Bliss

"Now I came to this idea of bliss because in Sanskrit, which is the great spiritual language of the world, there are three terms that represent the brink, the jumping off to the ocean of transcendence: Sat, Chit, Ananda.  The word 'Sat' means being.  'Chit' means consciousness.  'Ananda' means bliss or rapture.  I thought, 'I don't know whether my consciousness is proper consciousness or not; but I don't know if my being is proper being or not; but I do know where my rapture is.  So let me hang on to rapture, and that will bring me both my consciousness and my being.'  I think it worked . . . Wherever you are--if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time." 

--Joseph Campbell

What better place to discover bliss, refreshment of consciousness than at gorgeous Rock Creek in the Sierra Nevadas?

Beyond Nature and the Seeded Earth

"We have a mythology for the way of the animal powers. We have a mythology for the way of the seeded earth--fertility, creation, the mother goddess. And we have a mythology for the celestial lights, for the heavens. But in modern times we have moved beyond the animal powers, beyond nature and the seeded earth, and the stars no longer interest us except as exotic curiosities and the terrain of space travel. Where are we now in our mythology for the way of man?"

--Joseph Campbell

On February 20 of this year, there was a total lunar eclipse.  I had read about it but expected it would be too cloudy to witness.  But as my sixteen year old stepson and I were driving up the hill that night at dusk, there was the moon over the canyon, partially eclipsed and spooky in the wispy clouds.  He made a flat, monosyllabic comment, something like "rad," or "cool," but something in the more modern teen lingo.  Then, he closed his eyes to shut out the world as he always does when he doesn't have anything to do but be with himself.  

My stepdaughter called me once the moon was fully eclipsed, excited at the unexpected phenomena she'd never witnessed before.  I called her brother outside but he wasn't interested. He'd seen the eclipse beginning and it was enough.  For him, there was no need for heaven-gazing, no wondering about the reactions of ancient peoples.  Nothing was as fascinating to him as his video game.

For him, the stars aren't even "exotic curiosities."  To him and to many other people in our modern times, there is nothing sacred.  Everything that is natural has an explanation.  We do not have to make up creation stories any longer when there are theories that can take care of any possible lingering curiosities.  

"Where are we now in our mythology for the way of man?"  Perhaps we have to create new worlds like those that exist in World of Warcraft and Second Life and other video reality games because we still need Story, animal powers, and goddesses.

I am surprised, though, that a beauty of a lunar eclipse can be mundane, even to a sullen teenager.

Writing Essentials

Every writer needs to know there are only three writing essentials. And no, Time and Inspiration are not two of them. A writer only needs 1) words, 2) a way to share words with an audience, and 3) faith.

Today at work at the print shop, I made three copies of a customer's eight poems. She had satisfied two of the three requirements to be a writer--she had 1) placed words into organized thought, and 2) typed them up to distribute to three of her friends who had shared her experiences that had inspired the writing. She had composed the poetry when she went to New Orleans to help rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. During her stay, she realized she had more time to herself than some of the other people in her group, and she created even more time for herself by waking daily at 4:30 am to write. She told me she was so inspired when she was there by the heartbreaking devastation she witnessed that she wrote a poem every day.

But she wasn't willing to call herself a writer. She lamented to me that in her everyday life, she didn't have time. Nor, was she able to find comparable inspiration. It sounded to me like she'd just quit writing, marked it as a personal loss, and moved on. Yes, some days, nothing inspiring happens. Or we're unable to drum up our own creativity to produce something. And yes, that's okay. We have to accept that, and go on.

We can't wait for inspiration. My awesome Baylor University writing instructor Robert Darden said over and over in the three classes I took from him that writers write everyday. Writing is about practice, diligence. Perspiration, not inspiration. I can't wait until I have time, when, say, the exterior of the house is completely painted and perfect, to sit down with my MacBook. I can't wait until I have something amazing to write about.

Because when it comes to writing, there really is only one essential.  Faith.  Our jobs are merely about arranging, rearranging words. It's not always romantic, it's not always tragic like post-Katrina New Orleans. Sometimes it's dull. Julia Cameron says our function as writers is to have faith when putting words to paper. She said to let God take care of the quality of our words. All we have to do is to provide the quantity. Or in other words, Anne Lamott's specificially, write shitty first drafts.

For me, using words to tell stories is all I need. That, and the faith that the creator will provide the quality and help me finish my unfinished books and short stories.