In his novel Ulysses, James Joyce writes: “Any object, intensely regarded, may be a gate of access.” This simple yet profound idea has stayed with me for years, and every time I revisit it, I uncover new depths. Joyce’s notion of a “gate of access” resonates strongly with the transformative power of metaphor, which lies…
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 threads through their work, shaping their creative journey. He suggested that writers might spend an entire lifetime exploring a single key image,…
“There are two forces at work, as complexity science demonstrates: habit and creativity. Nature has laws that perpetuate existing patterns and forms (habits), but nature also evolves, bringing forth ever new and unexpected possibilities through a non-linear process called creative emergence.” — Joan Borysenko, The Huffington Post Every year, I’m drawn to the annual Bioneers…
This coming winter, I’m teaching Psychology of Metaphor at the Institute of Imaginal Studies (IIS). It’s a class that changed my life before I even taught it. Back in December 2006, during my interview with the Director of IIS, he asked me what I wanted to teach. Without thinking, I blurted out, “Metaphor.” The funny…
A friend from Montana recently moved to the Bay Area, and adjusting to life here has been quite a journey for her. Montana, with its remote, spacious beauty, is a world apart from the bustling, energetic Bay Area. When I first moved to Montana, I finally understood why it’s called Big Sky Country. The towering,…
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