sometimes we become so lost in the rain of pain and suffering that we fail to see the rainbow of greatness within our souls.  A perfect world does not exist despite how much our hearts wish that it did.  Humans often create their own pain and suffering.  We remember the slights and hurts years after they occur.  We repeat the same bad decisions expecting different results.  Human pain and suffering is a part of the natural order of physical world within which we live.  

Violence and disruption are also a part of the planet.  The civilized world often pretends that the physical world does not exist.  We hide within our buildings safe from the elements.  And we are shocked and surprised when a volcano erupts spilling lava over the land or an earthquake opens up and swallows people and buildings.  Thousands die every years as a result of natural disasters creating more pain and suffering.

Yet within each of us is something greater than the pain and suffering we experience.  If we allow it, the rain of pain and suffering can nourish and water these seeds of greatness.  The pain and suffering can help us grow emotionally and spiritually.  If we learn to harness the pain and suffering, we will be able to transform it into creative works of art.  We can find that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

How To Nourish the Seeds of Greatness

1. Choose to let go of the slights and pain that others have caused you.
2. Choose to forgive those who have harmed you.
3. Believe that you have been give artistic talents to share with the world.
4. Trust that you can transform the pain into creative works.
5. Believe that you are destined for greatness.

Julia Cameron

"Art opens the closets, airs out the cellars and attics.  It brings healing."

— Julia B. Cameron

American Writer, Artist, Filmmaker

1948 -

Commentary

Some would say that our hearts and souls become clogged with the emotions of living.  We suffer real and imagined hurts at the hands of others.  Overtime this pain begins to clog up our metaphoric arteries, blocking our hearts and souls.  We become unhappy and disenfranchised.  We are discouraged and depressed.

One avenue to salvation is involvement in the arts — writing, painting and singing, etc.  Writing opens the attics of our minds and allows us to clean out the cobwebs, chase away the mice and restore sanity.  Painting airs out the musty smells in the basements of our hearts, removes the boxes of ancient memories and fills us with hope.  Music soothes the soul and heals the heart.

Has your involvement in the arts helped you to heal the heart and cleanse the soul?  Has creativity brought you happiness and salvation?  Are you on the road to healing the hurt of yesteryear? Are you a better person today because of your creative work?

Sometimes we fight who we are, struggling against ourselves and our natures. But we must learn to accept who we are and appreciate who we become. We must love ourselves for what and who we are, and believe in our talents.

Creative Practice

In her book, The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron teaches the powerful tool of morning pages.  She suggests that people spend time every day writing anything that comes to mind.  One is not writing for publication, but to practice writing — to aid in the healing process.  This week spend 30 minutes each morning writing whatever enters your mind.  Don't pause, stop or reflect.   Just write.  Keep the pen on the paper and write.  (The key is to write longhand, not with a computer.) This begins the cleansing process.  And if you have not read her book, now would be a good time to do so.

Biography

Julia Cameron was born in Illinois and raised in a suburb of Chicago.  She attended both Georgetown University and Fordham.  She began her career at the Washington Post and later the Rolling Stone.  She met and married Martin Scorsese in 1975 and divorced in 1977.  

Cameron is best known for her book, The Artist's Way, in which she explores creativity as a spiritual path and helps people to unlock their creativity.  She has written 30 books  including the novel, The Dark Room, and is an award-winning poet, playwright and filmmaker.  You can find out more information about her and her work at:

http://juliacameronlive.com

Video

Here is a video of Julia Cameron talking about the spiritual path to creativity.

D. H. Lawrence

"The human soul needs beauty more than bread."

— D. H. Lawrence

English Novelist, Poet, Painter

1885 - 1930

Commentary

What does your soul need? Beauty? Bread? Creativity? Silence? Freedom? Faith? Love? Peace? Chaos?  Dignity? A connection with humanity?  What does your soul seek? God? Humanity? Hope?  What does your soul create? Beauty? Pain? Art? Poetry? Stories?

I think it is a privilege to be a creative leader.  We are doubly blessed.  Our creativity feeds our soul and our soul feeds our creativity.  Through the process of writing, painting or dancing, we cleanse and heal our spirit — we restore our soul.

