Fly Back Together

Posted on October 26, 2012 by davidrobinsoncreative

596. Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

Lately, I have this image of myself that makes me laugh. I see it in sleep, sometimes while daydreaming, and today I found myself doodling it. It is as surprising as it is welcome. It is one of those images that I did not manufacture; rather it came to me. I see it so often now that I re-run it, enjoy it; I am playing with it.

It is as if I am seeing a film running in reverse, like a jalopy losing pieces all over the road, when seen in reverse, the pieces fly back together. That is the image. I am standing very still in a meadow and all of my pieces are flying back together. I did not realize I’d lost so much along the way!

I giggle when I see this image. Rather, this image is visceral and it tickles – all of those pieces coming together delight me and literally tickle me.

Because inquiring minds want to know and I have one of those inquiring minds, I’ve tried to identify the pieces; I want to know what I dropped on the highway of life. Yet, the moment I pay attention to the individual pieces I lose the image. The tickling stops, the image dissipates. Apparently I am not meant to focus on the fragments; it is the whole that matters.

In class today we talked about the verb “to heal.” It has roots in an old English word, hælen, which meant, “to make whole.” To heal is to make whole. As I close my eyes and see myself standing in the meadow, all of my pieces flying back together, I giggle, arms extended and say to myself, “Welcome home.”

Filed under: Metaphor, Surprises, Truly Powerful People | 1 Comment »

Sneak A Peak

Posted on October 10, 2012 by davidrobinsoncreative

580. Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

The sun is rising much later now than before I went on my travels. I was gone for two weeks and was shocked when I got up to take my walk this morning and it was still dark. It happens every year. There is always a day when I wake up and am surprised that the sun is rising two hours later than a few short months ago. It is magic and completely predictable and still I am surprised. If I watched the news each night I’d know the exact minute the sun was scheduled to rise the next morning. And, isn’t that a shame: we’ve somehow in our language reduced the sunrise to a schedule – as if we made the schedule. I imagine a celestial stationmaster working out the timetable, “Yep, I think 7:02 today, 7:13 tomorrow. We must have the illusion that we make the trains run on time.

I watched as the east began to glow, the clouds burst into orange fire, the dark sky dissolved into a turquoise blue and then put on my coat and walked to the end of the block. I am fortunate to be so close to the water’s edge. I was not prepared to see the moon so high in the sky. A harvest moon, full and vibrant was still hanging high in the sky.

This was not defiance. It was more of a greeting, a rendezvous. The sun peaked over the ridge and must have been just as surprised as I to see the moon, like a young lover waiting at the school lockers. We stood there, the sun, the moon, and I for several moments until I realized that I was a third wheel and should probably move on and let them have this rare and precious time together. They were both looking at me and I was slow to catch the hint. I turned and smiled and promised not to look back. I can only imagine that they reached across the sky, each touching the cheek of the other. I did sneak a peak and can report with confidence that all is right in the world.

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Commune

Posted on October 9, 2012 by davidrobinsoncreative

579. Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.</em

Harry and I talked into the night about communion. Most cultures have their unique version of the communion meal. For the Makah, the whale is their god. To hunt and consume the whale is to take the body and blood of the god into their body. In return, they perform rituals to resurrect the god. For the Mayan, it is the corn that gives life; corn is a god. The people take it into their bodies and become god like; their commitment is to create the conditions for the gods return. They tend to the god. The god feeds them. It is a cycle of life. There is no end, no outcome. There is no rapture. There is a relationship. “This is my body. Take it and eat. This is my blood. Take it and drink.” The form is different; the ritual is the same.

Harry pointed out that regardless of the form the purpose is to commune – thus a communion meal. The people commune individually and collectively with their godhood. They take it in; they become the god. They, in return, perform the rituals and ceremonies; they live in such a way as to give rebirth to the godhead. It is a cycle of renewal. It is a participation sport: it is personal, intimate, an infinite game.

At its most potent, it is a way of living. It is not something confined to a single day of the week or an observance performed once in a while. It is not something you can leave behind when you leave the church. The whale chooses you because you are worthy, because you live each day an existence worthy of being chosen to consume the body, take in the god, and have proven yourself capable of performing the rites necessary to give rebirth to the god that feeds you. It is a mutual responsibility: I will feed you if you will attend to my re-creation.

And, at the heart of this relationship, is this thing we call art. The rituals, the dances, the music, the images are (were) meant to facilitate the communion; the coming together of human and muse to reaffirm the community's identity, to transform and transcend the everyday. Wear the mask and you become the god. Pete told me that he picked up a brush for the first time and froze; to make a mark carried an enormous responsibility. He put the brush back in the can and thought, “I am not yet ready for all that this will unleash and I want it more than I’ve ever wanted anything.”

