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I'm a Taoist, and so my belief of life is similar to Ricky's [his character in "American Beauty"]. I've often felt the world is so full of everything that literally my body cannot take all of it. That allowed me to access Ricky...  I found Taoism in Julliard. They critique you in a group in class. It would tear me apart. I couldn't hear criticism too well; I was too naive about it. Then I started reading The Tao of Pooh, and about 3/4 the way through I felt this overwhelming calm and understanding. It all hit me at once. ... [From a Taoist approach, how do you deal with the career and industry you're in?] By breathing. My career and any career is just a set of toys in front of me. As long as you're just living, not looking for anything. ...    Wes Bentley .. [well-rounded.com interview]

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Over any extended period of time, being an artist requires enthusiasm more than discipline. Enthusiasm is not an emotional state. It is spiritual commitment, a loving surrender to our creative process, a loving recognition of all the creativity around us. ~ Julia Cameron from 11/27/02 newsletter of National Association of Women Writers - NAWW naww.org **books: **The Vein of Gold***The Artist's Way***God is Dog Spelled Backwards

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Enthusiasm is not something granted to some and absent in others. All of us have a God within. Some of us choose to be in touch with it and display it, while others mask it and allow it to remain dormant. ... Enthusiasm is a quality that nourishes success. Wayne Dyer **Wisdom of the Ages   / ".. wisdom taught by the world's 'great teachers' (such as Buddha, Jesus, Confucius, Michelangelo, and Emily Dickinson) ... formatted into daily, quoted passages (around a page in length) from 60 of these teachers. After each quote, Dyer offers his own thoughts on how the "lesson" can be applied to contemporary life. After his essay, the author includes a list of exercises to put the teacher's advice to use. [Amazon.com summary]

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I like Rumi, who was a poet and practitioner of Sufism (a mystical branch of Islam), because his writing is very spiritual. He doesn't hit you over the head with the tenets of a specific religion, but he introduces God in almost every passage. One statement I live by is, 'If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?' It's a great reminder that if you can't get up and dust yourself off after a disappointment, then how will you be made better?"        Halle Berry [O, The Oprah Magazine, June, 2001] - specifically referring to the book: Kabir Helminski (Editor), Andrew Harvey (Introduction). The Rumi Collection

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I don't think anyone can see the effect being a Quaker has on you. It's something wrapped inside you. Yet it's essential to me. In fact, it's only at Quaker meeings that I can be still. Normally, I hate sitting around. I have too much energy.   ...  Judi Dench****[Biography magazine, March 2002] related pages:****

*related page:*intensities*****bio: Judi Dench : With a Crack in Her Voice

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A first step in spiritual progress is to find the empty place, the hole in the fabric of meaning and culture through which the infinite and mysterious can enter. That emptiness may be a lull in time, a moment of reflection, a day off, or an uninvited reverie.  Spatially it may be represented in a broad expanse of land or in an empty chapel or meditation room. Emotionally it may be a painful loss or breakdown. Intellectually it could be an open question, a doubt, or a new way of thinking. A theatrical stage, a movie screen, a dancer's floor, and a painter's canvas are also empty spaces where the imagination can make contact with the infinite. Insofar as it is empty, all art is religious.  Thomas Moore.**The Soul's Religion: Cultivating a Profoundly Spiritual Way of Life

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I think a lot of times we have to just stand next to the mystery. Not try to squeeze it into some category.       Lili Taylor

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Among the things I have been thinking about this month.. is the relationship between creativity and the thing commonly called "spirituality." ... I, for my part, am a mystic atheist. I have the sense that "mystery" is a far superior word to "soul", "spirit", "god", "oneness" or similar words.  It seems to me better to use a word that asserts that we can't know ultimate reality than words that make untenable claims about that ultimate reality. "Mystery" is a beautiful word that reminds us that we are in real relationship with an unknowable universe and our implausible, unfathomable existence.  Words like soul or spirit make us think of things inhabiting us, things that might fly off at our death or travel the universe separate from us. But mystery makes us think of a single individual, truly alive, truly complete, truly unsure, lost or caught in some unfathomable place. We are part of the great mystery. The great mystery resides within us.  Eric Maisel - from issue 25, July 2002 of his  Creativity Newsletter   /  *books:**A Life in the Arts    The Creativity Book