Creativity is water for the soul and nourishment for the spirit.  Drink deeply that the fruits of your labor will grow and flourish.

Creative Practice

Feed your spirit this week.  Do what makes you feel good.  Take care of yourself.

Biography

David Herbert Lawrence was the fourth child of Arthur John Lawrence, a miner, and Lydia Beardsall who worked in a lace factory.  He spent his youth in the coal mining town of Eastwood, Nottinghamshire.  Lawrence received a teaching certificate in 1908.  He taught at the Davidson Road school for a couple of years.  His mother died from cancer in 1910.  Lawrence was devastated by her death.  His first novel, The White Peacock, was published in 1911.  

In 1912 Lawrence met Frieda Weekley, a married woman with three children, who was six years older than him.  They ran off to her parent's home in Germany.  Lawrence was arrested and accused of being a British spy, but was released due to the intervention of Weekley's father.  Lawrence and Weekley left Germany and walked across the Alps to Italy. In Italy, Lawrence finish Sons and Lovers which was published in 1913.  Lawrence and Weekley were married in England in 1914 after she obtained a divorce.

During World War I, Lawrence and his wife were accused of spying for the Germans and harassed by the authorities.  After the war, Lawrence went into voluntary exile returning to England only twice for brief visits.  He and Frieda spent the rest of his life traveling to Australia, Italy, Ceylon, United States, Mexico and France.  They arrived in the U.S. in 1922 and bought property in New Mexico.  While on a visit to Mexico in 1925, Lawrence almost died from an attack of malaria and tuberculosis which forced him to return to Europe.  He died in France from tuberculosis.

C. S. Lewis

"Faith is the art of holding on to things in spite of your changing moods and circumstances."

— C. S. Lewis

Irish Writer & Novelist

1898 - 1963

Commentary

Creative leaders need a lot of faith because they live in a very negative, sometimes hostile world, that often does not understand or appreciate their work.  I have been writing seriously for almost forty years and have yet to receive acceptance and recognition for the work I have produced.  Another person might have quit many years ago, but I keep plugging away.

Do you have faith in your creative ideas?  Your poems?  Your stories?  Your paintings?  Your ability to become another person on stage?  Do you have dark days when you want to quit and live a normal life?  Faith keeps us going even everything and everybody around us are telling us to give up — that we have no talent, no gift.

Where does your faith come from?  What keeps you going during those darkest of hours?  Why do you believe in your ideas?  

Creative Practice

This week think about what faith means to your artistic endeavors.  Why is faith in yourself and your creative work important?  Why must you believe in yourself?  Write for ten minutes on the importance of faith.  Or paint a picture of what faith means to you.

Biography

Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland to Albert James Lewis and Florence Augusta Hamilton Lewis.  When he was four, his dog, Jacksie, was killed and he began calling himself Jacksie and would not answer to any other name.  He was known as Jack to his family and friends the rest of his life.

Jack loved animals as a child and read the Beatrix Potter's stories.  He wrote and illustrated his own animal stories as a child.  His mother died from cancer when he was ten.  Jack developed a love of Norse, Greek and Irish mythology.  At the age of 18 he was awarded a scholarship to University College, Oxford and a year later dropped out to join the British Army during World War I.  He resumed his studies when the war was over.

Lewis became an atheist at 15 and it took many years to restore his faith in God.  He converted in Christianity at 33.  

C. S. Lewis was a prolific writer of both fiction and non-fiction.  His close friends included J. R. R. Tolkien.  His Chronicles of Narnia (seven fantasy novels for children) is a classic of children's literature.  The series has sold over 100 million copies and has been translated into 41 languages.

Henri Nouwen

"Solitude is the furnace of transformation."

 Henri Nouwen
Dutch Priest & Writer
1932 - 1996

Commentary

In my mind, solitude and silence are very closely linked.  Silence means to be without sound.  Yet, unless we are deaf, we rarely will be able to find silence in this world.  Even in the forest late at night, one will hear sound.  What we can do is limit the types of sound we hear.  I can remove urban sounds by traveling to the country.  I can turn off the radio or the television.  I can choose what sounds I want to hear. 

