WRITING’S SECRET WAY: The Art of
Asking for
Invisible Help.
Too much writing is an attempt
to write down what the
strategic and conscious mind thinks it knows already.
Real alchemy in poetry or prose occurs at the frontier
between what we think we are and what we are about
to become; what we believe of the world and what it is
about to overwhelm us, often against our will. Good
writing is a conversation between seemingly immovable
and movable worlds, and is made real by the writer
asking beautiful and difficult questions that shape a
living, breathing identity that is ripe for surprise and
revelation. The writer’s practice is to cultivate a
friendship with the unknown, to overhear their own
voice speaking out of that unknown into the world and
to ask for help along the way from those elemental
powers encountered on the pilgrim road to discovery.
Upcoming Workshop With David
Whyte: San Miguel
Writer’s Conference: San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
February: 17 2014.
Stare deep into the world
before you as if it were the
void: innumerable holy ghosts, buddhies, and savior
gods there hide, smiling. All the atoms emitting light
inside wavehood, there is no personal separation of any
of it. A hummingbird can come into a house and a hawk
will not: so rest and be assured. While looking for the
light, you may suddenly be devoured by the darkness
and find the true light.
"I have a lot of beliefs and I
live by none of 'em.
That’s just the way I am. They’re just my beliefs. I
just like believing them. I like that part."
#LouisCK, comedian
LOSING YOUR RELIGION
Okay. So you feel peaceful,
blissed out, in the flow.
You're manifesting perfectly and life is going to plan.
You're okay with everything that happens. You can't
imagine ever suffering again.
Cut to the next scene in the
movie of your life. There's
been some kind of loss, shock, bolt of lightning from
the blue. You're lying in bed, sick with pain, or grief,
or despair. This was unexpected, unplanned. You've
tried everything. Nothing's working.
Where did your awakening go?
Weren't you supposed
to be the one who was okay with everything, who met
every experience with equanimity and an “effortless
yes"? Where did all your spiritual progress go?
The spiritual 'me' feels
humiliated and beaten up.
Were you a fake, a fraud, a liar? Were you always
kidding yourself? How do you get back to where you
were?
Don't go back. Stay with it.
You're awakening from
another dream. The dream that present experience
could or should conform to any image or expectation.
You're discovering your own inner authority.
This scene is not a mistake. The
movie of your life is
not broken. You're rediscovering how vast you are,
how much you can hold.
You don't have to feel 'okay'
all the time. You don't
have to be free from all resistance all the time. You
are bigger than that, unlimited in fact. There is no 'all
the time' for you. You are the space for the okay and
the not-okay, the acceptance and the resistance. You
don't need any fixed and unchangeable image of
yourself. You don't need to be the enlightened guru or
the spiritual warrior. You don't need to be the
peaceful one, the awakened one, the strong one, the
highly evolved one, the one immune to suffering. All
are false limitations on your limitless nature. Simply
be what you are, not 'this' one or 'that' one, but The
One, the space for all of it.
Let life kick you off your
pedestal time and time
again, until you lose all interest in being on pedestals.