Filed under: Art, Identity, Metaphor, Power, Truly Powerful People | Leave a comment »

String The Bow

Posted on September 20, 2012 by davidrobinsoncreative

560. Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

Robert Fritz writes that between “What is” and “What you want” is a tension and this tension is the energy necessary to propel you toward your vision. This tension is not manufactured, it is not imaginary; it is specific, dynamic, and real. The common mistake we make is to try and relieve the tension by telling a story of “not so bad” or “this is good enough” or “I’m not ready yet.” The arrow cannot fly if there is no tension in the string. The arrow will never reach the target if there is weak tension in the string.

This does not mean that “what is” needs to be miserable. If you are alive you are on a quest; human beings are seekers. We are always engaged with what might be. We are creators. A yearning heart is an alive heart; desire is the spice of living.

In one of the versions of the Prometheus saga, Zeus created people so he’d have someone to worship him. Apparently, gods need us as much as we need them. Zeus assigned the task of human creation to Prometheus and gave him explicit instructions: make these humans crude and ugly and stupid. Zeus didn’t want people to be god-like. He wanted worshippers, not competition. Prometheus sculpted his human couple beneath a tree so Zeus couldn’t see them. Prometheus, like us, couldn’t bear to minimize his creation: he started with lumps of clay (what is) and sculpted beautiful beings (what he imagined might be). He knew Zeus would never approve so he stole the fire of life to ignite the hearts of his humans. Zeus could have squashed the new creatures but instead decided to punish Prometheus by infusing his creation (us) with doubt and contradiction; he gave us the capacity to make music and war.

Our hearts are alive with gods fire. We are more like Prometheus than Zeus. If our lives are our greatest creations we can, like Zeus, aim for ugly or follow the example of Prometheus and make something threatening in it’s beauty. String the bow, use the tension and let fly a whole quiver of possibilities!

Filed under: Metaphor, Possibility, Truly Powerful People | 1 Comment »

Shatter

Posted on September 1, 2012 by davidrobinsoncreative

541. Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

I revisited an old Joseph Campbell lecture the other day and as always happens a specific image captured me. Once captured, I linger in it – or it lingers in me – until each layer opens. The image was this: The universe is a dynamic undifferentiated whole that “shatters” when it comes into form. You and I are little fragments of the shattered whole. And, through the course of our lives and experiences, we shatter ourselves so that we might come to realize that we are merely forms of a dynamic undifferentiated whole. It is divergence and convergence. It is a tide motion of consciousness. It is the Hindu image of the god opening its eyes and a universe comes into being – and then closing its eyes and all forms dissolve into the dynamic undifferentiated whole. It is the cycle of birth to death to birth to death.

I learned in my 11th grade physics class that energy doesn’t go away it merely changes form. The word “shatter” is a very specific action; it is abrupt. It is non-negotiable. I’ve shattered wine glasses and windows and more than one coffee cup. Once, I bought a box of ceramic plates so that one of my students could release his anger by throwing them at a brick wall. There was some serious shattering and laughter that day. I have shattered myself more than once and will likely do it again. My friend Jim once asked me, “What is it with you and the need to live so close to the margin, with this desire to leap over edges?” I did not have an answer for him but now I know: I’m getting glimpses of the undifferentiated whole.

Today in my assignment, Megan asked, as we leave August on a blue moon, a magic time: “What will you carry forward? What will you leave behind?” This has been the summer of shattering. I am leaving bits and shards everywhere, the tide goes out, the goddess closes her eyes; what I take with me is the understanding that after a period of undifferentiated wholeness, the tide will come in and the goddess will open her eyes and I will surely emerge in a new form.

Filed under: Awakening, Metaphor, Truly Powerful People | 2 Comments »

Sit In The Most Comfortable Chair In The World

Posted on August 19, 2012 by davidrobinsoncreative

528. Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

Just off the pier jutting into Lake Winnisquam in southern New Hampshire, sitting in 3 feet of water, is the most comfortable chair in the world. I know because Drew told Lora about the chair’s status as she considered sitting in it. “Oh, you have to sit,” he said, “It’s the most comfortable chair in the world.” How can you let a thing like that go by? Lora sat in the chair, only her head remained above the water and she immediately giggled with pleasure.