Solitude, on the other hand, is the state of being alone and without human contact.  There still will be noise and sound.  We can be alone in our own homes, during a walk through a park, or driving a automobile, but sound will also be there, including the sound of our own thoughts.

As creative leaders, we must learn to manage, encourage and harness both silence and solitude if we are going to be successful.  When I write, I try to limit the sounds that I hear. I don't play music as some do.  I don't listen to TV.  I have learned to write in public and to block out the white noise.  I also need solitude, particularly from loved ones.  It is very hard for me to write with my wife in the same room.  I can write in a mall because I have more space.

Creative Practice

Evaluate the role silence and solitude play in your life.  Look for ways to add more solitude.    Learn to cut out some of the noise that follows you.  Add 15 minutes more of solitude to your life.  Then attempt to spend 2 minutes in solitude and eliminate the noise of your own thoughts.

The Return of the Prodigal Son
by Rembrandt (1665)

Write a poem about silence or solitude.  Paint a picture of solitude or silence.  Evoke the sound of solitude in your music.

About the Writer

Henri Nouwen was ordained as a priest in 1957 and completed a degree in psychology in 1963.  He came to the United States in 1964 and taught at Notre Dame, Yale and Harvard.  He wrote 40 books on spirituality.  His most famous book is The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Meditation on Fathers, Brothers and Sons which was published in 1992.  He wrote the book in response to the painting, the Return of the Prodigal Son by Rembrandt.  He traveled to Russia to observe the painting at the Hermitage Museum.

Video
Watch this short video about Henri Nouwen.

Hans Hofmann

"A work of art is finished, from the point of view of the artist, when feeling and perception have resulted in a spiritual synthesis."

— Hans Hofmann

German Painter

1880 - 1966

Do you find that your creative work is spiritual work?  Do you connect with something beyond yourself?  Are you in touch with the great silence of the universe?  Is your creative work a form of prayer?  Does your creative work give you hope?  Does it give you a sense of peace?

The Gate
(1959 - 60)
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Thomas Merton

"Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time."

— Thomas Merton

American Writer

1915 - 1968

Have you ever lost yourself in your art and woke up wondering how you created what you did?  I have sometimes written for several hours only to read what I wrote days later and be surprised by what I wrote.  Something happens where I seem to disappear into the writing process and am only partially conscious.  Yet through the process of writing I have also been able to heal myself and in the process find myself.  Creativity is a mysterious, mystical and spiritual process that brings us closer to who we are meant to be.  If you have experienced the creative process, then you have been blessed with a gift.  Give thanks for what you have been given.

Gary Zukav

"Changing the world  begins with the very personal process of changing yourself.  The only place you can begin is where you are, and the only time you can begin is always now."

— Gary Zukav

American Writer/Speaker

1942 -

Painting and writing is about re-creating and re-structuring the world the way we would like it to be.  The creative process is about changing ourselves and in the process of changing ourselves we change the world.  How have you changed in the past year?  How have you grown and developed as a person and as a creative leader?  What choices have you made in the last year to change your life?  Do you understand yourself better today than you did a year ago?  What have you learned about yourself?  What are your plans for next year?  What do you want to be doing a year from now?

Here is Gary Zukav discussing change.

Louis Armstrong

"My whole life, my whole soul, my whole spirit is to blow that horn."

— Louis Armstrong

American Musician

1901 - 1971

Do you put all of yourself into your art or do you hold a part of yourself back?  The more you give of yourself, the more powerful your art becomes.  Painting and writing are not nine-to-five jobs.  You must be involved in your art 24/7.   Every conversation and every book you read impacts your creative expression.  Every broken relationship and every love affair affects the art you create.  So are you blowing your horn with your body and soul?  Are you giving everything you have?

Listen to Satchmo sing "What A Wonderful World" and enjoy the photos.

Stanley Spencer

Self-Portrait
(1959)

"I love to dwell on the thought that the artist is next in divinity to the saint.  He, like the saint, performs miracles."

— Stanley Spencer

English Painter

1891 - 1959

Do you perform miracles with your art?  I think creativity is a miracle of the highest order — to be able to create something that previously did not exist.  Creative leaders are rare people who generate new worlds and variations on existing worlds.  Creativity is composed of spiritual energy.  Every time we put brush to canvas or pen to paper, spiritual energy flows through us.  We are in touch with a power greater than ourselves.

