The Power of Direct PerceptionMy predilection is to see, because only by seeing can a man of knowledge know. —Don Juan as reported by Carlos Castaneda First I must look, then I must learn. —Theodore Roethke We have become a nation of specialists. This is a good thing since it allows all individuals to find an area of focused interest that corresponds closely to their talents and predilections. My specific […]
David Ulrich
Creativity and Consciousness
Silence Bursting OutwardArt serves to reflect a society back on to itself; it reveals the shape of our inner and outer lives; and honors the beauty and contradictions of the world. Art can be an expression of our identity as individuals and as a culture. The arts of today reflect a myriad of social, natural, and political realities. However, beyond expressing what is, art may prefigure what can be. It […]
The Reenchantment of Vision
Opening the Gates of PerceptionWhen I was growing up, we hungered for the sight of the soul—to witness the invisible, slender threads that interweave all things and to search for a connection to the underlying sacredness and mystery of life. Many of us took drugs. A lot of them. I didn’t. I meditated. Either way, we longed for a taste of the infinite. “This is how one ought to see, […]
Awakening to What Is
Conscious living in the postmodern worldWhat might it mean to live consciously? On a daily basis and from a variety of sources—articles, books, websites, personal conversations, even media and advertising—we come face to face with evocative yet misleading phrases like conscious eating, conscious relationships, conscious sex, conscious art, conscious work, and more. We have even heard the phrase, conscious consumption. And often, these particular strivings towards consciousness are referred to […]
What is Inspiration?
A sudden answer to a long perplexing problem, a burst of insight that deeply informs your creative work, a moment of wisdom that changes the shape of your life forever or even the fabric of society; these moments are highly inspiring. As artists and creative individuals, we seek to know—and come to rely upon—these stunning moments of epiphany and insight. It is said that Beethoven could “hear” the music, and […]
The Earth: What Have We Done, What Can We Do?
The earth needs healing. Now. As we enter the New Year, perhaps it is time to think beyond our own prosperity, our own happiness, our own success, and look at the pleas of mother earth. No longer can we naively view nature as a virgin, pristine presence—as generations have done in the past. We must look ahead and witness the legacy of our consumption and inattention on the generations to […]
The 50 Most Influential Spiritual Books of Our Time
“Books are to be called for and supplied on the assumption that the process of reading is not a half-sleep; but in the highest sense an exercise, a gymnastic struggle; that the reader is to do something for himself.” —Walt Whitman A list compiled from our own thought and experience. This is not meant to be objective or universal, but merely the books that we perceive as being useful and important. […]
To Question . . .
Poet Rainer Maria Rilke writes: “Try to love the questions themselves. … Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.” To question is life itself. I wrote this ten years ago. And understand it more clearly now, as I likely will find greater clarity ten years from now. Our insights are evolving—always—if we seek […]