"Big Magic" (part 1/2)

"Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear" by Elizabeth Gilbert (author of the sensational memoir "Eat, Pray, Love")
Non-fiction, self-help, motivational
(c) 2015

Here are my favorite lessons from the first three chapters of Liz Gilbert's inspiring book:

I. COURAGE

• The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them. The hunt to uncover those jewels--that's CREATIVE LIVING. The courage to go on the hunt is what separates a mundane existence from a more ENCHANTED one. The often surprising result of that hunt is the BIG MAGIC.
• "Argue for your limitations and you get to keep them." 
• Creativity is a path for the BRAVE but it's not a path for the FEARLESS.

II. ENCHANTMENT

• While the TORMENTED ARTIST throws a temper tantrum, the MUSE sits quietly  in a corner of the studio, patiently waiting for him to calm down and sober up so everyone can get back to work. 
• Ideas are alive. Ideas seek the most available human collaborator. Ideas have a conscious will. Ideas do move from soul to soul. Ideas will always try to seek the swiftest and most efficient conduit to the earth.
• An Idea is stubborn. It refuses to stop searching until it has found an equally stubborn collaborator. 
• If you show up for work day after day, you just might get lucky enough some random morning to burst right into bloom. 
• The Romans believed that an exceptionally gifted person WAS NOT a genuis but HAD a genius. It's a subtle but important distinction (being vs.having). This way, the vulnerable human ego is protected from the corrupting influence of praise and from the corrosive effects of shame. 
• "Just write anything and put it out there with reckless abandon" - Ralph Ellison

III. PERMISSION

• Golden Rule in the Gilbert household: If you're supporting yourself financially and you're not bothering anyone else, then you're free to do whatever you want with your life.
• You want to write a book? Make a song? Direct a movie? Decorate pottery? Learn a dance? Explore a new land? Do it. Who cares? It's your birthright as a human being, so do it with a cheerful heart. Let inspiration lead you wherever it wants to lead you. For most of history, people just made things, and they didn't make such a big freaking deal out of it. 
• I'll tell you who I am. I am a child of God, just like anyone else. I am a constituent of this universe. I have a right to be here. I have a right to my own voice and a right to my own vision. I have a right to collaborate with creativity, because I myself am a product and consequence of Creation. I'm on a mission of artistic liberation.
• If you're working on your craft every day on your own, with steady discipline and love, then you are already for real as a creator. You don't need to pay anybody to affirm that for you.
• Editors could reject me all they wanted but I wasn't going anywhere. I plan to stick around. 
• Smile sweetly and suggest--as politely as you possible can--that they go make their own fucking art. Then stubbornly continue making yours.

I'm currently in the fifth chapter of the book. I'll share with you my new learnings on a new blog :)

"Of God and Men"

Memoir
Raymond Alikpala
2012, Maverick House Publishing

If you're a homophobic person, this book is not for you (or maybe in time, it will be). If you're a transitioning homophobic or you don't give a big deal out of homosexuality, then by all means, read this book.

Of God and Men is a memoir that can be read beginning with the Epilogue. It might seem to be a long read since it began with the author's childhood (he finished recounting his story when he was 40 years old) but Raymond Alikpala tried his best to walk you through a childhood that was strangely unique than what most of us experienced--a childhood that was relatable only to a minority of the population.

Alikpala grew up feeling and thinking that he was gay but acting like the opposite. Not everyone will be able to relate to him but I'm sure each of us has had a childhood that was confusing as well--forcing us to act what we thought was appropriate and accepted by the society we were growing up in--only to realize years later that we didn't exactly make all the right choices anyway.

Raymond, being gay, is no stranger to this tale. His story was, however, told with so much honesty that one would think he knows the author all his life.

Various chapters in Alikpala's memoir revealed his long desire to have a true best friend and lover, and his several failed attempts at that. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the book is long, transparent, and detailed--so one can relate to him, understand him, and offer a friendship and care that this good son, ex-devout Catholic, overachiever student so deserves.

Alikpala's bravery in sharing his coming out story (read: to "come out" is a big deal and to "share" it is another) is admirable. While he remains a barely recognizable author (like most LGBT writers), the local literary scene needs more fearless souls like him so it could offer a broader range of stories for modern readers.

Of God and Men is the first book I read that highlighted the unlikely connection between faith and homosexuality. It was written in a controlled prose (meaning, the writer chose his words carefully) that it would pass for conservative readers but it also offered a bit of nasty storytelling that it would surely attract liberated ones.

Whether you're a member of the LGBT community or you just want to know more about it and about them, go ahead and grab this book.

It's just like talking to a friend over coffee: expect a conversation that is light, easy to follow, and can get serious and funny all throughout. Unfortunately, it doesn't end after you finish a cup because it's 447-page long.

My rating: 3.5/5 rainbow-colored stars