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The Creative Mind
“Honestly, I haven’t fully embraced that idea that I’m a writer — even though I’ve been writing since I was a child, have two degrees in writing, worked as a writer for 10 years, written for numerous publications including Essence magazine and The New York Times, and wrote a novel. I’ve been thinking about why that might be. This may be inflammatory to say, but I think the United States, as an empire, despises writers. Perhaps, it despises all artists — particularly ones it cannot control — because as James Baldwin said, “Artists are here to disturb the peace,” by which he meant the status quo. So in this country, art is often treated as secondary, if not completely unnecessary to human development and achievement. This becomes a cultural attitude where art is regarded as frivolous, and an emphasis is placed on “practical” professions that earn particular kinds of wages.”
— Robert Jones Jr.
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The witness is your awareness of your own thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Witnessing is like waking up in the morning and then looking in the mirror and noticing yourself — not judging or criticizing, just neutrally observing the quality of being awake. That process of stepping back takes you out of being submerged in your experiences and thoughts and sensory input and into self-awareness.
Along with that self-awareness comes the subtle joy of just being here, alive, enjoying being present…
