Creative Life
Spirit, Power and Relationship in the Practice of Art
by Bandhu Dunham
This book is about the interface of art and spirituality in everyday life. In language that is both elegant and streetwise, compassionate and tough, the author takes issue with the self-indulgent devolution of much contemporary art. His reflections about the nature of "spirit" - which he defines not in terms of religious dogma but as creative inspiration - affirm, moreover, that art is meant to be shared.
Painters, dancers, sculptors, musicians and other artists throughout the ages have used their creative work for greater self-knowledge, exploring the motivations, moods and meanings that affect a human being. For many artists, their expressions have provided an entry point to a deeper, objective, more ultimate dimension of life - which they have commonly identified as the "numinous" or "spiritual." Creative Life presents practical ways and means whereby any serious artist can use his or her life and practice for developing greater clarity, dignity, generosity, and more profound insight.
This isn't just a book for painters or musicians, however. Non-artists too will find Dunham's considerations - like those about wishful thinking, procrastination, life as art - to be eminently applicable, no matter what their line of work or spiritual practice.
Drawing from his own life as an author and internationally recognized glass artist, together with his eclectic experience in the domains of punk culture, skateboarding, meditation, teaching and arts management, Bandhu Dunham's book will provoke and inspire readers looking for a fresh view of their art or their spiritual practice . . . or both.
Topics include:
how creative people subconsciously sabotage their success
how subtle, unrecognized self-indulgence obstructs creativity in all fields
how generosity transforms human isolation
how the artist can use meditation practice to deepen insight and creativity
shamanistic and sacred visionary traditions as sources of creative power
dogmatism, politics, technology and the manipulation of creativity
ISBN: 1-890772-46-1; paperback; 252 pages; 6" x 9"
$24.95 includes S & H within the continental U.S.