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Julia Cameron, The Artist's Way
Listening to classical music in the car recently, the presenter commented after one composer’s beautiful piece that ‘this is what he left behind’. Imagine that we could leave something behind us that touches the generations to come, that could put people closer to God. The world is dying a little bit every day yet we can be giving birth to new things.
The Artist’s Way is a practical book, easy to read, about creativity. It will help you practically to find out who you are and what you can do, and then lead you forward in small ways (but with much bigger things in mind). In this day and age, when so many of us juggle with all the things that we feel we should do, it drives to the heart of who you are – who God made you to be – and gets you to walk in that. Make space for it, put it first, prevent it being sabotaged.
And it’s not just for artists. Envisage a housewife, running a home and bringing up kids, suffering from the clamour of all the obligations and demands on her time. Cameron wants to show her how to be replenished and have a life that moves forward in her own right. To discover – whatever she does by day – a strong sense of self, and allow the other things to flow from that. Or think of Joe Christian, brought up in church, familiar with the idea that he should be God’s hands and feet and serve the good causes and projects that continually spring up in his church community, who ends up doing everything for others and nothing for himself. Isn’t it time that he found out who he is and does that instead? Far better than being a do-good-er, to be who God made him?
It is a completely liberating book to read.
in fact, it is more of a course than a standard book. Each chapter has small tasks to complete, and there are two principles fleshed out at the beginning, suggesting that as you work through The Artists Way that first, you have a date with yourself once a week, getting uninterupted time to do what you enjoy, and that second, you download all your thoughts onto paper first thing in the morning to get you through to the other side instead of worrying your way through to bedtime. The practical guidance connects you back to God, creating sanctuary as you work through the book. You can do it alone, in groups, or in a one to one setting.
As a mainstream book designed to help everyone it is not explicitly Christian. But the very first chapter outlines how, for the material to be effective, the readers must suspend disbelief and imagine that they are created beings made by a great Creator, who is called ‘God’ for the rest of the book. Cameron's inspiration is in line with the Bible and God’s principles. We have a responsibility to steward the abilities given to us. Remember the parable of the talents?
Some might think the premise is self-centred but it is so important to become aware of who God made us to be and to live out of that. That is where life comes from. We begin to see the massive potential as we realise who we are created to be and what our gifts are. That is surely how God sees us, as he leads us into creating something lasting of his life in the world.
CLC has copy of this book. Speak to Jayne Ruffell-Ward should you wish to borrow it.
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Jayne Ruffell-Ward, 20/01/2008 |
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