Invoking the Muses
The way I see it, every day you write a little more of your life’s autobiography. You hold the invisible pen that writes the scenes that link together to form your life odyssey. That vision reminds me of a quote by one my of favorite writers, Jorge Luis Borges:
“A man sets out to draw the world. As the years go by, he peoples a space with images of provinces, kingdoms, mountains, bays, ships, islands, fishes, rooms, instruments, stars, horses, and individuals. A short time before he dies, he discovers that the patient labyrinth of lines traces the lineaments of his own face.”
Once you realize you have the power to write your own story, perhaps it will become easier to retrieve the magic life pen you handed over to others. Then you can write the story you want to write about you.
Steve Pressfield, author of The War of Art, says, “As resistance works to keep us from becoming who we were born to be, equal and opposite powers are counterpoised against it.” He refers to these allies as angels and MUSES!
He also says, “Angels make their home in the self. Resistance has its seat in the ego. The fight is between the two.”
Can you relate to his quote?
My life felt more difficult when my narcissistic ego needed more stroking to keep it from taking a nutty, more checking-in-the-mirror of life to make sure it was o.k., more drama to ensure that it stayed in control. Egos need to be fed constantly and the diet isn’t pretty — they feed on the best part of you. Almost by accident, I discovered that the more I pushed my ego out of the way, the easier and more enjoyable my life became.
I’d like to suggest a few ways to invoke the muses so you can write the story of your life that needs to be written.
- Just start: When you have the courage to do something — as terrified as you may be — the muses will come out to greet the birth of you.
- Work/play at your craft. The more you do your “it,” the more powerful you’ll feel and the more you’ll attract the muses. Weekly blogging has actually increased my ideas for essays, columns and posts.
- Be persistent: Pressfield threw a lot of novels in the trash before he sold, “The Legend of Bagger Vance.” (A great movie, too.). The ego wants you to surrender so it can write your autobiography, filling it with drama and suffering and pain.
Got any ego-minimizing techniques? Please tell us…
Muse thx, G.
p.s. just stumbled on a CD by Layne Redmond called “Invoking the Muse.” (Check it out.) Enjoyed the sample called “Hymn to the Muse.”
RSS
I loved every word of this! And it’s so perfect for where I’m at in my writing heart right now. Thank you for the Jorge Luis Borges quote that describes it so lyrically. I’m so in love with my messy pages that are writing my geography and tracing the lines on my face (both the smiles and the tears).
My ego-minimizing secret (that is not such a secret; I see the writers-who-are-blogging community doing it all the time) is to express love for someone else’s writing.
Thank you, Giulietta the Muse, for musing me. I loved the gift of this blog post. I’m sitting here fully letting myself have the gift.
Hi Milli,
I’m thankful this post spoke to you! Jorge — talk about a genius. Every writer ought to drink in his gorgeous prose.
Most loving ego-minimizing secret. Thank you for telling us. Best wishes for creating messy life pages.
G.
Double-whooping WOW, G – this is fantastic!
These words nearly knocked me on the floor: “Egos need to be fed constantly and the diet isn’t pretty — they feed on the best part of you.”
Ditto what @fearofwriting said about ego-minimizing by loving up someone else’s writing.
I also find that getting quiet and spending some peaceful, connecting-with-the-internal-bits helps.
Hey Karen,
Egos love to chow! Good tip. Just being quiet. Hard to find such places. In college (in Florida), I used to walk into the town and sit in this round church with stained glass windows. The warm wind sent leaves tumbling in through the open doors. Never anyone there but me. Really peaceful and rejuvenating. Thanks! G.
Lovely, Giullietta. Just lovely.
I read Carl Sagan quotes. I find nothing more humbling than stopping to measure myself against the universe from time to time, or realizing that I’m made of dead stars.
Hey Michael,
Will check out Carl Sagan quotes. I’m such a quote junkie. Oh, yes, measuring yourself against the universe. Makes our problems seem so small in comparison. Thanks! G.
Resistance! It’s amazing how much, if not all, resistance is caused by the self; which means it can also be turned around by the self.
I do love Steven Pressfield’s book The War of Art. I’ve given it to aspiring writers and artists as a little encouragement gift.
Hi Belinda,
The Art of War does make a great encouragement gift. You bring up an excellent point about resistance being both caused and confonted by the self. It’s as if we fight a civil war within ourselves.
Yes, I’m going to do X. No, I won’t let you do X. On and on it goes …
Thanks, G.
If you love Steven Pressfield and have a Kindle, you can pre-order his book Do the Work and download it for free.
Thanks Jacki!
g.
What a lovely post! It has always intrigued me… the thing (resistance) that keeps us from the Thing We Love, or the Thing that feels so essential. Essential, and yet we turn our head from it to engage in distractions and excuses. And then feel unhappy, less than who we are.
Don’t give the war your attention and focus. Don’t push to hard against even the resistance, for that, too, causes more war and more resistance. Let it all into your heart. Lay it all at the feet of the Muses, and choose again what you love.
Hi Nancy,
I’m happy you stopped by! We’ve exchanged a few tweets about singing.
What you say about not giving the war your attention speaks to me because I read a book or an article a few years back that talked about all the various problems in the world that are referred to as wars. The war on “…” and the war on “…” It said that once you call them wars it actually escalates the problem. Love “lay it all at the feet of the muses.” That quote gives me all sorts of ideas, fellow muse! thx, g.
Hey Giullietta,
Lovely post. Many beautiful lines there..This one in particular struck a chord with me..
“Once you realize you have the power to write your own story, perhaps it will become easier to retrieve the magic life pen you handed over to others.”
This is pretty much the reason I took to blogging, I wanted to track a graph on my existence. I believe it’s essential, after all…you are the most vital witness to your life. 🙂
Added you to my favourites. 🙂
PS : I’m a quote fanatic too, loved all the quotes in the post.
Hi Chaitra,
Wonderful to have you join us! And you’ve got quite the quotable line as well, “You are the most vital witness to your life.” Thanks for the favorites nod. Will visit your blog, too.
Thanks, G.
Giulietta,
Truly a mind-bending post. I also love Jorge Luis Borges’ writing and poetry. His quote, so profound and relevant to our life decisions. I also related to the resistance and opposing forces as many times, I’ve felt precisely that, torn apart especially as regards to my writing.
Among all the powerful statements in this post, what resonated most was your advice, “When you have the courage… the muses will come out to greet the birth of you.” The last part sounds as if it were written by Jorge Luis Borges, as if you caught his rhythm and style and made it your own. It’s also excellent advice that I’m going to follow because, believe it or not, I am sometimes truly terrified at the daunting prospect and scope of what I want to achieve, and how little time I have in which to do it.
Hey Penelope,
To be compared in any way to Jorge is, of course, an honor. I’m going to use more of his writings on this blog. Have embarked on this mini-step program that I may write about as I’ve found it immensely helpful to get moving … Wonderful comment! ty, G.
Pressfield has a way with words.
I especially like this framing:
“Angels make their home in the self. Resistance has its seat in the ego.”
Hey J.D.,
The War of Art is really a terrific book. Short and sweet! Thx for stopping by again. G.