Different strokes..
- Thread starter wil
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stranger
the divine ignorance (and friends)
Surely many have fed from the hand of the Muse. The Muse opens the hand, and like wild, shy animals, the hungry ghosts of the forest come forth to taste what is offered and be nourished and inspired. Having eaten from the hand of inspiration, They offer to their fellow creatures from their abundance. However:
"So it is that we can seldom help anybody. Either we don't know what part to give or maybe we don't like to give any part of ourselves. Then, more often than not, the part that is needed is not wanted. And even more often, we do not have the part that is needed." -- Norman Mclean
They have offered and continue to do so, but we take only what we need in order to fill the empty place at the heart of us. The Muse is a free agent and is controlled by no one. Those who have often fed from that hand will sometimes find it closed. We must patiently wait for inspiration, or else we are tempted to proceed under our own power and for our own glory. Humility is replaced by ego. No longer is one a helpless child waiting to be fed, but one is tempted to take the place of the Muse: "It me! I have what you need." Certainly this is a great tragedy, but a failing to which all of us are susceptible.
Norman Mclean found his inspiration in the babbling waters of the Big Blackfoot River. Simple but powerful. Not overreaching, just sticking to what he knew. And that simple knowing was most profound.
At the end of one of my favorite movies (I never read the book) Robert Redford narrates, using Mclean's words:
"I am haunted by waters." -- Norman Mclean, A River Runs Through It
"So it is that we can seldom help anybody. Either we don't know what part to give or maybe we don't like to give any part of ourselves. Then, more often than not, the part that is needed is not wanted. And even more often, we do not have the part that is needed." -- Norman Mclean
They have offered and continue to do so, but we take only what we need in order to fill the empty place at the heart of us. The Muse is a free agent and is controlled by no one. Those who have often fed from that hand will sometimes find it closed. We must patiently wait for inspiration, or else we are tempted to proceed under our own power and for our own glory. Humility is replaced by ego. No longer is one a helpless child waiting to be fed, but one is tempted to take the place of the Muse: "It me! I have what you need." Certainly this is a great tragedy, but a failing to which all of us are susceptible.
Norman Mclean found his inspiration in the babbling waters of the Big Blackfoot River. Simple but powerful. Not overreaching, just sticking to what he knew. And that simple knowing was most profound.
At the end of one of my favorite movies (I never read the book) Robert Redford narrates, using Mclean's words:
"I am haunted by waters." -- Norman Mclean, A River Runs Through It
Yeah... I couldn't watch that either.