Artist's Way, Artist's Way Julia Cameron, Tao Te Ching, Zen

Jacki Kellum Free Study of Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way Day 4

Posted by jackikellum on

In yesterday’s reading, Cameron said that as you empty your mind through writing the Morning Pages, the Logic Brain is hushed and the Artist Brain is allowed to take its place.

“We move from logic brain to artist brain and from fast to slow, shallow to deep.” Cameron, The Artist’s Way, pg. 14.

Yesterday, I created a video telling how my garden is a place where I go to hush my Logic Brain. Writing Morning Pages is another way to hush Logic Brain.

ZenGarden Quote2

Jacki Kellum’s garden is a place of meditation for her. It is where she goes to hush her logic brain.

“…pages are my way of meditating; I do them because they work.” Cameron, pg. 16.

“Art is born in attention. Its midwife is detail….
“The language of art is image, symbol. It is a wordless language even when our very art is to chase it with words. [as writers] The artist’s language is a sensual one, a language of felt experience.” Cameron, pg. 21.

“Art is an artist-brain pursuit. The artist brain is our image brain, home and haven to our best creative impulses. The artist brain cannot be reached–or triggered–effectively by words alone. The artist brain is the sensory brain: sight and sound, smell and taste, touch. These are the elements of maigic, and magic is the elemental stuff of art.” Cameron, pg. 21

In today’s reading, we are told that in writing the Morning Pages, we are meditating.

There are probably 10,000 definitions of meditation. All me to offer one more: Meditation is an ethereal experience achieved when the meditator moves beyond the obvious. The stuff of writing and of painting runs deep–slackers and unattentives will not find it. When you do your Mornng Pages, you are seeking to connect with something that only a few people ever hear: The Color of the WInd:

Lyrics:

“You think you own whatever land you land onThe Earth is just a dead thing you can claimBut I know every rock and tree and creatureHas a life, has a spirit, has a name …

“Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon?Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grinned?Can you sing with all the voices of the mountain?Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?”
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There is a language that runs deeper than the obvious. I promise you that. But here is the snag: The only way to hear that deep voice is to get quiet and truly listen.
You cannot do Morning Pages while surfing YouTube or TikTok–It will not work.
Your muse will not come to you until you are totally quiet and truly listen.
That is why productive people meditate in one way or another.
Hear me: I NEVER sit with my eyes closed and hum “Ohhhhm!” But I meditate when I paint and when I write.
“Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.” PABLO PICASSO
“Experience, even for a painter, is not exclusively visual.” WALTER MEIGS
“The most potent muse of all is our own inner child.” STEPHEN NACHMANOVITCH
“At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities.”JEAN HOUSTON
Cameron says that we must learn to hear a voice that is deeper than external experience. I believe that this voice is what the Ancient Celts called the Language of the Birds.

READ:The Artist’s Way, pg. 21.

Read: Sometimes A Words Simply Seems – The Language of the Birds

Sometimes A Word Simply Seems – The Language of the Birds – Expressing That Which Is Beyond the Realm of Words

Write 3 Morning Pages. No Editing — Just Write. Let it Flow. Whatever Comes to your mind. Write. Remember: This is not Creative Writing, You Are Simply Emptying Your Mind.

Reflect: Look, See, Hear, Feel, and Make Notations about what you discover. This is an activity that is beyond the 3 Morning Pages.

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