The Legend of the Muse

"For those who believe and know it is so

a muse exists so that we may know

of ideas and creative words that will flow

like a waterfall in a forest where flowers grow.

She comes and goes as she pleases

Her inspiration may come as subtle teases

Her ancestors were muses for thousands of years

Revealing words and ideas to artists and seers."

- David Lawrence Brown 

 

The War of Art and Resistance

In Steven Pressfield's excellent book, The War of Art, he identifies a force that he calls "resistance" that causes writer's block, procrastination, self-sabotage, self-deception, fears, and anything that holds back our creativity. If we want to be living our highest and best purpose in life, we need to know about and overcome resistance. 

 Invoking the Muse

It's within Book Three, in The War of Art, that Pressfield discusses invoking the Muse, and working with that hidden power or force that has inspired men and women to create art for thousands of years. We can overcome resistance. A muse is on the other side. Inspiration is a blessing and a gift. 

The Legend of the Muse

 There are many legends of muses, as we can imagine that over thousands of years in human creative history, muses have been involved in various ways. 

Years ago, a young man went into a forest in an isolated remote area surrounded by mountains and waterfalls. He was searching for a new purpose in life and for whatever new insights and ideas he would have on this self-imposed retreat into the realms of the Spirit. 

He was fasting and praying and singing sacred chants and songs for days, and nothing came to him in the form of new ideas, inspiration, or insights into his higher purpose, and his life. 

 On the tenth day, he was walking down a path to a waterfall that he had discovered a few days before. There was something about the area around the waterfall, with flowers, trees, and rock formations that seemed mystical, magical, and had subtle yet profound energy. 

 It was early morning, and all of nature seemed to be waking up to the day, with the birds singing, and sunlight streaming through the trees, lighting the path. The air was fresher than it seemed the other day, and he felt a wave of energy through his body and mind that opened up his heart. 

 Within moments he felt love surrounding him, a love that was beyond description, but if words could describe it, then bliss, joy, opening, power, and grace. 

He sat down on a grassy knoll by the waterfall and closed his eyes, as the feelings of love intensified, and he let go of any thoughts or fears about this experience, allowing it to happen, and not resisting it.

Then, with his eyes closed in meditation, he had an epiphany, that a muse has been with him all along, and that when he was ready and had overcome resistance, the Muse would reveal ideas, thoughts, and insights for his creative work. It was so subtle that he did not even hear words or a message; it was just a hidden knowledge that he received. 

When he came out of the meditation, he had no idea of what time it was. He checked his watch, and it had been three hours since he started the meditation. It was late afternoon. There was a silence in the surrounding trees and forest. He decided to celebrate the new gift that he had received by standing under the waterfall. It was about 20 feet high, so it felt like a large, powerful shower of water and blessings pouring into his life. 

He kept his relationship with his Muse a secret until he felt like writing about it. Then it became his legend, as he knew that other legends would be born on his new creative journey of dancing with the Muse, listening, and realizing that with every breath, he connects to creation on all levels, seen and unseen. 

The Need for Unwavering Faith in the MIdst of this Global Crisis

During the Vietnam War, Vice Admiral James Stockdale spent seven years being tortured in a Hanoi prison. He was tortured fifteen times, put in leg irons for two years, and put in solitary confinement for four years. When asked about his experience, he noted that optimistic prison-mates eventually broke, as they passed one imagined deadline for release after another. Stockdale's strategy, instead, was to meld hope with realism —"the need for absolute, unwavering faith that you can prevail," as he put it, with "the discipline to begin by confronting the brutal facts, whatever they are.  (from Atlantic Monthly – "Our Pandemic Summer", April 2020) 

 During this pandemic crisis and beyond, with physical isolation, may we all, while not ignoring the brutal facts, "meld hope with realism, with the unwavering faith that we will prevail", and enjoy our connection with a Muse, or higher power, or Divine Spirit.