The most comfortable chair in the world is white plastic with a leaf pattern meant to give it the appearance of wrought iron; it looks heavy but is very light so it bobs and moves with the motion of the water. When sitting in the most comfortable chair in the world, you move as the chair moves; you are taken with the delicate motion of the water, you sit into a gentle rhythmic water massage. Go with it and your troubles, stresses, aches and pains disappear. Resist it, try to control it and you tip over backwards and dunk yourself. The chair seems to know whether you are capable of giving into the comfort, capable of accepting it’s gift, or trying to control your experience. It will toss you if are not ready to accept what it brings.

As I listened to Drew explain the perils and pleasures of the chair, I knew I was witness to an especially relevant life metaphor (they are everywhere!). Chose to sit in it or not. If you do, relax into the experience and ride the wave; it will massage you if you let it. Fight it and you will lose your balance. The dunking you get is, after all, a result of resisting the natural motion. The most comfortable chair in the world demands presence. It is fluid and ever changing and paradoxically, giving into it – living into a process – will tickle your tension away. You just might find yourself giggling.

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Mind Your Metaphors

Posted on July 27, 2012 by davidrobinsoncreative

505. Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

Alan and I just facilitated a forum on transformational leadership coaching. We worked with the importance of language and metaphor and I was reminded why I believe all change begins with a change in language. To change your language is to change your story. To change your story is to change what you see and experience – it is to change your world.

Language is metaphoric. Language is always referential to experience; language is not the experience, it is the interpretation of the experience. How you story your experience – the language that you use to define yourself – gives meaning to your world. Language is much more powerful than we understand!

You create your world through the story you tell. Your metaphors reveal the story you tell.

Ask yourself what is the difference between “problem solving” and “working with potential?” Are you “fixing” yourself or “creating” the life you desire? Are you “blocked” or “empty” or “jazzed” or “on fire?” Are you “enough” or “authentic” or “present?” Have you “arrived?” Is your life “broken into compartments” or is there “flow?” Have you “fulfilled your potential,” “given away the farm,” or are you “seeking clarity?”

Are you still in doubt about who defines you? Who tells your story if not you?

Filed under: Language, Metaphor, Story, Truly Powerful People | Leave a comment »

Fly Like Lucy

Posted on July 23, 2012 by davidrobinsoncreative

501. Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

About 6 years ago I wrote and illustrated a children’s book entitled, Lucy & The Waterfox. It is about a fox with a natural capacity to fly. She keeps her flights of fancy secret because she knows her pack-mates will not understand. And she is right. When they discover her ability to fly they shame her; they convince her there is something wrong with her. She stops flying and starts withering. The rest of the story is about reclaiming her natural gifts. By the end of the book, Lucy soars without apology. She flies because she can.

Like us, Lucy has a desire to belong. As Catherine once told me, “Sometimes a talent can hold you hostage. It separates us from the pack. It conflicts with the necessity of belonging.” As creative tensions go, Catherine described the mother lode. I work with so many people who have squelched their natural gifts in exchange for acceptance. I’ve done it. And, like Lucy, it is the path of withering. Cut off your gifts, diminish your offer, and you will put a kink your life force.

Of course, Lucy’s story is universal. The tension between belonging and expressing your nature is a pull that every human being feels. W.B Yeats called this tension the right hand path and the left hand path. Do what society expects of you and you are walking the right hand path. Follow your nature, separate from the crowd and you are on the left hand path. The trick is always integration; finding the middle way. That is the grail path.

Catherine also recently sent me a reminder that the entire story depends upon where we place our focus. We can be surrounded by supporters and only see the critics. We can have one foot on the left hand path and only see the limitations. She reminded me to “Just fly! Be true to your range of gifts and abilities and just do it.” Good advice from my dear Catherine who, in this story, just became my Waterfox.

Filed under: Gratitude, Metaphor, Story, Truly Powerful People | 1 Comment »

Help Me. Please

Posted on July 9, 2012 by davidrobinsoncreative

487. Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

It is the day after the 4th of July in the United States of America and a morning explosion roused my inner sociologist. He is not one for early rising so complained a bit when I told him this morning presented a superb opportunity to study human post-party behavior. “With a walk on the beach?!” he protested. “Where do you think all the human parties were last night?’ I replied. He harrumphed, adjusted his sweater, and reminded me that he wished I were taller so he wouldn’t have to stoop so much when doing field research. “I would wish for a taller host body,” he moaned.

