Certain stories stick in the mind forever. One of my favorite short stories from college days is "The Artist of the Beautiful" by Nathaniel Hawthorne--which, if you like, you can read online.
So many times in my life I've heard the echo of "a far other butterfly"--a phrase in the last paragraph of Hawthorne's story. I think of the Zen monks who make intricate sand mandalas, then when they are finished, they let them blow away into the wind, sand scattering.
The Hawthorne story is about a man whose art-making is the real treasure--more so than the thing he spent months laboring to make. It's a story about making what is the artist's vision to make, not letting the voices of other people pull us into their vision of what our work or life should look like.
In the end, many of the things we make may not survive or be appreciated, but the process of making them transforms us, the makers, the writers, the artists.
A question I'm asking in my Saturday writing group this afternoon is: What and who inspires you?
What kind of people or words can temporarily diminish your desire to create?
Inspired by an activity on a recent retreat, I've asked each person to bring six things that evoke memories or represent some aspect of themselves. We're going to talk about each and write fuller pieces related to our things for the January meeting.
What are the things that inspire you to be your most creative, juicy, alive self? How can you do more of those things in the New Year?
No comments:
Post a Comment