Reference Vault

On occasion art may be a deceptive luxury. And it is very hard to make any objections to the art that has known such success in the past. But things have changed somewhat, and the number of convicts and martyrs has increased amazingly over the surface of the globe. In the face of such suffering, if art insists on being a luxury, it will also be a l

I told him my conundrum: Many people of achievement suffer as they age, because they lose their abilities, gained over many years of hard work. Is this suffering inescapable, like a cosmic joke on the proud? Or is there a loophole somewhere—a way around the suffering?

Acharya answered elliptically, explaining an ancient Hindu teaching about the stag

Hard things are supposed to be hard.

Changing old patterns, ending relationships you’ve outgrown, raising children, creating from your core, letting go, stretching, growing, and stepping into the unknown.

The more worthwhile endeavors require you to show up vulnerably & honestly, and they leave space for something new to happen.

[…]

All of my famil

“Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.” - Rumi

A potential answer lies in the work of the British psychologist Raymond Cattell, who in the early 1940s introduced the concepts of fluid and crystallized intelligence. Cattell defined fluid intelligence as the ability to reason, analyze, and solve novel problems—what we commonly think of as raw intellectual horsepower. Innovators typically have an

Rules for Creative Expansion and Mastery:

1. You must look at art every day. Never stop the influx of creative inspiration.

2. You must write every day. Don’t hold your soul inside.

3. You must create something every day. Release your fullest expression.

4. You must learn something new every day. Maintain mental stimulation and momentum around your curiosity.

5. You m

1. Listen to the birds.
That's where all the music comes from. Birds know everything about how it should sound and where that sound should come from. And watch hummingbirds. They fly really fast, but a lot of times they aren't going anywhere.

– Captain Beefheart

But such melancholy in no way changes reality. It is better, in my opinion, to give the era its due, since it demands this so vigorously, and calmly admit that the period of the revered master, of the artist with a camellia in his buttonhole, of the armchair genius is over. To create today is to create dangerously.

– Albert Camus

There is a phrase, variations of which many of the subjects of this book ended up uttering at some point. As they were describing why they did this or that, they would say they ’listened’ to the work, or the work would ‘tell’ them what to do; the work would ’speak’ to them, as if a character in a book or a color on a canvas could issue orders…. For