I'm somewhat of a creative maniac. This trait I don't necessarily hold in highest esteem, as it often means the sacrifice of other things (time off, for example) - though I am asked with some frequency for advice on the creative process. 

Mulling an answer, I've come up with this: There are a million small ways not to do your big things. Your film, your novel, your painting, your song. This is not about making "good" art, art that makes money, or even imprinting a legacy that can forever exist in your stead.

Rather, it's about being willing to proceed with enough courage to feed that which has been feeding you all along.

Don't deprive the world of your big things.

Ian MacKenzie
Victoria, Canada


 

ESSAY: INTERSTELLAR AND THE END OF TIME

I'll confess, I've been a huge fan of Christopher Nolan since the beginning. And last night, I walked out of the theatre awestruck and grateful for his latest Interstellar.  After reading the mixed reviews online, I realized there was an enormous aspect of the film that nobody was talking about.  6 breakneck hours later, I wrote this essay. 

» Read Interstellar and the End of Time

PENICHE - MATTHEW BAILEY

I'm a sucker for beauty. During the New Story Summit in Findhorn, Scotland, I shot this second live performance with hang player Matthew Bailey. He then went on to run a successful Kickstarter campaign to produce his first recording. The result: Blue Fountain, a gorgeous album I have had on repeat for weeks. 

» Watch the live video for "Peniche"
» Buy the album Blue Fountain EP
» Follow Matthew on Facebook

And if you missed my first recording with Rebecca Maze (or you want to watch it again) check "Green Dragon."
 

STEPHEN JENKINSON - DIE WISE TRAILER

In anticipation for Stephen's phenomenal new book "Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul" we've released a short trailer, filmed during his teaching last year in Berkeley.  From the description: 

"Die Wise does not offer seven steps for coping with death. It does not suggest ways to make dying easier. It pours no honey to make the medicine go down. Instead, with lyrical prose, deep wisdom, and stories from his two decades of working with dying people and their families, Stephen Jenkinson places death at the center of the page and asks us to behold it in all its painful beauty. Die Wise teaches the skills of dying, skills that have to be learned in the course of living deeply and well. Die Wise is for those who will fail to live forever."

Having read through an early edition of the book, and I testify: the book is a blistering witness to what dying has become in the dominant culture of North America. But more than that, his words are a gorgeous articulation of how it all could be. 

FEATURED CAMPAIGN: REINHABITING THE VILLAGE

This month, happy to share this important campaign from my friend Jamaica Stevens, who has spent years weaving a network of allies under the banner Tribal Convergence. She's now collaborating on a new book + media hub, and asking the community to support through crowdfunding.

"Our project is a Multi-media Community Resource Hub which includes a graphically rich printed Soft Cover Book, Ebook, Functional Workbook, and an Online Resource Directory featuring people, projects and organizations who offer these models, tools, information for holistic living and community resiliency.

We are curating over 40 innovative voices of a movement for this LIVING LIBRARY of wisdom, showcasing their particular passion and field of expertise."

»  View & Contribute to Reinhabiting the Village
 

FROM THE ARCHIVES: THE SANCTUARY

Back in 2005, I followed the advice of my grandfather and visited an off-grid property run by Sean Sands, known only as The Sanctuary.  The short visit proved pinnacle in my spiritual path, the first time I'd realized the relationship between matter and consciousness.  An excerpt:

"War, famine, overpopulation, apathy, and the end of oil. This is what I’m told is awaiting us. Yet as I sit in the Kiva, among the animals and the earth, it’s as if I’m peeking through the curtain at the end of our age and the beginning of another."

» Read the essay "The Sanctuary"
 

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