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When I first started doing martial arts, I felt a sense of power because I was beating down these guys and taking punches myself. But you learn that martial arts is not about aggression. It's about discipline and getting beyond the physical until you reach a spiritual state. Now I define strength as experience. It's everything you've ever learned. It's patience and understanding.   Michelle Yeoh - from Ms. Magazine Women of the Year feature ~ ~ "This book - The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari - is about finding out what is truly important to your real, spiritual self rather than the one inundated with material possessions." ...   Michelle Yeoh   [Time mag.] more quotes by Yeoh on her film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" in article: Warrior Women On Screen

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[What gives you substance?] My family and friends and my dog. And having an inner spiritual life. Having a connection there. Annabeth Gish  -- from interview: New York Post - November 18, 2001 - posted on Simply Annabeth site: simplyannabeth.net / photo from official Annabeth Gish site: annabethgish.com

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People in the creative and performing arts are at the vanguard of what we are speaking about.  They are the people who have dared to publicly create and to hold up to the public their own creations for the public's rejection or acceptance.  That's a high level of courage. They are at the cutting edge of the whole process of human evolution. Most sociologists and anthropologists agree that if you want to know where a society is heading, look to the society's artisans. It's the artists and the creators who will always be cutting that swath through the jungle and saying, "This way, it's over here."  from interview with Neale Donald Walsch by Sirona Knight & Michael Starwyn: dcsi.net/~bluesky/nwalsch1.htm photo: Conversations with God Foundation site: conversationswithgod.org book: Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch

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All day I think about it, then at night I say it.  Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing? I have no idea.  My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that, and I intend to end up there.

There is a community of the spirit.  Join it, and feel the delight of walking in the noisy street, and being the noise. Drink all your passion, and be a disgrace. Close both eyes to see with the other eye. ... Live in silence. Flow down and down in always widening rings of being.

Rumi from The Essential Rumi more books by Rumi: Rumi, Fountain of Fire Daylight : A Daybook of  Spiritual Guidance

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Around the same time, I went to a consultant for writer's block (from which I was suffering at the time) and this consultant put me into a meditative state. I then had a spiritual experience, an overwhelming and inexplicable mystical encounter that turned my world upside down. I recently read that 43 percent of Americans have had some sort of mystical experience in the past few years but have not been able to talk about it with people with whom they are otherwise intimate. So many people are having some kind of powerful spiritual encounter, but this experience is outstripping our abilities to put it into words. One of the dangers of any spiritual path is that there is a lot of self-delusion. ... The struggle for me was to use my critical mind to make sure that I could believe in what I had encountered.  Naomi Wolf - from her article Starting On My Spiritual Path  One of her books is: Promiscuities : The Secret Struggle for Womanhood

 
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Enormous spiritual energy can be gained simply by meditating upon the various sequences of Hebrew letters comprising the 72 Names of God.  This display of the 72 Names can be placed in your home or in your workplace, giving you access to the same forces that the great Kabbalists used for overcoming the chaos of life and the negative aspects of human nature. description of chart from Kabbalah Centre site **related book: The 72 Names of God: Technology for the Soul  by Yehuda Berg, Rav Berg

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Mystical experiences occur more frequently than might be believed.  Hay, (1985) quotes results of numerous surveys on religious experience where the consensus is that between 30 and 40 percent of British and American adults claim to have had an experience, at least once in their lifetimes, which fits James' (1918) description.  Deikman (1966) believes that these experiences can occur both in individuals who actively practice meditation, or other exercises used to produce a mystical experience, but also in those who have never practised such disciplines.  Such experiences seem to occur most frequently in natural settings, during deeply enjoyable moments, or under the influence of drugs. Maslow (1970) secularised the experience by calling it 'peak experience'.  He defined the peak experience as natural and available without the need for an organised religious context and claims that "religion becomes... a state of mind achievable in almost any activity of life, if this activity is raised to a suitable level of perfection" (Maslow, 1970, p.170).

