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Truth And The Artist
A good friend of mine, who had been a long time Zen monk, once asked me, “Why aren’t more artists enlightened?”
Although they may not realize it, artists eschew, or at the very least postpone, enlightenment on behalf of making art. It makes me think of the Zen story about the brilliant and gifted nun who every time she achieved expertise in anything- archery, calligraphy, playing music- she immediately abandoned it.
Artists clearly put a higher premium on making art than enlightenment. They have to.
— Adam Shaw
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…Change must begin with love. Love of yourself, love of the world. You cannot move forward in life while holding onto hurts, grief, anger — they weigh us down massively.
— Steve Barnes
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When we believe stories about people we have never met we can become lost in a kind of shadow play. We can come to believe our group consists of only good people and our enemies, no matter how numerous, are all as evil as the most brutish and violent example we can find in their midst…
There are real threats to be confronted to be sure. And people have a right to defend themselves from such dangers, but there is little hope for peace if we focus only on the terrorists hiding in the midst of our enemies and excuse…
