• Thoughts

    The Gift of Art

    My morning included a small scale existential crisis. Robert Bly’s Looking for Dragon Smoke, a book of essays on poetry, was at the top of today’s reading stack, and by the time I finished section three of the first essay,…

  • Thoughts

    What Kind of Work Do You Do?

    Analysis and explanation have their place, but they should never be substituted for singing the songs, dancing to the music, writing the poems, reading the stories, and celebrating the Divine. In other words, don’t mistake mind work for soul work.

  • Thoughts

    Three Reminders

    Conformity to a religion and adherence to its dictates neither indicates nor proves an authentic, healthy, loving relationship with God or with other humans (sometimes referred to as “neighbors”). Fear is not love. Sometimes ugly art is absolutely necessary.

  • Thoughts

    Boxer Brains

    The Art Therapy Way: A Self-Care Guide by Kendyl Arden is the latest in the string of books on trauma and healing that I’ve acquired. Filled with 50 art therapy exercises, the book begins with a great explanation of why…

  • Thoughts

    With Intent

    Everywhere I turn, I come across messages on the importance of daily practice, and it leads me to a question: can I call it practice if I don’t consciously think in those terms? There is a difference between doing and…

  • Thoughts

    Of Men and Misunderstanding

    To Share or Not to Share Two days ago, I began thinking in earnest about the balance between silence and expression. I am coming to understand how essential It is to express oneself and to be free to express oneself,…

  • Thoughts

    What Meets the Eye

    Thanks to Camille Paglia, I have mixed (and rather confused) feelings about the Romantic poets. In short, I don’t know what to make of them. If I am to believe Paglia, they were all perverts with strange sexual proclivities that…

  • Thoughts

    Competition? Cooperation?

    The artist who acts as if he could have conceived his art by himself, sealed off from other artists, is stupid—he merely tries to conform to the idiotic romantic image of the artists as primeval energy, as a demiurge. The continual…