We were rewarded almost immediately upon arriving at the beach. “By the piles of trash it looks like an army camped here!” he observed, reaching for his notebook. The public trashcans were jammed. Additionally, sacks and bags and empty six packs were stacked 3 feet high around every can forming a kind of garbage ring art installation. The birds were frenzied trying to tear open the garbage bags. A particularly loopy gull missed his landing and tumbled down a garbage cliff causing a trash avalanche. “Good heavens!” my inner sociologist exclaimed. “One does not see that everyday.”

The sea wall was literally lined with Roman candle remains, beer bottles tilted to just so to better launch rockets (for the red glare), and remnants of bombs bursting in air. There were hundred of those little red sticks, evidence of a sparkler orgy. I caught my inner sociologist just in time – he was moving to dig in the trash. “How can I truly understand human behavior if I leave so much evidence unexamined!” he complained. I pointed out that the only evidence he needed to note was the presence of the piles, “Look how much stuff people packed in and how un-interested they were at packing it out.” He slowly scanned to area and said, “Yes, too true,” narrowing his eyes, he lifted a single brow, and scribbled another note.

It was then that we spotted the real treasure, proof that there is still hope for humanity. Just across the street standing boldly in the middle of a grass strip was a bright red upright Hoover vacuum. “My, what’s this?” I had to remind him to look both ways before dashing crossing the street. “Unbelievable!” he cried, dropping his pencil. “Have you ever seen anything so remarkable?” It was a rhetorical question but I said, “No,” and stood back to admire the gesture. Taped to the front of the Hoover was a small crayon sign that said, “Help me. Please.”

“Isn’t a little humor refreshing?” he asked, looking for his lost pencil. “It gives me hope,” I replied. “Well,” he sighed, “People surprise me at every turn.”

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Truly Powerful People (469)

Posted on June 21, 2012 by davidrobinsoncreative

469.
Join me in inspiring truly powerful people. Each day I will add a new thought, story or idea to support your quest and mine.

As I dust off and relearn the story of Parcival I have decided that it will be the spine of the work I do next week with teachers; we will follow the metaphors; we will open the story so the stories of our lives might open. As I work I am discovering that everything you need to know to be a great teacher is in this story! Parcival is a knight of the Round Table and, depending upon the version you read, he is the knight that finds the grail. Metaphor alert: the grail is not a thing to be possessed. It is what Maslow called self-actualization. It is a metaphor for finding your truth and fulfilling your purpose. What is the purpose of learning if not to seek and find your truth (do not be fooled, passing a test is far from the point of learning and will ultimately leave you empty and the test full)?

I love many aspects of this story and the section I reworked today made me smile. I giggled in the coffee house where I was rehearsing. The other patrons, afraid of the man in the corner talking and cackling to himself, gave me plenty of room to work (have I mentioned that I can’t talk without flailing my hands all over the place. If you ever want me to be quiet, simply bind my hands. I’ll make noises but words will be impossible). The story describes Parcival’s first entry into court. He grew up isolated, deep in the forest (not unlike Arthur, though Parcival did not have Merlin to school him) so he knew nothing of people or manners or custom. He thought dressing like a knight meant he was a knight. He approximated some armor, weaving a breastplate from reeds, a helmet from fronds, and he wielded a stick as a sword. He “borrowed” a mule and rode into Camelot. Arthur and his knights, thinking Parcival was a clown, laughed at him.

Growing up without instruction meant that he had the ideal upbringing for a trickster. He followed his nature without inhibition. Parcival had no inner-editor so the civilized world viewed him as a fool. He acted purely so he threatened custom. He spoke what others could not; he carried no conventions so he had no limits. He had no rules of conduct. Parcival would be the boy in the crowd to say, “This emperor has no clothes!” It would not occur to him to lie. When you are not doubting or protecting your purity you have no reason to deflect or manipulate or withhold. Lies are a byproduct of rules. He was powerful yet his power was raw, unrecognizable, so the world he wanted to enter could only laugh. And their laughter was his fuel. Their laughter propelled him into the world to learn. Arthur was capable of seeing his purity. And Arthur gave him hope. Arthur sent him into the world to prove himself, to learn the rules of society, and invited him to return to court once he’d learned the code and conduct of a knight.

The story is a story of desire; it is a story of following an inner imperative. It is a quest for fulfillment. It has laughter and despair, triumph and shame, obstacles that seem insurmountable; it is a story of perseverance and letting go. It is a story of 2 teachers: one provides the rules for conduct; the other helps Parcival shed the rules of conduct. Both are necessary if you want a shot at entering the grail castle.

If it were a poem it would read like this: Revel in your nature. Betray your nature. Rediscover you nature: grail.

Filed under: Education, Metaphor, Story, Truly Powerful People | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

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