A Clarion Call for Creativity

A Clarion Call for Creativity

 The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.

                                     Joseph Campbell

 In response to the political turmoil of 2016, which left so many of us dispirited, arose a clarion call for democracy. Democratic freedom was threatened and America responded with group-centered response and courageous resilience. This movement is necessary and sometimes productive. However in the long view, it is individualism itself which must be protected, nourished, and expressed creatively. It is the arts which create culture and, in turn,  a living, lasting civilization.

All art arises from a singular vision of the individual. For this the individual artist, writer, composer, painter, singer, actor, must step back, turn within, and listen to his or her own soul’s vision. This demands time and space to embrace a necessary solitude to plant the seeds of creativity.

Writing can be a sometimes lonely pursuit yet it brings forth the harvest of our deepest expression.  As the ancient shamans who descended to the underworld and turned within and listened in order to bring forth the messages needed for his community, so must today’s creative serve this vital function. From this is born a freedom that no government or corporation can squelch.

More than ever, individual vision is needed. It has naught to do with government policy or fashion.

One individual can change the world.

Individuals change their world over and over, individuals make the future.

They do it by imagining that things can be different.

                                                         Neil Gaiman

Every day the world is changed by ordinary people. A young Chinese student stands stolidly in

front of a tank in Tiananmen Square. A black woman decides it is time for a change and refuses to sit at

the back of a bus in Alabama. In the distant Himalayas in India, there are meditating yogis who never

leave their caves, yet some say that these wise ones are helping to keep the world in balance. Never

underestimate the value of ordinary human beings, for they are the ones who change our world.

We have a duty to our deeper Self to be true to who and what we are, to be true to our story.  How to find

your authentic voice? By being still, turning within, and listening to that deeper Self.

Stay at your table and listen. Don’t even listen, just wait,

be completely quiet and alone.

The world will offer itself to you to be unmasked.

                                                                             Franz Kafka

         Next Way of Story Sat workshop in Ojai, CA is Sat, Sept 9, 10-4pm.

                 THE WAY OF STORY in OJAI

with Catherine Ann Jones

Saturday, Sept 9 (10-4pm)

  “We’ve become lopsided living only in our heads. Writing, in order to serve the soul,          must integrate outer craft with the inner world of intuition and feeling.”                                                                                          – Catherine Ann Jones, NY TIMES

 

The Way of Story offers an integrative approach to writing narrative, combining solid craft with experiential inner discovery. Craft alone is not enough. No other writing workshop offers the solid craft to guarantee a good story along with the intangible inner dimensions of writing.

• For writers of all levels & all narrative forms – both fiction and non-fiction –

including plays, screenplays, stories, novels, & memoir

 

“At last, a working, professional writer who teaches writing!” – Joe S., San Francisco

 “Your structure gave my story wings. I’ve never been so clear on what I want to write.”                                                                                             – Linda L, Ann Arbor, MI

         “A spiritual experience as well as practical.”   – Gard J., Nevada

To hold a space, please send check for $195 ($180 if rec’d by Sept 5)

                    to Catherine Ann Jones, 105 S. Arnaz Ave, Ojai, CA 93023

CATHERINE ANN JONES is an award-winning author, playwright, & screenwriter whose films include Unlikely Angel, The Christmas Wife, & the popular series, Touched by an Angel, as well as the books, The Way of Story, Heal Your Self with Writing (Nautilus Book Award), Freud’s Oracle, and What Story Are You Living? She has served on the writing faculty at The New School University, University of Southern California, Pacifica Graduate Institute, and the Esalen and Omega Institutes. She works as a writing consultant and teaches in USA, Europe, and Asia as well as offering online courses.    www/wayofstory.com