.. .. During a peak experience, the individual experiences an expansion of self, and a sense of unity and meaningfulness in life.  The experience lingers on in one's consciousness giving a sense of purpose, integration, self-determination, creativity and empathy (Maslow, 1970).  from handout : The NATURAL HISTORY of MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE  by Neil Greenberg Abraham Maslow books

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I believe that the soul is the deepest part of us. I believe it is the part that God
wants us to be. I believe that our souls are not born fully developed and that this world,
as Keats put it, is "the vale of soul-making."

I think that this is largely a cognitive process, that the ego can try to cognate in harmony with
the soul and with what William James called "the unseen order of things."  M. Scott Peck

***Further Along the Road Less Traveled : The Unending Journey Toward Spiritual Growth
 

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As I travel the country talking about care of the soul, people tell me over and over
that they don't have time for their souls -- they're too busy.

Active modern life and soul don't seem to go together. The problem, as I see it,
is not exactly that we're too busy, but that we're busy in the wrong way.

Creative, contemplative people often have very active days, but their full lives are not necessarily busy to the point where they can't pause, reflect, and be fruitfully distracted.

If our work is nervous and obsessive, then there is clearly some disturbance of soul
in our activity.

  from article Contemplation in the Busy Life by Thomas Moore -

**author of books: Original Self   /  The Soul's Religion

 
*related page:......meditation

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How rich will he find himself who has forsaken all his riches for Christ! ... What wisdom will be attributed to the man who rejoiced at being accounted mad, since madness was attributed to Him Who is Wisdom itself. Saint Teresa- from her autobiography ~ ~ ~ related articles by Isabel Clarke [excerpts on spirituality resources] : Madness and Mysticism: clarifying the mystery  //  Psychosis and Spirituality: Finding a Language **book: Psychosis and Spirituality: Exploring the New Frontier by Isabel Clarke [site]

*related page:......dysfunction / disorder.......

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Suzi Gablik:As I understand your sense of the soulful life, it would mean bringing art back into a more vernacular, everyday world, and taking it out of the more rarefied sphere of professionalism. You mentioned in the letter you wrote to me that you are very interested in the role of the arts in the world today. Do you see art as being an important vehicle for the return of soul?  Thomas Moore: Probably its most important vehicle. ... First, though, Iíd like to pick up on this point of yours about everyday life. There are a number of ways in which we could bring the artist back into everyday life, so that we donít just have this fringe art world that doesnít really touch on the values of the way we live, essentially. One way would be for the artist truly to feel a sense of conviviality in the society, in being part of that community, so that thereís a responsibility, and a pleasure, in going into the world and being part of, say, actually designing the city...

.. .. We canít suddenly begin living a more artful life, which is the avenue to soul, if in the public life around us, and in everything we see and inhabit, art is invisible. **from Conversations Before the End of Time by Suzi Gablik additional books by Suzi Gablik:   The Reenchantment of Art   /  Living the Magical Life: An Oracular Adventure

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["You took time off from your acting career to pursue your spiritual journey. How long?] Six years. In the movie industry, you hear the word 'momentum' a lot, meaning that you do not take time off because the competition is great and trends shift.  You must stay on top of the energy as it's moving since it does move quickly. Opportunities come and go very rapidly. Leaving for six years means you're literally eliminating yourself from that machinery." ... Looking back, I'm proud of myself because every day I see people who do not step back from their drives to choose to know more of themselves. It was a choiceless choice.

