From the War of Art: Break through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield:
“… the most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.
“Why is this so important?”
“Because when we sit down day after day and keep grinding, something mysterious starts to happen. A process is set in motion by which, inevitably and infallibly, heaven comes to our aid. Unseen forces enlist in our cause, serendipity reinforces our purpose.
“This is the other secret that real artists know and wannabe writers don’t. When we sit down ech day and do our work, power concentrates around us. The Muse takes note of our dedication. She approves. We have earned favor in her sight. When we sit down and work, we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings. Ideas come. Insights accrete.
“Just as Resistance has its seat in hell, so Creation has its home in heaven. And it’s not just a witness, but an eager and active ally.
“What I call Professionalism someone else might call the Artist’s Code or the Warrior’s Way. It’s an attitude of egolessness and service. The Knights of the Round Table were chaste and self-effacing. Yet they dueled dragons.
“We’re facing dragons too. Fire-breathing griffins of the soul, whom we must outfight and outwit to reach the treasure of our self-potential and to release the maiden who is God’s plan and destiny for ourselves and the answer to why we were put on this planet.”
Love this! the War of Art is one of my most treasured writing guides — it’s practical, yet spiritual, no-nonsense, yet inspirational.
Resistance — we all know what that is — like Steven, we meet it every day. In a nutshell, it’s anything that keeps us from our writing — fear, distraction, doubt, overglorification of writing as an art instead of a craft. Anything that keeps us from sitting down and attacking the page.
Yet, like Steven says so well, when we bypass Resistance, when we decide we won’t let it get in our way, then something mysterious happens — the universe comes to our aid. The Muse approves. Ideas flow. We get the inspiration we need. Just by showing up and sitting down, we set powerful forces in motion. Let’s remember this as we all write on!
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The Dragon In My Heart Repurposed
Bing Chang – 6/11/2020
Through the Hell’s gate, escaped dragons and beasts spreading
In the world where they have been roaming and infiltrating.
To the gambling hall of Wall Street, the dragon breathes the fire of greed.
The crown of the beast labeled “Technology”, the eager traders it feeds.
Of the world, in the dark corner of my heart, an evil dragon once hid.
With his firing breath into my neophyte mind, a disastrous deal I did.
My broken heart screaming out of blood, where to redeem my soul?
A divine light shined into my repentant spirit, seeding an atoning goal.
Heaven opened, the Spirit descended, the dragon in my heart was transformed.
A griffin arose, God’s words from her eagle-beak, my heart was informed.
Her lion-body belting the sword of truth, divine principles my ears hear.
Her eagle eyes beaming the light of the Holy Spirit, my mind’s eyes are clear.
In the world, the horde blindsided by the dragon, chasing the fancied curves
The beast’s crown labeled “mathematics”, poisoning researched market waves
The dragon-prized mind that invented Bitcoin, the utopian monetary system
Fiat crypto currencies blessed by the beast, vying for the dominant totem
The dragon to the inventor: money needs not be pegged by gold. Be inventive!
The self-justified mind, the beast-fired creativity, blockchain being superlative
Buying and selling by the magic token under abracadabra of the dragon’s wand.
High-precision transactions by algorithms in a virtual reality bubble, spellbound
God breathed value into gold and silver giving the true meaning of money.
Currencies, paper, digital or crypto, anchored no inherent essence, are dicey.
The auspicious wings of my griffin, over the sneered-upon miners, God-sent wins.
The treasures now under the griffin’s belt returning to the holy altar atoning my sins.
Dear Bing,
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing poem and meditation. You are truly gifted in the way you express yourself through poetry. It is such an inspiration to read this! May you and yours be safe and protected and all my cherished KWD readers and eople everywhere be safe and protected, and strong and healthy.
Write on,
Karin