In skND puraaAN and other
veD texts all the shruti (intuitive
knowledge) and
smruti (remembered knowledge)
keeps on reasserting and reconfirming that
SRDHDHaa = FAITH is staying in
constant search for gnaan (knowledge of
creator bRHmH), performing
yog, performing
tpsy (penance), performing vRt
(vows and observances like fasts), Daan,
performing sevaa (service) to help
others, performing yaaTRaa
(pilgrimages), upholding DHARm
including performing sv-DHARm such
such as being a good husband or wife or son and all the
kARm (actions) which does not hurt anybody in this world
through words, thought or deeds.....(taken from veD
posting by SRii champaklaal Daajibhaai
Mistry of Edmonton, Alberta Canada)...
The above is the in essence of to what is in
Julia Cameron's creativity handbook, "The Artist's
Way" but from a western lifestyle
perspective:
"I've been a writer for 35 years. This has taught me patience.
God knows this has taught me
humility. God
knows it has taught me to enjoy inspiration
and conscious contact when I feel
it. These are all the same things that a monk would tell you. Most
spiritual traditions teach pretty much the
same thing....sample of which are:
- Any time that you are engaged in a creative act
you are engaged in a spiritual act.
- When you have faith in yourself you
are simultaneously having faith
in a greater power.
- Creativity is just part of our spiritual DNA,
in one form or another. Funny sense of altered time -- and that's a
spiritual experience.
- Integrate your body into your spiritual practice and into your art.
- While walking integrate the body and heart and
psyche."
To know more about what Julia Cameron
says about your spirituality and creativity please click on the next line to
read the posting on
BELIEFNET.COM or click on the preceding red
hilite....
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Are You Listening to the Great Creator?
Julia Cameron believes that creativity is part of our 'spiritual DNA.'
Interview by Lisa Schneider
Since
the publication in 1992 of Julia Cameron's creativity handbook, "The Artist's
Way" has sold more than two million copies and inspired people from all walks of
life to explore their artistic abilities. Her latest book, "Walking in This
World" offers 12 more weeks of creative how-to. In addition to teaching
workshops and public speaking, Cameron is also a poet, playwright, fiction
writer, essayist, and a journalist. She spoke with Beliefnet about the
connections between spirituality and the creative process
What is the relationship between creativity and faith?
Art used to be made in the name of faith. We made cathedrals, we made
stain-glassed windows, we made murals. When Michelangelo was flat on his back in
the Sistine Chapel he was in service to something larger and greater than
himself. And so artists have always talked about the inner connection to a
larger something, and sometimes we call it the muse. But what we are actually
talking about is that any time that you are engaged in
a creative act you are engaged in a spiritual act. And that's
probably the single most important sentence: Any time we're engaged in a
creative act we're engaged with an inherently spiritual act.
Faith is almost the bottom line of creativity; it requires a leap of faith
any time we undertake a creative endeavor, whether this is going to the easel,
or the page, or onto the stage -- or for that matter, in a homelier way, picking
out the right fabric for the kitchen curtains, which is also a creative act. You
have to muster a certain amount of belief that you're not making a mistake and
you're not a fool. And this means you have to have faith.
Is it faith in yourself, or something else, like a
higher power?
Well I think when you have faith in yourself you are
simultaneously having faith in a greater power. If we are all part of
an interactive connected universe, which is what I believe, then as we listen to
the still small voice which is another way of saying the intuition, the hunch,
the leading -- which are all things that artists must pay close attention to. We
are in effect listening to the Great Creator.
We can believe we are being self-reliant and independent and yet there is still
clearly an overarching destiny, a great maker. So when we say we have faith in
ourselves we cannot really separate the small self from the large self.
You say that making art is not an act of the mind or the intellect, but of the
heart and the soul.
Yes, and I want to be clear about that. We have a culture that is very
competitive and also very product-oriented. And artists live within this culture
so there is a tendency to advise artists to think about shrewd career moves and
consider the odds and pursue an artistic unfolding much the way someone would
climb a corporate ladder.
