I’ve been working hard, preparing materials for some upcoming academic classes. I love being immersed in the world of ideas, but I need to remember not to stay there–it’s not where I want to live. A wise guide once said to me–“the mind’s job is to carry out the vision of the heart.” Feeding my…
There was a child went forth every day. And the first object he looks upon, that object he became. –Walt Whitman The late poet Stanley Kunitz believed that writers often have a “key image” that keeps working them over and over again in their writing. In fact, writers may spend an entire lifetime working one…
This coming winter I’m teaching Psychology of Metaphor at the Institute of Imaginal Studies. In December of 2006, I was interviewing with the Director of IIS and he asked me what I wanted to teach. I found myself blurting out, “Metaphor.” But the truth was, I didn’t know anything about metaphor as an academic subject,…
My friend Elka Vera just completed some wonderful water color paintings, where she attempted to capture the “essence” of a flower (rather than its form). They came out beautifully, as you can see. I like that notion of the essence of a thing. After many years of searching, I’m finally entering the essence of my…
I brought small pumpkins into Monday’s class at the Sophia Center. I had everyone close their eyes and hold out their hands to receive their pumpkin, so they wouldn’t immediately know what it was. Holding/touching something with eyes closed is evocative—we don’t immediately rely on our mind to recall pre-stored ideas about the object. We…
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