I mentioned the other day that I sensed that I was slipping into a creative purgatory and there seemed to be a lot of noise in my life, and all of this is happening when my creativity is at it’s zenith. Isn’t it funny that when all is most right with the world, the most unthinkable disasters descend upon us. I’ve done some soul searching the last day or so and really feel to keep from slipping into creative black hole I need to simplify.
I started thinking of the story of the mighty sequoia trees in the Pacific North West. They stand almost 400 years old and 240 feet high—as tall as some of the highest buildings in Spokane! But a few years ago, one of them toppled over for no apparent reason. No windstorm, fire, flood, or ice. No insect damage. The conclusion: foot traffic. People walking around the base of the tree had damaged the root system and contributed to the collapse. Park officials since fenced some of the oldest and largest trees to keep the public from trampling the root systems of these giants.
The plight of the sequoia tree is merely a metaphor for my life and your life. These great trees lived for hundreds of years withstanding everything mother-nature could throw at them, yet they can’t survive when there is no protection—no sacred enclosure around their root systems. I think I need, we need, a sacred enclosure too—an inviolable time to protect my art and my creativity because without that, my roots get trampled, my art suffers. I need time to listen and focus. Bottom line is I’m over stimulated and have allowed the noise to take root in my mind.
What do I hope to achieve? In our efforts to live the ‘good life’, it’s easily to find ourselves overwhelmed by seemingly endless choices, checklist of tasks, decisions and activities. I hope to slow down, and give time to remember who I am and what’s really important in my life. And as I simplify, I hope to begin to listen intently my inner creative voice more and allow my creativity to flourish.
How am I going to do it? This will be my last blog post for the foreseeable future, additionally I will be logging off of Twitter and Facebook, and I will be going 100% analog. Of course, because of the nature of our world and communication, I will have my wife @danaknisely check all of my communication platforms and relay information and correspondence. If you need to get hold of me, feel free to email me.
Interesting sidelight to this story. One of these great trees recently fell and the rangers investigated. The only reason was “to much traffic” So many people had trampted around the trees that the roots began to bruise and simply died. The failure to protect the “sacred enclosure” resulted in the loss of this magnificent tree that had survived hundreds of years…There is a lesson somewhere for us…bless you and may you get a “fresh” word and sense of life from the Master. I am doing basically the same thing tomorrow…Love you man