Julia Cameron - Seeking Wisdom: A Spiritual Path to Creative Connection

Jennifer Bassey, for passion

Tyler Beattie, for witness

Judy Collins, for example

Joel Fotinos, muse

Domenica Frenzel, for far-seeing

Gerard Hackett, for loyalty

Nick Kapustinsky, for versatility

Laura Leddy, for faith

Emma Lively, for inspiration

Jacob Nordby, for insight

Scottie Pierce, for vision

Susan Raihofer, for clarity

Ed Towle, for wisdom

ALSO BY JULIA CAMERON

BOOKS IN THE ARTISTS WAY SERIES

The Artists Way

Its Never Too Late to Begin Again

The Artists Way for Parents (with Emma Lively)

Walking in This World

Finding Water

The Complete Artists Way

The Artists Way Workbook

The Artists Way Every Day

The Artists Way Morning Pages Journal

The Artists Date Book (illustrated by Elizabeth Cameron)

Inspirations: Meditations from The Artists Way

The Listening Path

OTHER BOOKS ON CREATIVITY

The Prosperous Heart (with Emma Lively)

Prosperity Every Day

The Writing Diet

The Right to Write

The Sound of Paper

The Vein of God

How to Avoid Making Art (or Anything Else You Enjoy)
(illustrated by Elizabeth Cameron)

Supplies: A Troubleshooting Guide for Creative Difficulties

The Writers Life: Insights from The Right to Write

The Artists Way at Work (with Mark Bryan and Catherine Allen)

Money Drunk, Money Sober (with Mark Bryan)

The Creative Life

PRAYER BOOKS

Answered Prayers

Heart Steps

Blessings

Transitions

Prayers to the Great Creator

BOOKS ON SPIRITUALITY

Safe Journey

Prayers from a Nonbeliever

Letters to a Young Artist

God Is No Laughing Matter

God Is Dog Spelled Backwards (illustrated by Elizabeth Cameron)

Faith and Will

Life Lessons

MEMOIR

Floor Sample: A Creative Memoir

FICTION

Mozarts Ghost

Popcorn: Hollywood Stories

The Dark Room

PLAYS

Public Lives

The Animal in the Trees

Four Roses

Love in the DMZ

Avalon (a musical)

The Medium at Large (a musical)

Magellan (a musical)

POETRY

Prayers for Little Ones

Prayers for the Nature Spirits

The Quiet Animal

This Earth (also an album with Tim Wheater)

FEATURE FILM

Gods Will (as writer-director)

In order to pursue a working relationship with God, we must first examine our own God concept. In our early attempts to talk to God, we may sense the god we were raised with looming over us, clouding a sense that we have a direct line to a supportive force. For myself, I had to move past sixteen years of Catholic upbringingby examining my god concept and ultimately creating a new one. I will share tools that I, and my many students, have used to create a god concept that works. I will share my own practice of talking to God, which is considerably more casual than it once was, as well as the practices of my friends.

This week will guide you to explore your own God conceptand to create the god you would like to talk to.

We all know the story.

Its a beautiful day in paradise. All is tranquil and joyous. Then Eve, uppity Eve, plucks an apple from a forbidden tree. She hands the apple to Adam and says, Sweetheart. Take a bite. Adam, a hopeless codependent, does as he is told. Suddenly the skies part and a booming voice declares, How dare you? I told you not to eat from that tree! From now on you will bear your children in pain and suffering. In fact, the two of you wont even get along! And so mankind was doomed to suffer. And suffer we still do!

Now imagine that we learned a different story. Once again, its a beautiful day in paradise. Once again, Eve plucks the apple and offers it to Adam for a delicious bite. Then what happens? The skies part and a booming voice declares, Far out. Took you long enough! I made that apple red for a reason! Enjoy it. For that matter, enjoy each other. All is well.

From story number one, we learn that we have a jealous, punishing God, a God who wants us to know our (lowly) place. From story number two, we learn we have a loving God who encourages us to reach higher, ever higher. If we reach out in prayer to God number one, we do so with fear and trepidation. We grovel as we pray, groveling required. God number two, our loving God, welcomes our prayers, no groveling required.

How many of us still believe in God number one? Is it any wonder so many of us avoid prayer, not wanting to draw Gods attention to ourselves? At best, we rebel and withdraw from prayer entirely. After all, we conceive of God as a stern parent. Concerned that we must pray right, we do not pray at all. We keep our dreams to ourselves.

Imagine now that we have a loving God. How differently we would behave. Assured of their loving reception, our prayers would become conversational, even eager. Knowing God to be benevolent, we would welcome Gods attention. Knowing that God is encouraging, we would dare to reveal our dreams. With Gods support, we would reach ever higher, expanding to our largest, greatest self. Loving God, we would come to love ourselves. We would come to believe not in original sin but in original blessing.

So how do we exchange our punishing God for a God of love? Musician Michael Reade has this to offer: I draw inspiration from the earth and the sky. I play piano, drums and flute and I am inspired by what I call Eco-Soul. Eco for the earth and Soul for each of us. Its beautiful to go through the seasons noting the changes. The natural world is our great teacher, Michael notes. Appreciating nature, he feels music bubbling up. Music itself is a source of prayerful inspiration for many of us. Composer Tim Wheater draws his musical inspiration from the song-lines of Australia. His music, in turn, inspires listeners to appreciate the natural world. Green Dream, as one of his albums is named, has a druidic love of nature. Listening to it, I am uplifted. God seems jovial, even merry. Music is indeed a stairway to heaven, as director Michael Powell called it. For those of us who live in cities and are unable to access nature directly, music is a dependable source of inspiration, moving the listener to higher realms. As composer Johannes Brahms boldly proclaimed, Straightaway the ideas flow into me, directly from God. For those of us with access to nature, it is easy to see the hand of the creator. Looking past my pion tree to the mountains beyond, it is easy to visualize the Higher Power, ensconced in their heights, wreathed by clouds.

When you reach the end of what you should know, you will be at the beginning of what you should sense.

KAHLIL GIBRAN

Speaking for myself, even after forty-two years, my most reliable conception of the divine is still found in the words of poet Dylan Thomas: The force that through the green fuse drives the flower. That force, powerful and benevolent, strong and yet tender, is a doorway for me to a loving Godand all that we both would create.

Many of us assume that a casual, daily conversation with God is something beyond our reach. For those raised religious, God, after all, is God, and should be addressed properly. We have many formal prayers, and they are a good starting place, except that they feel so formal. Our father may not quite express our relationship to God. Is he a father? And what if we have negative emotions about fatherhood? God Almighty, we might begin, but that puts a great distance between us and God. Lord, we might say simply, but that, too, sounds formal. Dear God, we might at first start, settling on direct address.