I am honored to have the man and book that inspired me to compile
Rainmaker's Prayers. Eric Maisel PhD, creativity guru is here visiting us and discussing his newly released book: The Van Gogh Blues, the creative person's path through depression.
Shinan: In the face of global warming/global cooling, The Van Gogh Blues
inspired me to compile an anthology entitled “Rainmaker’s Prayers,
Align with Global Harmony.” How do I encourage clients and contributors
to find and create meaning in their life?
Eric: By helping them make the paradigm shift from finding meaning to
making meaning. There is no meaning to find; it is not lost. There is only
meaning to make; meaning is a choice. Once people really understand
this distinction, they realize that they know enough already to make these
choices and they can begin to stand behind their own meaning
decisions.
Shinan: With climate change and the extinction of thousands of species, many
people feel hopeless and helpless. How do you encourage people to find
meaning among the uncertainty and confusion of environmental
upheavals?
Eric: By reminding them that they have a life to lead and they can lead it
authentically or inauthentically. They are not in charge of the
universe—no one is. They are in charge of only and precisely their own
life. They can make their life a thing of moral beauty by their choices or
they can watch more television. Until the world actually ends, we have
the obligation to take charge of our life and aim it in the direction
of our choosing; that is what “making ethics” means.
Shinan: Some data says that major corporations control the media, i.e.
television, newspapers and magazine, and that the American population is
spoon-fed and numbed by “corporate propaganda.” How can we create
meaning in an inauthentic world?
Eric: Only with great difficulty—but life is difficulty. There never was
a guarantee that life would be easy. You think through what would
amount to right action in this kind of environment—where you can make the
most difference or any difference—and then you step in that
direction, recognizing that you can’t alter the world’s configuration, All
you can do is make yourself proud by your own efforts. You heroically
try; that’s it, period.
Shinan: Often, the endless details of this multi-level project bog me down.
How do we bring meaning to minutiae?
Eric: Great question. By reminding ourselves that meaningless-feeling
things serve our meaning aims and ends. The best way is to do something
meaningful for at least the first hour or two of one’s day—the actual
writing, the actual painting—and then, having built up some meaning
capital, turn to the “meaningless things” that nevertheless support
our meaning efforts. By reminding ourselves that we do not have to make
meaning every single minute and that meaningless-feeling things are a
necessary part of meaning-making, we manage to deal with the minutiae.
For more interview questions and dialog with Eric,
click this link and join shinan's pottery blog.
THREE CUPS OF TEA
One Man’s Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations . . .One School at a Time
Mountain climber Greg Mortenson failed to summit K2, the second highest mountain in the world, and became separated from his climbing partner and his guide. Lost and without supplies in the Himalayas, he found his way to an impoverished mountain village. The people there nursed him back to health, offering their best food and blankets. One day while walking around the village with an elder, Greg noticed children writing their alphabet in the mud with sticks. there was no school.
Greg promised to return and build a school. But how and where would he find the money? Back in Berkley, he lived in his old Buick. Often broke and homeless, Greg returned again and again to the land of the Taliban and Al Qaeda to build schools. Building materials were stolen. He was kidnapped and held prisoner, Yet he continued.
Building schools, educating Muslim children, especially girls in inhospitable villages and heading an international institute, became Greg’s life work and passion. “What motivates me to do this?” Mortenson wrote. “The answer is simple. When I look into the eyes of the children in Pakistan and Afghanistan, I see my own children’s eyes full of wonder—and I hope that we will each do our part to leave them all a legacy of peace instead of the perpetual cycle of violence, war, terrorism, racism, and bigotry that we adults have yet to conquer.”
Greg Mortenson’s story, was written by Oregon writer David Oliver Relin. Despite numerous foreign names, places and descriptions, Relin describes each character. For instance, Sakina, a Balti woman had “perhaps the kindest face he’d [Mortenson] ever seen. It was wrinkled in a way that suggested smile lines had set up camp at the corners of her mouth and eyes, then marched toward each other . . .”
“In the tribal custom of many indigenous societies,” Greg said, “it is appropriate to either begin or end a meeting with an apology, and request to forgiveness for any ill feelings or transgressions one might have caused in an encounter or relationship. It is important that I honor and respect this tradition . . .”
Heartwarming, inspiring and remarkable, Three Cups of Tea shows the profound difference one human being is capable of creating. Read more on Greg’s Central Asia Institute website: www.ikat.org
Ok, I wrote my piece...if I were president...and submitted it to cnn.com, along with my photo and I encourage ya'll to write your ideas. GO GLOBAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.cnn.com/exchange/submit/success_blip.html
Shinan Barclay wrote:
If I were President, I'd mandate that communities and individuals build sustainable, local agricultural and renewable fuel sources, like bamboo. In Cuba, after Russia and the U.S. pulled out and the country was left without fuel, transportation and food, PEOPLE CREATED VEGETABLE GARDENS EVERYWHERE.
With global warming, climate change and peak oil, I sense we humans are at the tipping point of our planet's health and well being. We need to begin to work together, locally to build sustainable living options--food, water, fuel and community. Nature is intelligent, consider DNA, photosynthesis, an acorn becoming an oak. Indigenous people had the wisdom to work with and honor the natural world. Perhaps we could re-engage that wisdom.
"Rainmaker's Prayers, Align with Global Harmon," is an anthology of true stories, people who have re-connected with and partnered with the natural world. Choose to live a more simple life-style, honor the air we breathe and the water we drink. If I were President, I'd mandate going back to basics before we are forced there from fouling our nest.
http://shinanbarclay.vox.com
