Returning to the World

Image Credit: NASA

I have just finished Martin Buber's extraordinary work, "I and Thou", and am still reeling from the experience. Every page in my book has been underlined, notes scribbled in the margins - confirmations, questions, refutations (yes, I'm one of those sacrilegious souls who writes in books). So here is one passage that left me deeply thoughtful about how we talk about "progress" and "development". This passage helped clarify for me where the true evolution of humanity is leading - first into our depths, then back into the world:

"The sickness of our age is unlike that of any other and yet belongs to the sicknesses of all. The history of cultures is not a stadium of eons in which one runner after another must cover the same circle of death, cheerfully and unconsciously. A nameless path leads through their ascensions and declines. It is not a path of progress and development...but only the unheard of return - the breakthrough. Shall we have to follow this path all the way to the end, to the test of the final darkness? But where there is danger what saves grows too." (Emphasis added.)

Buber speaks of "the unheard of return" - meaning our return to the actual, lived world of human encounters and relationships. For Buber, this is the essential direction of all true change - returning to the world from a place of aloneness, struggle, alienation. Of course, we must first descend into our darkness before we can return. But it is the process of return that redeems our darkness, gives it meaning, and ultimately, heals us.

Honouring the Intuitive Mind

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. 

We have created a society that honors the servant 

and has forgotten the gift." 

~ Albert Einstein

In his now-famous TED talk, Sir Ken Robinson describes how schools kill creativity. He asserts that all children are innately creative, yet we socialize them into conformity by measuring them against a "standard" that is biased and even harmful. He advocates different solutions to this problem, which I will not elaborate here. What I'd like to do, instead, is think about what nourishes our creativity - which includes honouring our intuitive minds.

I recently read an interview with the Andrei A. Tarkovsky, the son of famous Russian film director, Andrei Tarkovsky (remembered for Solaris, among other works). Mr. Tarkovsky spoke about the spiritual lineage of Russia, and how this lineage, so deeply ingrained in the culture, is the unquestioned foundation of all Russia's great works of art, literature, and film.

I was reminded of the Firebird, a mythical creature of Russian folklore. It is said that when one of her feathers drops to earth, another art form is born.

For me, it was astonishing to read Tarkovsky's unabashed admission of the centrality of the divine in creative pursuits. In the West, there has been a not-so-subtle overthrow of God or anything hinting at religion or mysticism in much of contemporary art (perhaps starting as far back as the Enlightenment).

Let me be clear: I am not advocating a return to the religiosity of, say, the Middle Ages or even the Renaissance. But I feel we now worship rationality and its associates (utility, efficiency, price) to the detriment of wisdom, experience, reflection - in other words, our "intuitive mind". Just as the union of science and faith is necessary to achieve a fuller conception of truth, reason and intuition are equally vital in connecting mind, heart, and gut.

It is this unity - of intellect, emotion, and intuition - that informs creativity. (Note: I do not say, "is" creativity. That's another discussion.) Art that is purely conceptual feels sterile and empty. Art that is purely emotive lacks clarity and the power to move beyond catharsis. And intuitive art - by which I mean art that springs from somewhere deeper than consciousness - is inexpressible without the languages of mind and heart to give it form.

There are two words in Einstein's famous quote that bear exploration: servant and gift. I have written in an earlier entry about "servant leadership", and I feel service itself is an essential part of the creative process. When we serve others, we step out of our own whirlpool of self, with all its problems, confusions, and obsessions. The very act of opening to another in a stance of service also opens us to creative energies. This is because we have to submit to the will of the universe and stop trying to control the outcome. And once we give up control, we are signalling our willingness to be transformed.

Thomas Merton described spiritual transformation in similar terms:

"...in order to make this leap our of ourselves we have to be willing to let go of everything that is our own - all our own plans, all our own hesitations, all our own judgments...That does not mean that we give up thinking and acting: but that we are ready for any change that God's action may make in our lives.

 "On this readiness to change depends our whole destiny."

I feel the same can be said of creativity. Creativity requires, at core, a willingness to fundamentally change how we see ourselves and the world. And this willingness to change in never confined to logic or reason - though it does make use of them. Our brains provide the heat of motion and concentration that moves us toward the precipice of some real or mental leap. But it is here, at this point of utter unknowingness when all familiar stars disappear from the sky, that thinking too much is not a good idea. This is the moment when we need a wisdom deeper than rationality or emotion.

To prepare ourselves for this moment, we must honour and nourish our intuitive mind just as much as our bodies and mental capacities. Nourishing our intuitive mind means:

(1) Acknowledging its power. We cannot control our intuition - at best, we can open ourselves to it, listen to it, and protect it. 

(2) Befriending its eccentricities. To do this, we must spend enough time alone in order to reconnect our intuitive mind with our reason and emotions. This may mean engaging in solitary activities like walking or mountain climbing. But it also can mean prayer and meditation. 

