Imaginal

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Until we’ve drawn something, we haven’t seen it.

Ten years ago I sat in on a drawing class in Oakland. The topic that day happened to be shading–how to draw the play of light and shadow around an image. After the demonstration I thanked the instructor, and was barely out the door before I burst into tears. Apparently, I had never paid much…

Visions of what it means to be human – Stanley Kunitz
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Visions of what it means to be human – Stanley Kunitz

In 2001, in celebration of National Poetry Month, Robert Siegel (on NPR’s “All Things Considered”) asked the Poet Laureate Stanley Kunitz whether poetry was a dying art. “No,” replied Kunitz, “in fact people are more involved with poetry now than I’ve ever seen in my lifetime.” Back in the 1970s, Kunitz wasn’t so optimistic. People…

Robert Henri and “The Art Spirit”
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Robert Henri and “The Art Spirit”

Art and learning have been hooked up together for me. While I have my Ph.D. in adult learning and education, art is what continually tugs at my heart. I don’t think learning and art are separate, but our culture (unfortunately) separates them. Apparently learning is supposed to be dry, dull and boring, while art is…

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Your imagination is REAL

I just finished reading Henry Corbin’s 1969 book, Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn ‘Arabi. It had been sitting on my shelf for over two years. I’m glad it waited for me, because what I learned is something that I’ve always wanted to know–the imagination is REAL. It’s not make-believe. We’re not “just imagining”…

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