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Ok, so. I know I said I would keep my grubby atheist mitts off the Spiritual Path posts, but I'm going back on my promise for just a minute because I want to be clear about one thing. This chapter is chock-full of quotations from and allusions to a very sketchy genre of writing in which money naturally flows toward people who have the "right" spiritual and emotional alignments, and "money will come when you are doing the right thing." These quotes aren't particularly central to the chapter, but they're all over it and I really wish they weren't.
This is not the way our economy works and it is irresponsible to pretend that it is.
If you're poor or broke right now, it is not because you didn't place enough trust in the benevolence of the universe, because you failed to visualize your dreams, or because you blocked the natural flow of monetary energy with your negative commie thoughts. At the very least, there are other factors at work.
This is not a blanket diss on positive thinking as a practice. Clarifying your goals to yourself CAN help you achieve them. Working through your attitudes toward money CAN help you get more of it (for example, if you have blocks about saving money or asking for a raise). Doing what you love instead of what you think you ought to do CAN have financial payoffs, sometimes more quickly than you expect (and sometimes not). Anything that clears your head and decreases stress can have positive effects that are wide-ranging and deep, and might include being better able to make and manage money.
But the idea that "money is God in action" or "a golden flowing stream of concretized vital energy" (both quoted passages appearing in the margins of this chapter) is neither true nor kind, and I can't sign on for it, even by passively not including it here. Money is just money. Economic systems are not karmic systems. I am going to chalk this one up to "Julia Cameron's unexamined class privilege" and move on.
A couple of better ideas below:
(p. 106-107)
(p. 108)
In addition to the morning pages direction above, for this week's tasks, Cameron encourages us to look out for "[a]ny new flow in your life" and to "[p]ractice saying yes to freebies" (114) She also suggests that we
This is not the way our economy works and it is irresponsible to pretend that it is.
If you're poor or broke right now, it is not because you didn't place enough trust in the benevolence of the universe, because you failed to visualize your dreams, or because you blocked the natural flow of monetary energy with your negative commie thoughts. At the very least, there are other factors at work.
This is not a blanket diss on positive thinking as a practice. Clarifying your goals to yourself CAN help you achieve them. Working through your attitudes toward money CAN help you get more of it (for example, if you have blocks about saving money or asking for a raise). Doing what you love instead of what you think you ought to do CAN have financial payoffs, sometimes more quickly than you expect (and sometimes not). Anything that clears your head and decreases stress can have positive effects that are wide-ranging and deep, and might include being better able to make and manage money.
But the idea that "money is God in action" or "a golden flowing stream of concretized vital energy" (both quoted passages appearing in the margins of this chapter) is neither true nor kind, and I can't sign on for it, even by passively not including it here. Money is just money. Economic systems are not karmic systems. I am going to chalk this one up to "Julia Cameron's unexamined class privilege" and move on.
A couple of better ideas below:
This week, in your morning pages, write about the god you do believe in and the god you would like to believe in. For some of us, this means, "What if God's a woman and she's on my side?" For others, it is a god of energy. For still others, a collective of higher forces moving us toward our higher good. If you are still dealing with a god consciousness that has remained unexamined since childhood, you are probably dealing with a toxic god. What would a nontoxic god think of your creative goals? Might such a god really exist? [. . .]
Many of use equate difficulty with virtue-- and art with fooling around. Hard work is good. A terrible job must be building our moral fiber. Something-- a talent for painting, say-- that comes to us easily and seems compatible with us must be some sort of cheap trick, not to be taken seriously. On the one hand, we give lip service to the notion that God wants us to be happy, joyous, and free. On the other, we seriously think that God wants us to be broke if we are going to be so decadent as to want to be artists. Do we have any proof of all for these ideas about God?
Looking at God's creation, it is pretty clear that the creator itself did not know when to stop. There is not one pink flower, or even fifty pink flowers, but hundreds. Snowflakes, of course, are the ultimate exercise in sheer creative glee. No two alike. This creator looks suspiciously like someone who just might send us support for our creative ventures.
(p. 106-107)
Making art begins with making hay while the sun shines. It begins with getting into the now and enjoying your day. It begins with giving yourself some small treats and breaks. "This is extravagant but so is God" is a good attitude to take when treating your artist to small bribes and beauties.
(p. 108)
In addition to the morning pages direction above, for this week's tasks, Cameron encourages us to look out for "[a]ny new flow in your life" and to "[p]ractice saying yes to freebies" (114) She also suggests that we
Reread the Basic Principles (See page 3.) Do this once daily. Read an Artist's Prayer-- yours from Week Four or mine on pages 207-208. Do this once daily..
no subject
Date: 2014-06-30 12:18 am (UTC)From:On the other hand, I liked her idea of time as luxury; I deny myself time to just be or do. The paragraph about "this is extravagant, but so is God" worked for me, even if I don't believe in a/the/her "God."
no subject
Date: 2014-07-01 05:32 am (UTC)From:One of my writing teachers was always on us about guarding our time. I'll always be grateful to him for harping on it so much because it was exactly what I needed to hear at that point in my life, even if I still haven't gotten around to heeding it.