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The
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| "The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to
Higher Creativity," by Julia Cameron. (Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, New York, 1992) 223 pages. By Mary Alice Shemo In this delightful book the author, herself having recovered from creative block, shares material she created for a course called "Discovering and Recovering Your Creative Self," which she has been teaching since 1978. She starts from the premise that there is a creative principle in the universe, the source of all creativity, ready and waiting to express itself in and through whoever is willing to be open to it. The Great Creator wants to sing, dance, sculpt, paint, write, perform, create in all kinds of ways in partnership with us. Some people, she notes, call this God. Some have other names. Still others don’t give it a name. Whatever. She calls connecting with this source "spiritual electricity," because it is capable of energizing us in ways we never dreamed possible, and she asks her readers to set aside their pre-conceived notions long enough to hear her out. If you have a yearning to create in whatever way, there’s a reason for it. You have a gift waiting to be plugged in and lit up. The course is divided into 12 weeks, each with its own theme. The first week is called "recovering a sense of safety." Other themes are identity, power, integrity, possibility, abundance, etc. Each section has its own tasks and exercises. It can be done individually, or in a group, which Cameron calls Sacred Circles. Since I found and began working with this book, thanks to the kindness and insight of fellow board member Sr. Evelyn Dettling, it is helping me so much that I find myself eager to share it. Why don’t we start a Sacred Circle through the Thomas Merton Center? I have a feeling our namesake would heartily approve! If you’re interested, contact me at <shemogua@juno.com>, or leave a message for me at the Center. If you know someone who might be interested but isn’t a TMC member, give him or her this article. This would probably start sometime in May. Mary Alice Shemo is a member of the Thomas Merton Center board and a sometime free-lance writer. |
Election 2000 By Dessie Bey I wrote this poem in lieu of the political catastrophe in Florida, USA. George W. Bush took this state, where his brother, Jeb Bush, resides as governor. A countless number of votes were deemed ineligible via the "impregnated chad", the ballot card, due to outdated voting equipment. Needless to say, this voting equipment was, of course, located in democratic communities and the ineligible ballots were, of course, where the majority of the inhabitants were minorities. This poem uses the metaphor for the Republican symbol, the elephant, and the symbol of the Democratic Party, the donkey (jackass), to describe the aftermath of the catastrophe.
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The New People
Table of Contents, May 2002
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