Leaving Hollywood to search for myself was something I had to do. I did it without guidelines, so it was a free fall that I went for 100%. I had to be somebody who had a spiritual self.  .. Leigh Taylor-Young [New Perspectives magazine, 1996]

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Spirituality is the foundation of all my political work. In many of the progressive movements in this country, religion carries a lot of baggage.  But I think that's changing. You can't dismiss the significance of Eastern religions, earth-based religions, and Western religions on political work today. What we all need to do is find the wellspring that keeps us going, that gives us the strength and patience to keep up this struggle for a long time. Winona LaDuke, founder: Indigenous Women's Network   [from motherjones.com interview]  *book:**Winona LaDuke. All Our Relations

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interior:  a mosque  in Cairo

The word "Islam" in Arabic Language means "submission" & "peace." A Muslim is a person who submits to the will of Allah and finds therein peace. Islam is derived from the Arabic word "salaam" meaning peace.   Caltech Muslim Students Association ~ ~ ~ Islam has neither place nor tolerance for [the 9/11] vicious and immoral acts.   Harvard Islamic Society

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"Churchgoing and religion were in good part the origin of my vocation as a writer for,
along with Catholicism's feast for the senses, its ethical concerns, its insistence
on seeing God in all things, and the high status it gave to scripture, drama, and art,
there was a connotation in Catholicism's liturgies that storytelling mattered."

from Ron Hansen. A Stay Against Confusion : Essays on Faith and Fiction
 

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"There is something more -- the spirit, or the soul.
I think that that quality encourages our courtesy and
care and our minds. And mercy, and identity."

   Maya Angelou [mojo.com interview]

books: The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou

        I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
 

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When we begin to work through personal issues, it is often a gateway into
the transpersonal domain. As we clarify our own consciousness on a personal level,
the universe sometimes begins to open up naturally and the transpersonal domain
shines through."

               Chris Bache [from Online Noetic Network email newsletter]

**book: **Christopher Martin Bache.  Dark Night, Early Dawn : Steps to a Deep Ecology of Mind

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Being creative and being spiritual is like breathing for me.  They all kind of co-exist for me. It's the reason that makes me want to get up in the morning. photographer Joan Lauren  - from interview   portrait of Elizabeth Taylor from her book: Portraits of Life, With Love

 
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"Each of us harbors a homeland, a landscape we naturally comprehend.
By understanding the dependability of place, we can anchor ourselves
as trees. ... The land is love. Love is what we fear. To disengage from
the earth is our own oppression."    Terry Tempest Williams

from article: Women Who Talk to Nature by Kathryn True

..books: Terry Tempest Williams An Unspoken Hunger

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"On some level, performing is always a spiritual exercise."

Willem Dafoe(about acting in "The Last Temptation of Christ") [ifc tv special]
 

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"The primary benefit of practicing any art, whether well or badly,
is that it enables one's soul to grow."

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.    [The New York Times, May 24, 1999]

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I have an idea that may be a little out there, but I really feel this is possible. I think that not only do you carry genetically the information of your parents' physical constitution, you also carry information that we have not yet learned to identify.  The reason I love Irish music has to do with my grandmother, who was born in Galicia. I think in all our backgrounds we have all of these sounds in some part of our spirit, or in some part of our brain that is not cataloged. I'm trying to find a sound that will appeal to the heart, to the spirit.    Rubén Blades [Miami Herald, May 14.99]

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Everything I carried with me would be a distraction. I should learn to let go. And I should be prepared to die, because to do such a pilgrimage meant I was ready to give up the old values that conflicted my life. I could honestly say that I had no problem with dying if that was what was meant to be. I had had enough of the state of affairs as I knew them to be. I was ready for a new understanding to propel me forward for the rest of my life.   Shirley MacLaine excerpt from her book The Camino: A Journey of the Spirit

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The good news is first, that one need not believe one's thoughts, and secondly, that there is no loss whatsoever in abandoning the long-term investment in what had been believed. On the contrary, without belief in habitual thought, there is clear seeing and open potentiality.  It is what Suzuki Roshi meant when he said, "In the beginner's mind, there are many possibilities. In the expert's mind, there are few." from article STOP PRETENDING By Catherine Ingram book: Catherine Ingram In the Footsteps of Gandhi : Conversations With Spiritual Social Activists

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"It seems like everyone ends up rebelling against [religion] when they're raised so strictly with it... But I appreciate all different religions and I think you should take what you can from each one of them and make up your own... [faith] is a very difficult question, because faith is so associated with religion...  But I think of it as believing in something, and I certainly have that. I have faith in myself, my family, my friends -- it's kind of a boring answer, but it's too difficult.. I mean, ..  We'd have to have a four-hour conversation about that. I can't sum it up."      Winona Ryder  [etonline.com 2000]

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"'Spiritual path' is the hilarious popular term for those night-blinded mesas
and flayed hills in which people grope, for decades on end, with the goal
of knowing the absolute. Only by living completely in the world can one learn to believe."

