Creative Block Chapter 7: Wendall Berry quote

This particular quote has kept me from despair on a number of occasions. I post it separately from the chapter discussion because I didn't want it to get lost in the thread!

There are it seems, two muses. The Muse of Inspiration who gives us inarticulate visions and desire and the Muse of Realization, who returns again and again to say. ‘It is yet more difficult than you thought.’ This is the muse of form. It may be than, that form serves us best when it works as an obstruction to baffle us and deflect our intended course. It may be that when we no longer know what to do we have come to our real work and that when we no longer know which way to go we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.


Wendall Berry


Gassho

Anne

~lahst~

Hi,

1 - Muse of inspiration - "oh, that's cool looking, I bet I can do something with that"

2 - Muse of form - "dam! This is the only halfway decent picture of a tiger in my collection and the edits are not doing much to make it better."

1 is easy and 2 sometimes a lot of work. Sometimes I just have to give up on a picture because it can't be fixed. I slaved over the tiger picture because I had no choice and wound up learning a lot of editing techniques. I am not super happy with it but it is as good as its going to get. It has been a good teacher.


Hope I made some some sense.

Gassho, Jishin, ST
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...8d0aca86c1.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...90c70a8d99.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...b6490b4ee2.jpg

# 3 was the initial raw material, the inspiration.

# 2 was the first draft that I thought was the finished product.

# 1 is the finished product, as good as its going to get for now.

Jishin, the amazing thing to me is how you seem to capture your creatures when they are in a 'mood'. They seem to be interacting with you. When I go to the zoo (which I haven't in a long time), the animals are out of sight or sleeping. You must call them to action in some mysterious way. The images are all wonderful.
And that is a fine example of inspiration and form. thanks.

bows
Anne

~lahst~

Jishin, you definitely have the eye. _()_ _()_ _()_

gassho
doyu sat and lah pretty "good" today

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cooperix

Jishin, the amazing thing to me is how you seem to capture your creatures when they are in a 'mood'. They seem to be interacting with you. When I go to the zoo (which I haven't in a long time), the animals are out of sight or sleeping. You must call them to action in some mysterious way. The images are all wonderful.
And that is a fine example of inspiration and form. thanks.

bows
Anne

~lahst~

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Thank you Anne!

Gassho, Jishin, ST

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Doyū

Jishin, you definitely have the eye. _()_ _()_ _()_

gassho
doyu sat and lah pretty "good" today

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Thank you Doyu!

Gassho, Jishin, ST

I have to say I find your images poetic Jishin - by some alchemy you take a photo and breathe some kind of spirit into it - or the tiger breathed some
kind of spirit into you. Anyhow - pretty darn good [gassholook]

Great quote Anne - stream much impeded just now!

Gassho

Jinyo

Thank you Jinyo!

Gasho, Jishin, __/stlah\__

These are stunning photos Jishin, they have a quality about them which seems to express power and beauty.
I really like the Wendell Berry quote too, this in particular says so much to me

Quote:

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It may be that when we no longer know what to do we have come to our real work and that when we no longer know which way to go we have begun our real journey.

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This resonates with our practice too, don't you think? The idea that when we let all obstacles drop away, we have clarity at last.

It did bring to mind also a quote from Isak Dinesen, which I actually read in a biography of Georgia O'Keeffe a while ago..

Quote:

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Women, when they are old enough to have done with the business of being women, and can let loose their strength, may be the most powerful creatures in the world

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Again, the idea of letting go of our conditioned selves unleashes the power within - this would apply equally to men of course.

Gassho
Meitou
sattodaylah

This one reminds me of that koan “Why does the barbarian have no beard” from the Gateless Gate koan collection.

I would ask Jundo its meaning or better yet, grab my chin. :)

Gasho, Jishin, __/stlah\__
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...ef58f50a5a.jpg

Meitou,
What a quote!

Quote:

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Women, when they are old enough to have done with the business of being women, and can let loose their strength, may be the most powerful creatures in the world

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Being in my seventh decade, and with most of my women friends nearby in age, I must agree. The power, intellect, wisdom and creative energy of these women is staggering. No longer dealing with the business of being women... freeing and exciting and electric.

And Jishin, yet another startling image! Beard, indeed!

Gassho
Anne

~lahst~

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cooperix

Meitou,
What a quote!


Being in my seventh decade, and with most of my women friends nearby in age, I must agree. The power, intellect, wisdom and creative energy of these women is staggering. No longer dealing with the business of being women... freeing and exciting and electric.

And Jishin, yet another startling image! Beard, indeed!

Gassho
Anne

~lahst~

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Brilliant quote !

Gassho

Jinyo

Sat today