Thursday, August 14, 2008

Food For Thought




I will act as if what I do makes a
difference

-William James

Summer has entered its late stage here the mushrooms are sprouting everywhere and the kadydids are singing loud and strong at night.
I continue to slog along at the sorting process, some days I make progress and some not so much. This past weekend was one of those moments when my constant chipping away sort of rolled into a bunch of progress (very kaizen) I cleaned the studio up including the file cabinets and bulletin boards. As a result I feel much less anxious.
I’ve even made significant progress on the computer sorting, I’ve gotten rid of many duplicate files and photos.
This would probably go a great deal faster if the entire process wasn’t tangled up with my “what should I do with my life?” angst… Of course that angst is one of the reasons I have such a big mess on my hands in the first place. I start a project-then wonder if I should be spending time on it-then think of something else to do-and repeat, leaving a wake of unfinished work, various research materiels and notes. The above quote is from

Zen and the Art of Making a Living: A Practical Guide to Creative Career Design
by Laurence G. Boldt

A book that has been sitting on my shelf unread for 8 years or so, its full of food for thought and a tremendous amount of quotes.
One idea it has me chewing over is world view-the general perspective from which you interpret the world
Is your world view primarily based from a commodity perspective (interested in profit, domination, control)
Or is it based from a sacred perspective (interested in service, duty, protection, love)
Our society is so grounded in the commodity perspective that even when the sacred perspective is understood to be a healthier and wiser direction to follow it can be difficult to do so….
It’s a nice simple guide to frame decisions though even the angsty ones.

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