In alphabetical order, 17 potent, inspiring, and relatively unknown books on the power of art, imagination, learning, and metaphor. Enjoy. The Aesthetic Dimension: Towards a Critique of Marxist Aesthetics by Herbert Marcuse Alone with the Alone: Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi by Henry Corbin Animals of the Four Windows: Integrating Thinking, Sensing, [ Read more … ]
Imaginal
Teaching and learning are deep, rich, beautiful, and life-giving.
I’ve always had a strong desire to explore teaching and learning as deep, rich, and aesthetic processes. Beautiful, life-giving, and creative rather than dry, boring, and joyless. Teaching (as well as learning) requires courage, an open heart, and the willingness to be vulnerable. But instead of noticing and honoring the inherent beauty and vulnerability of [ Read more … ]
The brilliance of painter Robert Henri
One of my favorite books about art-making and creativity is Robert Henri’s The Art Spirit. Here are a few passages that stood out to me: “…we must get rid of this outside feeling of looking in on art. We must get on the inside and press out. Art is simply a result of expression during [ Read more … ]
The role of the imagination is to awaken us.
In her book, If You Want to Write, Brenda Ueland wrote: When we ignore the imagination, we stop living from our center, from the creative fountain, and we live from the periphery, from externals. Imagination brings possibility. As educator Maxine Greene said, “The role of imagination is to awaken, to disclose the ordinarily unseen, unheard, [ Read more … ]
We get to the true heart of who we are when we do our most creative work.
When we do the most creative work that we can possibly do, we get to the true heart of who we are. Creating requires openness, flexibility, and ‘not knowing’: Hold beginner’s mind: Step back from what’s happening so you can see what wants to emerge. Work with what’s available: encourage what’s under the surface to [ Read more … ]