(3) Serving others. Service is how we learn empathy, acceptance, how to give, but also how to receive the unexpected gifts that both friends and strangers offer. These values heighten our sensitivity to true connection, helping us distinguish between intuition and cognitive/emotional noise. And true connection = intuition.

This is, of course, a very partial and incomplete list. But it is a start. Writers often speak of "submission" in terms of sending poems or stories to editors in the hope of publication. But I believe creativity requires another kind of submission.

Creativity requires offering ourselves to wisdom's wisdom. This is the "sacred gift," and it demands nothing less than our entire being.

Non-Integration Is No Longer an Option

"The one who is always trying to discover the unknown,

Could not discover himself.

The one who captured the rays of the sun,

Could not fill the void of his own life.

The one who illuminated the world with lanterns,

Failed to realize the darkness of his own heart.

If there is darkness in one's own heart, what is the use of light on the outside?"

- Allama Iqbal, "Filling Our Void"

There is always the question of whether you can separate an artist from his/her work. Or a great leader from his/her confused or sordid persona life. In the past, this separation was possible. In some respects, it still is. But we are swiftly moving into an era when the divorce between Work and Source will not be acceptable or even desirable. Non-integration is no longer an option.

I believe this is true for several reasons. First, there is the revolution in the means and speed of communication. In the past, information was very limited. We knew about people through word of mouth, through their own personal correspondence or memoirs, through other people's recollections.

Today, technology has so blurred the line between personal and public that many artists and leaders are confronted with the details of their "private" lives - whether true or fabricated - in almost real time, and before a global audience. It is becoming increasingly difficult to watch a film or policy debate without making even subtle character judgments: "Oh, he's the one who had an affair with..." "She was involved in that hit-and-run..." Even if the information is false, life in the public eye requires much greater vigilance to preserve one's reputation.

Second, and beyond self-preservation, there is a deepening thirst for honesty, sincerity, and heartfulness in art and leadership. In the past, people were content with making a living, or if they were hungrier, with the search for "meaning." Now, even meaning is inadequate. People are looking for meaning that is meaningful - which is not a truism. Many works of art have a kind of meaning - they can be conceptual, existential, or beautiful. Even ugliness and brutality, as witnessed in both politics and many commercial films, has a kind of meaning.

But this is not what people are seeking. In art and leadership, connection is everything. And connection cannot be faked. Without the integration of ethical living and creativity, connection is impossible. Why? Because connection rests, first, on contact with one's soul. And this bond is broken if a person is destructive of human relationships.

In politics, leadership without integrity is leading us farther away from our station as beings with a conscience and nobility.

In education, social services, and international development, ticking boxes and writing reports is no longer satisfactory. In fact, it is harming everyone from office workers to aid beneficiaries by talking about everything from "empowerment" to "sustainability" without one essential word...love.

In the arts, intellect and creativity divorced from humanity is producing much that is half-living, and much that is dead.

In religion, morality without relevance or role models is proving an empty ethics.

In science and academia, the highest aim has become to pick holes in each other's arguments. Personality politics is the name of the game, not collaboration, dialogue, or mentorship.

In industry and economics, the quest for utility and profitability leads to unceasing cycles of boom and bust because concepts like detachment, sacrifice, and service are not included in our models.

This is why I believe the era of non-integration must end. Because is becoming too painful to look at ourselves in the mirror without seeing, at the same time, the world we have created. 

5 Years Too Many

This month marks the 5th anniversary of the imprisonment of 7 Baha'i leaders in Iran, for no crime other than their belief in a faith deemed "heretical" by the Shiite clerics. This is a faith that teaches the oneness of God, the oneness of religion, universal education, the equality of men and women, and the unity of humankind. You can learn more about the systematic persecution of Baha'is here: http://www.bic.org/fiveyears/

I Am Going to Cause a Tiger

And so, as I sleep, some dream beguiles me, and suddenly I know I am dreaming.

Then I think: this is a dream, a pure diversion of my will; 
and now that I have unlimited power, 
I am going to cause a tiger.

~ Jorge Luis Borges

Do not wake me, says the dreamer,

let me pass through Indian forests

and glimpse the crushing velvet,

the hunter's molten eye.

Let me speak Blake in my sleep,

grind syllables between my teeth

like citadels of crashing light,

forming meteors that arc the iris -

fallen stars devoured

by my own slumbering depths.

Let me whisper to my darkness

the golden oath I dreamt:

I am going to cause a tiger.

But do not wake me. Not yet.

Song of Ourselves

March 8th was International Women's Day. A few weeks earlier, I had written a personal reflection on what it means to be a woman today. It was published last Friday on American Public Media's On Being blog. You can read the essay here:

SONG OF OURSELVES

My mother, Jacqueline and her dear friend Judith, Haifa, Israel

New Blog: FireWired

New year, new job, new city, new blog! I've begun work on FireWired, a blog about education, technology, and social justice. Readers and suggestions welcome.