There are few living souls on this earth that I’d rather meet than Krista Tippett–the brilliant (and beautiful) journalist, author and extraordinary host of the NPR radio program Speaking of Faith. In Krista’s words

What most Americans want, whether they are religious or not, is for the religious voice in our public life to be more constructive — to reflect the capacity religion has to nourish lives and communities.

Recently, she’s been on a bit of a science bender, producing some of the most thought-provoking, intelligent, meaning-of-life-exploring programs available. 
One of these, Mathmatics, Purpose + Truth, “sounds depths I had never considered before” (a phrase Krista uses to describe the latest book penned by the interviewee, Janna Levin). I’m placing A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines along side Einstein’s God on my “Currently Reading” shelf, and adding this podcast to my new “monthly recharge” list (more on that later).

It is then with considerable amuzement that I listened to the recent rebroadcast of a 2007 program Heart and Soul: The Integrative Medicine of Dr. Mehmet Oz. In Krista’s probing questions, you can observe the early subtle signs of the skeptic that I believe she is gradually becoming. I may be wrong on this. And I would love the opportunity to dig deeper into her amazing mind.

Dr. Mehmet Oz? No one can touch Steven Novella‘s  air-tight rational analyses and his response to the Oz interview is no exception. He takes him to task, summarizing his utterances as “abject scientific nonsense.” (Steven is another great mind on my would-love-to-meet list)

The Next 100 Years –George Freidman

The Accidental Mind –David Linden

I hope to learn how better to become a ‘serial finisher’ as Cynthia calls it.

In Part One, Cynthia sets out to deconstruct the creative process in order to identify why it becomes so difficulte in its later stages. She employes a great metaphore: the creative funnel. Wide open, free and exciting at the top, narrowing down to reality-based constraints toward the bottom.  Then there are the emotional undercurrants: the “emotional eddies that swirl under the surface of your creative life”, ready to sabatage!  Fears such as “I don’t have anything to say, or show.” and “No one will like it.”

The way to overcome these fears is to keep creating.

This is where having a creativity coach would be nice. Those inner challenges sometimes haunt me. I wonder how much C.M. charges.  She goes on: “sticking with a creative practice has been the best teacher, the most challenging coach, and the biggest give to my development as a person…our art making grows us as humans.”

She continues with three suggestions:

1. A physical practice. My new thrice-weekly morning yoga combined with loops around the lake and lunch time walks at CCI.
2. Support from your creative tribe. A little weak here. Need to step up the active collaberation sessions with Darren.
3. A clear sense of your motivation. No problems here, with this month’s challenge set.

The External Battle with easily identified obstacles (lack of time, money, community, knowledge) is where we find the best fake excuses for impeded progress. The key to overcoming these? Concentrate on the payoffs of finishing. “While being an idea magnet is fun and exciting, finishing your projects brings a deeper satisfaction that is worth the effort.”

Action item particularly relevant today: stronger engagement with Darren as my primary creative friend. At least monthly creativity-focused meet-ups.

New Perspective: My Creative Life is a relationship that I am committed to. Like any long-term relationship, it has its ups and downs.

–now, back to work.

Twenty-three languages and several million copies later, I am now reading the 25th Anniversary Edition. This is several books in one, really. It can and should be read on several levels: most of which I missed in ’76. Zen-like eastern thinking, mixed with reason and logic combine to provide a distinctly vivid viewport onto understanding. This is so far the most poignant in my recent journey in to book re-reading.

The remainder of this entry is marked private. The new 2.5 version of WordPress makes this easy — hooray WordPress.

As with most superb technology, the device itself recedes into the background. It is the dramatically improved access to content which makes this game-changing. What content? In my current  ”Collection” (see at left) I’m currently subscribed to 45 podcasts–a mixture of video and (mostly) audio. Today while resting in recovery from a bug I caught at MIX, I listened to three deeply insightful episodes from one of my favorites: Krista Tippett. Krista is a master of the interview. With a voice and speaking style that is so captivating as to almost be distracting, her weekly exploration of meaning, philosophy, religion and faith, Speaking of Faith, has secured a position at the top of my weekly must-listen list. The first, A History of Doubt first aired last May, should be required listening for those who, like me, struggle with a childhood of faith no longer held dear.

Poet and historian Jennifer Michael Hecht says that as a scholar she always noticed the “shadow history” of doubt out of the corner of her eye. She shows how non-belief, skepticism, and doubt have paralleled and at times shaped the world’s great religious and secular belief systems. She suggests that only in modern time has doubt been narrowly equated with a complete rejection of faith, or a broader sense of mystery.

The second, Muslim Women and Other Missunderstandings from December 2006, is similarly at the top of my recommended listening list for Westerner’s yearning to better understand the ‘Muslim world’.

Is there such a thing as the Muslim world? Is the “veil” a sign of submission or courage? Is our Western concern about women in Islam really a concern for the well-being of women? Our guest, Egyptian-American Leila Ahmed, challenges current thought on these and other questions.

The third, Pagans Ancient and Modern, I found fascinating from several angles.

An environmentalist who pursued the ecological impulse of Paganism, from its ancient roots to its modern revival in Europe and North America, discusses his observations about the spirit of Paganism and its influence on everyday Western culture — and even on old-time religion. 

I’m looking forward to listening through the entire SOF Archives. I always have a few synched to the Zune at any given time.

This frolicsome novel is about Zen Buddhism, death and sexuality. This story of ageing, illness and death is a good ‘layman’s introduction’ to the Zen concept of impermanence.