Mahatma Gandhi

"The weak can never forgive.  Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."

— Mahatma Gandhi

Indian Lawyer/Political Activist

1869 - 1948

Sometimes the private lives of writers, singers and artists don't live up to the high standards of their creative work.  Alcohol, drugs and sex have destroyed some of our most creative people.  Some have battled their demons and lost.  The demons may have fueled their creativity, but in the end the demons took control and destroyed them.  Creative leaders must learn to forgive those who have hurt them and to grow beyond the pain into better human beings.  

Learn to forgive the people in your life who have hurt you.  The anger does you no good.  It is very destructive and in the end you will be the one who suffers.  Make the  choice today to be a better person.  

Adlai E. Stevenson II

"In quiet places, reason abounds."

— Adlai E. Stevenson II

American Politician

1900 - 1965

Silence is a valuable quality for writers and artists to find.  Silence allows us to process the tons of information that enter our brains.  Silence allows creativity to take root and grow beautiful flowers.  Silence allows for reason to prevail over ignorance.

Unfortunately, our society today is filled with too much noise — too much chaos.  So if we are to maintain our sanity we must find places that give us moments of silence.  Where do you go to find that silence?  To restore your spirit?  To maintain your sanity?  Maybe it is a walk at 5 am.  Or kayaking down a river?  Or taking a bubble bath?

M. Scott Peck

"The quickest way to change your attitude toward pain is to accept the fact that everything that happens to us has been designed for our spiritual growth."

— M. Scott Peck

American Author

1936 - 2005

I think that we can learn valuable lessons from everything that happens to us.  I believe that one of the reasons we are on this earth is to learn and grow as human beings.  Sometimes we do better than others.  And sometimes we fail to learn our lessons again and again.

In 2006 I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and had robotic surgery.  I believed then and still believe today that it was an experience that taught me several things — from humility to gratefulness.  

And while this maybe difficult for some to accept, I think the rejection we experience as creative leaders is meant to teach us valuable lessons.  So the next time you face some challenge in your life, ask yourself what lessons you can learn from this experience.  What gift are you being given?

Here is a poem I wrote in response to my diagnosis of cancer and my surgery.

Surgery

God is in the backyard

playing with the squirrels

and rabbits.  I am barbecuing

steaks for dinner and

the wife is preparing the salad.

Tomorrow I am having surgery

and God has come by to

wish me well.  He says I

should not worry because

He will be there holding

my hand.  I smile and

ask if He wants to take

my place on the operating

table.  He ignores my

request and goes on

chatting about how much

better I will feel when

the cancer has been ripped

from my body.  I flip

the steaks over one more time.

Sam Savage

"I really do think that art can save you in some sense.  It's the last meaning, unless you're religious — and I'm not religious.  It's the only secular vehicle for transcendence we have.  It's an immediate self-validating experience.  It lifts you beyond your mortal clay."

— Sam Savage

American Novelist

1940 - 

Art is a form of salvation.  Through art we can discover something beyond ourselves to believe in.  Through art we can discover who we are and who we are meant to be.  Through our art we may even find eternal life.  We can live beyond the grave.

The story of Sam Savage provides hope for all unrecognized painters, poets and novelists.  He toiled for years as an unpublished writer.  At the age of 55 he gave up writing.  A part of him died.  At the age of sixty, he picked up the pen again and wrote.  He said: "I started writing again because I'd given up.  I didn't expect anything from it."  In 2006, Coffee House Press published his first novel, Firmin, told from the perspective of a book eating rat.  The novel became an international best seller.  

Sam said in an interview with Kevin Larimer, "I just sort of quit — gave up completely.  I was fifty-five years old and I just gave up.  And it was total and sincere."  I believe he probably gave up because he felt like a failure.  And society would probably call him a failure.  But I don't think he was.  We make a mistake when we think that one has to be published to be a success.  

For me, success comes from the creative process itself.  If you create, you are a success.  The marketing and selling of the work is a business issue.  Just because there is not an audience for your work does not make you less successful as an artist.  Don't confuse the business of art with the creative process.  Remember that the creation of artistic works is a form of spiritual salvation.