Dear reader,
Just now I am preparing to facilitate a couple of creative conversations around the theme of authenticity and, subsequently, am mulling over my little stock of quotes, images, and creative prompts, one of which is included in today’s letter to you.
I was inspired to create a conversation around the theme of what it means to be authentic towards the end of last year when I read an article on why Merriam-Webster designated ‘authentic’ as their word of the year for 2023:
“We see in 2023 a kind of crisis of authenticity… What we realize is that when we question authenticity, we value it even more.” – Peter Sokolowski, lexicologist and editor, Merriam Webster.
Just a couple of days ago, I tuned into an interesting online discussion facilitated by Dubai Future Foundation during which a couple of prominent futurists talked about emerging signals and trends they were identifying. Interestingly, one of these was to do with work on the self: in various ways, many people are asking themselves ‘Who am I?’
That put me in mind of this quote that I found somewhere on my internet travels:
“Each person is to build his or her soul by bringing the widely scattered elements of experience into a unified whole.” - Ilia Delio
How do we unify those widely scattered elements of experience? We all have our own way of coming at that challenge, and, for me, I always turn to creativity and the arts. Which brings me to today’s…
Creative prompt
“Poetry may make us from time to time a little more aware of the deeper, unnamed feelings which form the substratum of our being, to which we rarely penetrate; for our lives are mostly a constant evasion of ourselves.” - T.S. Eliot
Feel free to disagree with this, and if you do then:
But, for me, this quotation from Eliot mirrors that of Delio. Perhaps it is an indication of the pressures that I, myself, have felt on my inner life, but those “widely scattered elements of experience” relate to the pressures of living in our distraction-filled world which, with the advent of AI, is becoming ever fuller of things that threaten to undermine this thing called authenticity. And as we cope with all of those distractions it is all too easy to unwittingly evade ourselves – to just miss our authentic selves coming as we are going - even if we don’t want to.
Poetry was the answer as far as Eliot was concerned. What about you?
My creative prompt for you today is to think of the creative practices or works of art that help you to penetrate that substratum of being or unify the scattered elements of yourself. And ask yourself how they do that and why?
I can’t read David Whyte’s poem ‘What to remember when waking’ without crying. Nick Cave’s fiercely tender epistles to his fans about grief often make me weep as well. And I could gaze at Edward Hopper’s paintings for hours.
The strength of my reaction to some works of art catches me by surprise sometimes and, after I finish enjoying the sensation of that reaction, I realise that I have to have a conversation with myself about what was called forth. What has been buried, or scattered, or evaded that is now forcing its way to the surface? How and why? And if I can’t answer in neat, pat words then I can always return to the art to sense that ‘answer’ in other ways.
“To become human is to become visible / while carrying what is hidden as a gift to others.” – David Whyte, What to remember when waking.
In that Merriam Webster article that started off this train of thought, Peter Sokolowski says that “We are now recognizing that authenticity is a performance itself.” As an ex-performer I know that good performances are built around some kind of authenticity. In your performance of authenticity, what do you show? What do you hide? What part does your creative-self play in that?
Or, if you’re of a more private disposition but want to get something off your chest, hit reply and send me an email.
Until next time,
Meredith
I would love to see you at my Authentic conversation…
It is free and online. Feel free to come and discuss the creative prompts or just tune in and listen (as an introvert, I know that listening is a form of participation).
There are 2 sessions for you to choose from (to accommodate different time zones) on Monday 11 or Tuesday 12 March. Bookings and information HERE.
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Thank you for these quotes and prompts Meredith - I just came of a circle call on Wholeness so these are really timely and will be so useful for reflecting on what wholeness means for me right now
To know the self requires some thorough examination...and this may reveal painful / embarrassing truths. I'm not sure a lot of people can handle it. But it's worth the trouble.
(There ought to be scores of courses like yours, teaching participants how to use art to look deeper within.)