Annie Dillard - from book: Philip Zaleski  The Best Spiritual Writing 2000

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"Joy and suffering are two equally precious gifts, both of which must be savored to the full,
each one in its purity, without trying to mix them. Through joy, the beauty of the world penetrates
our soul. Through suffering it penetrates our body. We could no more become friends of God through
joy alone than one becomes a ship's captain by studying books on navigation. The body plays a part
in all apprenticeships."

- Simone Weil, "The Love of God and Affliction," in Modern Spirituality: An Anthology

Weil is author of many books, such as Waiting for God
 

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"I wasn't particularly raised with any religion and I guess I'm kind of I'm thankful for that.
I've studied all religions & I find them to be very similar. .. I, like many people, of course
find it grevious that so many wars are fought over the differences. I believe in God. I don't
necessarily think that means some guy in the sky watching you. I was raised on the land
where you can't help but feel theres something bigger than you out there. And I like that.
I like knowing that. I like having my little place in it."

  Jewel [from her site: jeweljk.com] book: Chasing Down the Dawn
 

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"I have always felt things very deeply, and this has helped me to see the road is inward, and that those things we search for outside of ourselves are really inside of us... I tap into the energy of the God-force by going inward."   Gloria Estefan  [Body Mind Spirit, June/July, 1996]

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"My reality is that God speaks to you every day. There's an inner voice, and when you hear it,
you get a little tingle in your medulla oblongata at the back of your neck, a little shiver, and at
two o'clock in the morning, everything's really quiet and you meditate and you got the candles,
you got the incense and you've been chanting, and all of a sudden you hear this voice: 'Write this down.'
It is just an inner voice, and you trust it. That voice will never take you to the desert."

   Carlos Santana [RollingStone.com]
 

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"Why is it that when we talk to God we're said to be praying,
but when God talks to us we're schizophrenic?"
 

 Lily Tomlin

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Laurie Anderson:  "I think [my friend] was thinking of the Sermon on the Mount when he told me it was okay to be an artist. I was complaining all the time about paying my rent: How am I going to eat? How am I going to go on? He said, 'You've got it all wrong. First you have to say, `What do I want to make as an artist? What do I want to do as an artist?' These other things are unimportant ? they'll happen anyway. Once you get your priorities straight, you'll be surprised what happens."    [Bomb mag, July.99]   [new book on Laurie Anderson]

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"Trapped within the horizon of the near-at-hand, our culture creates myths
about the unreliability and irrelevance of nonordinary states. Meanwhile,
our social fragmentation continues to deepen, reflecting in part our inability
to answer the most basic questions about meaning or value, because neither
meaning nor value exists in mere sensation nor in the compounds of sensation.

Similarly, we will not be able to explain where we came from or why our lives
have the shape they do as long as we systematically avoid contact with the deeper
dimensions of mind that contain the larger patterns that structure our existence."

  Christopher Bache  [author: Dark Night, Early Dawn]

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"When someone dies, for a while you want to make some meaning out of a life.
You go on a spiritual journey. And hopefully, you don't stop."

  William Shatner  [imdb.com / World Entertainment News Network 9.20.00]

  [his novel Star Trek Preserver was inspired by his grief over the death of his third wife]
 

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How bout no longer being masochistic
how bout remembering your divinity
how bout unabashedly bawling your eyes out
how bout not equating death with stopping
thank you india  /   thank you providence
thank you disillusionment   /  thank you nothingness
thank you clarity   /    thank you thank you silence

      Alanis Morissette
 

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