The path of spiritual evolution is one of the rockiest and most perilous of paths— filled with conflict, pitfalls and drama. For a writer, that’s the good news. Jan Phillips Here’s a nutshell description of a spiritual memoir that’s being shopped around right now by an agent in Manhattan: Accidental Mystic is a memoir of sensual awakening and spiritual transformation. It follows the trajectory of a young, Catholic lesbian who shape-shifts from misfit to mystic as she Continue reading
One night during a lecture by Gloria Steinem at Syracuse University, a female student in her twenties stood up at the podium during the question and answer period. She said that she had been raised in a family with four brothers and a father who was abusive to their mother as well as the children. She was concerned because she was noticing that her brothers were becoming abusive to their girlfriends and that all she knew to Continue reading
You have awakened the creative spirit of so many Americans. You are instigating deep prayer, fervent hope, prophetic action among those who resist your divisive actions. You are rousing the masses from a time of drowsiness and igniting our imaginations as we co-create communities of kindness and compassion.
We are the artists at life, the creators of culture, and we will prevail. This is what we celebrate: we are the leaven of this land, and we are on the rise.
As a thought makes its way to reality, it it imprinted first as an image in the brain. Once grounded there, it makes its way to the emotional domain of the heart. Here, both magnetic and electrical monopoles engage allowing for the creative combustion we experience as an original idea.
It’s impossible to find good news on the television these days, so I’m being forced to create my own. Luckily, this is not hard. I am surrounded by people who amaze me. My friend Ruth is one of them. Not only did she co-author my latest book, Creativity Unzipped: Why Your Thoughts Matter, but she created an entire body of work called FLOW that she donated to the Institute of Noetic Sciences—the whole works—as a fundraiser for Continue reading
You have learned enough. You do not need another how-to book. Your research is done, for the time being, and it is time now to make something of what you know. The process of enlightenment is one of subtraction, not addition, writes mystic Meister Eckhart. To become luminous, let go of the darkness, let go of your negative beliefs. Luminous is our natural state. We are children of the light, born from exploding stars and supernovae. Carl Continue reading
May 18, 2106-I sent this in my Museletter today. If you don’t receive it, you might like to sign up. The artist deals with what cannot be said in words. The artist whose medium is fiction does this in words. The novelist says in words what cannot be said in words. Ursula LeGuin (Introduction to Left Hand of Darkness) The quote above by LeGuin is why I hold fiction writers in the highest regard. Since Creativity Unzipped Continue reading
I ran across this piece of writing as I was redoing this website and transferring files. It’s the introduction to my book Marry Your Muse. I thought when I read it, that it still has some value, so I’m sharing it here. I hope you enjoy it…
This is a book about deepening our relationship with the Creative Spirit. It is an exploration into possibility, an exercise in dissolving the line between the mundane and the magical, the sacred and the secular. As much as it is about doing, it is about undoing. As clearly as it speaks to creating, it speaks to being created.
I wasn’t just raised Catholic. I metabolized Catholic. I am a cellular Catholic. It was installed in me like software, which I now see as corrupt. The official church, the institutional church, has policies that are killing people. Its position on gays leads directly to some of the violence and suicides in our communities. I seriously pondered killing myself as a gay teen. Its position on birth control is causing mayhem around the world. Its position on Continue reading
Hallelujah! They have risen! Snowdrop, crocus, bearded iris. Exult and throw your happy arms upward! The trillium are carpeting the forest floor. The tulips, triumphant and glorious in rainbow rows, rise up singing “our cups overflow.” The creatures dress in their feast-day finest, the loons and penguins in black tie and tux. Hallelujah ushers forth from lips and beaks as quacks, warbles, howls and hoots fill the forests and fields with hymns of joy. Let the Earth Continue reading