However, the reality is that, again, if we are living in an interactive and
essentially a benevolent universe -- and that in itself is a leap of faith for a
lot of people -- then it comes back down to the idea that every time we make a
piece of art we are in fact having a spiritual experience.
I think creativity is just part of our spiritual
DNA, in one form or another. Artists talk about it a lot of different
ways. But essentially when you're really in the moment of making something --
whether you're singing or in acting or painting or writing -- you have an
experience of something moving through you. And people have that when they get
involved with sewing an apron or making curtains or writing a letter. It's that
funny sense of altered time -- and that's a spiritual
experience, although people don't often think of it that way. You
know when someone will say, "I looked up and three hours had gone by." That's
because they were absorbed in the now. All spiritual practices talk about
getting absorbed in the now.
"Walking in This World" makes the case that beyond the heart and the soul, the
body is also intimately involved in the creative process. How?
When we walk things tend to become clear to us. You know a lot of us intuitively
know this, like if we have a relationship that's not working very well we'll go
out for a long walk on it. And we'll think oh we're being so moody but we may
come back saying I should stay in it or I have to break up. We automatically
access our bodies just from instinct. This is also why if somebody has a trauma,
bodywork is often used to release grief.
What I'm hoping to do is to get people to integrate
their body into their spiritual practice and into their art. And many
times in creative situations your stomach will start to go crazy and it'll be,
"Don't trust this producer," "This agent isn't right for you." Your body is the
first line of defense signaling danger. And so creative people really need to
learn to listen to their bodies, because often their heads are slower to catch
on to something suddenly wrong. We tend to want to lead with our heads. We tend
to say, "That's not rational." And actually our intuition -- which we access
often through walking -- our intuition is our early warning system.
As far as doing something physical -- can it be anything, or is there something
about walking that particularly refreshes your soul?
I think walking is a spiritual practice, an ancient spiritual practice for a
good reason. There is something about walking that
really integrates the body and heart and psyche. I experience sort of
a physical shift when I walk. I can literally feel it in sort of the back of my
brain at the top of my head. It's as though I go out on a walk worried and
somewhere, maybe 20 minutes into it I suddenly am in the moment. And I'm not
saying that skating or roller-skating or running don't work but I think that
aborigines and Native Americans go on walk-abouts and vision quests for a
reason. And also walking is easy, you don't need any special stuff. Anybody can
do it you can do it anyplace, you could do it in the center of Manhattan you can
do it in Los Angeles -- although people stare at you when you don't drive your
car. You can do it in New Mexico you can do it Chicago, you can do it in Des
Moines.
You say were called to this teaching. Do you ever feel as if you've started a
new religion?
I probably started an old religion more than anything. People will come up to me
and say "'The Artist's Way'" is a Sufi book," or "'The Artist's Way' is a
Buddhist book," or "'The Artist's Way is a creative spirituality book, or
science of mind book. It seems to connect to a great many spiritual pursuits.
And I think that's because if you get the barnacles off,
most spiritual traditions teach pretty much the same
thing. So I think that since art is a spiritual path, and it can be
pursued within any number of religions, "The Artist's Way" is complementary to
other religions.
Personally, I think of myself as a working artist. I worry if my plays are going
to get done this year, if I'm rewriting my novel. I am very careful that
although I do teach I've spent an equal amount or a greater amount of my time
actually making things. So I feel like I've largely dodged the silver bullet of
guru-dom.
There are also many artists who would never talk about art in spiritual terms at
all. And yet they would be having the experience and learning the spiritual
lessons exactly the same as a spiritual path but they would never put it in
those terms. I've been a writer for 35 years. This has
taught me patience. God knows this has taught me humility. God knows it has
taught me to enjoy inspiration and conscious contact when I feel it. These are
all the same things that a monk would tell you. If you meet somebody
who has done one thing long enough, they've always learned a lot. Someone who's
been a baker for 35 years has learned the same lessons as a painter who has
learned the same lessons as a monk.
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