The following is an excerpt from the "Way of Story Writing Course" on-line course. If you would like to enroll in the course, click here.
In the beginning was story. The caveman rushed back to his tribe and excitedly acted out his encounter with some Paleolithic beast. This was his story and forever after he would be remembered by this story. Every story has a sacred dimension not because of gods but because a man or woman's sense of self and her world is created through them. These stories orient the life of a people through time, establishing the reality of their world. Thus meaning and purpose are given to people's lives. Without story, we do not exist. The Way of Story is how we discover who we are.
EINSTEIN WAS WRONG
Einstein was wrong. "The world is made up of stories, not atoms," as poet Muriel Rukeyser once said. Novelist John Steinbeck in his Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech remarked that "literature is as old as speech. It grew out of human need for it, and it has not changed except to become more needed." This is no less true today. From Shakespeare to Star Wars, from Dante to le Carre, the way of story is a journey of discovery forged by discipline and craft. Though it is craft that transforms the initial raw inspiration into form, storytelling begins within, and is as much as part of our past as our genetic structure.
Storytelling is not only the root of film, theatre, literature, and culture, but of the life experience itself. The listener maintains touch with his mythic self and the truths there represented. In losing touch with our myths, there may be a danger of losing touch with ourselves. Today, in modern society, there is a fragmentation which separates most of us from our central core or soul. With all our progress, perhaps something has been lost which earlier cultures knew to value: the soul connection.
For thirty thousand years and in the earliest forms of oral tradition, shamans have tended the soul. The very word, shaman, coming from the Tungus people of Siberia, means excited, moved, raised. He journeys out of body to a realm beyond time and space. The shaman's soul leaves his body in trance state and travels to the underworld or skyward, returning with a message for the community. In this way, the shaman becomes a bridge between the two worlds of earth and spirit. The shaman is an ear for his community. He discovers where their suffering lies, and speaks to that.
What has this to do with us today? We have been split off from spirit since the Industrial Revolution, and today's Age of Information is a poor substitute for the callings of spirit. Information is not -- nor ever was -- wisdom. Knowledge is more than the mere naming of names, survival more than material sustenance. Man needs connection with the worlds of both matter and spirit in order find meaning and balance in life. The integration of matter and spirit is the making of soul or wholeness, which gives meaning to life. Soul combines body, spirit, and mind. In olden times, shamans interpreted psychological illness as separation from soul. The shaman's job then was to retrieve the severed soul and unite it -- or return it -- to the one possessed or ill.
Is this not what the artist does? Is it possible that today's artist or writer might fill the gap of the missing shaman? As an actress-playwright in New York and later as a screenwriter in Hollywood, I have often wondered if today's dramatist is not carrying the forgotten role of shaman.
As the ancient shaman, so often will the writer descend into the depths of himself in order to return with a message? Though he serves the community, he is more often than not marginal -- separate from society. Perhaps this marginality may be necessary in order to move freely between the opposite worlds, unrestrained by society. The artist often suffers from this separateness. Consider Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, Vincent Van Gogh, and Jackson Pollack who all opted for suicide in the end -- even though the gifts such artists bring will enrich society long after they are gone. With a spiritual orientation, the descent into the depths need not be ego-centered or necessitate a tragic end.
Surely, the dramatist also provides a bridge between the split worlds of matter and spirit. In my play, On the Edge, when Vita Sackville-West asks Virginia Woolf how she is, this is her reply:
On the edge, I'm afraid. The strain, I think of inhabiting two very different worlds. This afternoon, for instance, when I was on my walk. At first, I felt the wet grass on my feet. . . and perhaps a robin sang. But then, I began to be drawn in. The more it drew me, the less touch I had with the concrete world. I was in another universe entirely. I was in myself. And this world seemed far, far more real than the one I had left.
The first purpose of writing is to clarify and reveal something in your self, but the only way to do this is to get it out of yourself. The second purpose of writing is to share it with others, providing a mirror for humanity at large, as a modern day shaman.
