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"Genius is the power for lighting your
own fire."
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
"What are you
on fire about now?" Where does your fiery urge to create come from? Where
are you stuck? What are you willing to do to rekindle the fire when it is nearly extinguished
by despair or fear? And what are you doing to pass on the torch of your inspiration?
These questions are at the heart of one of the greatest human mysteries
of all – creativity — the eminently natural impulse to make things, but also, in the original
sense of the word, to grow or make order out of chaos. However, creativity can be a bittersweet
gift, compulsive and confusing.
This lecture explores this combustible territory of creativity,
from cave painting and writing to photography, movies, business, and the growing Internet
world. To help us on our journey we will focus will be on three incandescent stages of the
Creative Journey: Inspiration, Perspiration, and Realization, and will include stories,
film clips, and animated discussion. Our themes will include: the ever-changing role of
the arts, the cultivation of work habits, the use of dreams and role of mentors, the dreaded
creative block, the myth of genius, beauty, art in the marketplace, the spiritual side of
art, and creativity in everyday life.
The Creative Journey:
From Inspiration to Realization
Workshop
Saturday, March 8, 2008 10
a.m.- 4 p.m.
The Unitarian Universalist Church, South Wing
3975 Fruitville Rd., Sarasota
$45 Members $50 Non-Members $20 Students
*Early Registration Discount for Members.
Register by March 4 and get Lecture
+ Workshop for $45.
Lunch available on-site for $6.50 if registered by March 4; or call
312-9062.
Twenty-five hundred
years ago Aristotle wrote, "One learns to play the harp by playing." In
that spirit our workshop will reflect both this classically practical approach and the psychological
perspective by charting our personal progress with "The Creative Wheel," a mandala-like
circle that reflects the nine different stages of creativity. They are: Reverie, Time, Muses
& Mentors, The Talent of the Room, Focus, Burnout, The Real Work, and Passing the Torch.
During our journey we will ask: Where are you on the creative journey?
Where are you stuck? Where do you want to be? What are you willing to do to take the next
step and then the step after that in order to complete your project? This means we will
emphasize a series of actual practices, exercises, what we might call "sparks off the flint,"
that enable us to sustain a creative life in any chosen field. We will also engage in writing,
sketching, active imagination, and observation exercises, as tools for finding our true
voice and deepening our work.
This workshop is designed for all those who are fascinated by the
possibility of lifelong creativity, from painters and poets to gardeners, coaches, teachers,
and therapists.
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Phil
Cousineau is a writer, filmmaker, photographer, youth
sports coach, pilgrimage guide to sacred sites around the world, and frequent commentator
on CNN, BBC, and other media outlets. He has published twenty-one books, including
the worldwide bestsellers The Art of Pilgrimage, Soul: An Archaeology, The Olympic
Odyssey:Rekindling the Spirit of the Ancient Games, and his latest, Stoking
the Creative Fires. He has also written over sixteen documentary films, including
The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on his Life and Work, Ecological Design,
and, with Huston Smith, A Seat at the Table: The Struggle for American Indian
Religious Freedom. Cousineau is the host for the LINK TV television series: "Global
Spirit", and a frequent movie consultant at Warner Brothers and Universal Studios.
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Fueling Fire photo by Suresh Gundappa ©2007
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