A simple “thank you”…will suffice

You must know by now that one of my heroes was that giant mystic Meister Eckhart (1260-1327) who was light years ahead of his time. He was the father of German philosophy and the sharpest thorn in the side of the Christian church. He told them “to go around looking for God is like sitting on an ox looking for an ox to ride.”

Seven hundred years ago he wrote this: “if the only prayer you say in your entire life is “Thank You”…that would suffice.”

To me that is one of the most profound statements in the spiritual literature of humankind. Put it on your fridge door in five colors. That has been my first conscious act of the day for more years than I can remember.

What am I thanking? Not a “him”…or a “her” or any anthropomorphic ‘God’ “out there”. But to the Ultimate energy beyond the Mystery…to the ineffable…incomprehensible beyond the Mystery…to the Wonder behind the miracles of existence…”thank you” is the only prayer we need as we begin the celebration of a new day. Every moment is a new arrival. How do we respond to this marvel? In the exaltation of existence. It is one of the rewards of being human.
Read more

Writers on writing

I recently read a wonderful interview with Sam Shepard in the New York Times. It brought back memories. His mother was often in the front row of my Sunday Symposiums. You remember of course that Shepard played Chuck Yeager in the movie “The Right Stuff”. What you probably do not know is that Sam Shepard is considered today to be the most important American playwright since Edward Albee.

The interview revealed that he writes in an old, run down, cabin in the woods a short distance from his home. He has almost a contempt for ‘word processors’. He said when he writes he wants “real pages” from his old typewriter that he can hold, and feel, and get to know. His current play “The Late Henry Moss” just opened in San Francisco. It is said to have the greatest assembly of actors ever gathered together on one stage, from Sean Penn to Nick Nolte.

I wondered how many other major writers have no use for ”ord processors’. I have over a dozen books about major writers and how they work. I looked through them all to find out how many others felt that way about “real pages”. I discovered that the overwhelming majority have no use for ‘word processors’. A great many prefer writing by hand on a legal pad. John Updike writes in longhand as do Saul Bellow and Pablo Neruda. William Styron said: “I am most comfortable with a no. 2 pencil and yellow sheets, that produce “real pages”. Joyce Carol Oates, a professor at Princeton and winner of the National Book Award, said: “I write in longhand. I gave up word processors forever. They are not for me. They diluted my creativity. It was just shimmering words on a glass screen”.
Read more

Critics

Studs Terkel was awarded a Pulitzer when he was 80 years of age, and his response was “This proves that if you live long enough, anything can happen.” A living testimony to that truth was the recent appointment of the Poet Laureate of the Library of Congress, and America, Stanley Kunitz, age 95.

Resting gentle on my mind was a litany of brilliant artists who did not live long enough, or who let the ignorance of ego driven “critics” dull and dent their unique vision.

Herman Melville published MOBY DICK in 1851. Critics came at him like a horde of locusts. Very few copies were sold. Melville was devastated. He quit writing. He did odd jobs to support himself. Melville was silenced by a lack of money. A totalitarian state can silence brilliant minds by force. A free state can impose the same penalty on brilliance by lack of support with the recognition of greatness. MOBY DICK became, as you know, one of the great classics of world literature. A sample critics review at the time: “Moby Dick is trash belonging to the worst school of literature.”
Read more

Next Page »