First, you must discover meaning for yourself in the story you have chosen and then find the necessary form that can be meaningful for others. Notice, too, that every story you write will be a totally different experience, both in origin and in process. This is why I am dead set against any pat formulas for writing anything. Just create the space within and listen to your story. It will guide you. One story might be served best as a short story or a novel, another as a play or film. Remember though, passion first, then craft. The essence of Art is to use the outer form to convey an inner experience. This sacred thread, your inner most being or Soul, binds you emotionally to what you write, and if given respect, will lead you on to the desired end. Stories written from this center will move mountains -- and even create livelihoods.
Here's a visualization exercise that can begin to tap hidden resources. And never forget that your most valuable resource is yourself. If you are a professional writer already, I ask you to do the following exercises as though you have never written anything before today. Approach the blank page as if for the first time. You might choose to play some sacred or soothing music as you do the following exercise. This exercise serves as an invocation and ritual to summon the Muse.
EXERCISE: SOUL DIALOGUE
Close your eyes. Trust the space made sacred by our intention. Now take three deep breaths. Inhale and exhale. As you exhale, take the thought "I release all fear of this inner journey." Repeat this thought on the next two exhalations. Breathe in … breathe out. "I release all fear of this inner journey. " And so, the journey begins.
I'd like you to visualize a long path which stretches before you. It may be a place known to you or it may be a new terrain. It may pass through a dark wood or across high mountains. At some point, you see before you an ancient iron gate. The gate is locked and vines cover it. You reach deep into your pocket and find a key. The key is large and rather heavy. Place the key into the lock, turning it in a complete circle so that the gate swings open. Now take another deep breath releasing any residue of fear, and walk through the open gate.
You find yourself now in a garden. It might be an English garden or perhaps a Japanese Zen garden with stone lanterns and tranquil pools of water with white lotus and gentle Koi fish. Or any garden of your choice. See it. The flowers are in bloom. The smells intoxicate, causing you to smile. Just ahead lies a house which you recognize as the house of your dreams. You know this house for it is your very Self. Take a moment and visualize your house.
The door is locked but you hold in your hand the key. Visualize the key to your house and taking a deep breath, open the door. Enter now and stand for a moment, taking in the profound feeling that you have come Home. Then slowly yet with purpose, walk to your favorite room. Perhaps a paneled study lined with books of favorite authors. A fireplace glows providing warmth. Now walk to a large desk which overlooks the garden, and sit. After a moment, open the center drawer and take out paper and pen. See the pen that you will write with. Now look carefully at the virgin white page and honor it. Soon it will be time to write your first Soul Dialogue.
But first, I'd like you to visualize your Soul. It might be a bird or a butterfly or an animal. Or a jewel or some other precious object. What would be a metaphor for your Soul, your innermost being? See it. Experience it.
Now begin the dialogue. Visualize looking at your Soul in whatever form it has chosen. Then ask it, your Soul, this simple question: What do you want? This will not be the only or final answer for all time, simply the one Soul gives you today, that is now, this very moment.
For the next five minutes — without undue thinking — open your eyes and begin the exercise, the Soul dialogue. Simply write the question, "What do you want?" Then taking all the time you need, listen for Soul's reply and write it down. Write it all down. There is no right answer. There is only your answer. Please begin now.
EXERCISE: THE EMPTY SCREEN
Take a blank 8 x 10 page and draw a large rectangle on the page. It should look like a blank movie screen before the movie starts. Place this on the wall near where you write. Now simply watch the blank screen and see what images and story appear. Use very little effort here -- just passively observe what comes up from your own unconscious mind. It may be no more than a passing image -- say a white gull dipping over an ocean. Follow the bird. See what unfolds.
EXERCISE: WHAT IF …
Write the words "what if" followed by one or two sentences. This is the premise of a story. An example: What if a young man finds out who his father really was. Write three separate what if premises for three possible story situations.
Anyone is capable of finding a story. The plain fact is not everyone will invest the time and passion to write it down. A writer is one who writes, so make writing a priority for at least part of each day.
Though craft is, of course, necessary in creating a good story, please remember that it is only a tool allowing the writer to give expression to something much deeper, something uniquely his. Craft, in order to serve the vision, will become the bridge between earth and spirit so urgently needed today.
As Amagatzu, the founder of the innovative Japanese dance-drama called Butoh, once said:
The Soul is the important thing. Form will follow.
The aim of Butoh is to reach the essence of feeling. That is your aim, too.
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