“A young boy dreams big dreams of what lies beyond” by desertdutchman
Ideally, we want WEST OF THE MOON to be Your Path to a Creative Life. We want to help you live in your own world of possibility.
We want you help you Imagine, Discover, Create.
Not just a particular project you’re called to work on, but the life you’re called to live. We want you to find your own secret gate, to follow your own hidden paths, to live the life that is true to you. That is our intention.
Creative and all around kind heart, Erin Julian, recently posted the following quote on her Facebook page and it seemed very apt because, ultimately, we want you to “come into rhythm” with yourself.
In the Western tradition, we were taught many things about the nature of negativity and the nature of sin, but we were never told that one of the greatest sins is the unlived life.
It is a lonely experience to be at the deathbed of someone who is full of regret; to hear him say how he would love another year to do the things his heart had always dreamed of but believed he could never do until he retired. He had always postponed the dream of his heart.
We are so privileged to still have time. We have but one life, and it is a shame to limit it by fear and false barriers. The divine has such passionate creativity and instinct for the fully inhabited life. If you allow yourself to be the person that you are, then everything will come into rhythm.
The shape of each soul is different. There is a secret destiny for each person. When you endeavor to repeat what others have done or force yourself into a preset mold, you betray your individuality.
We need to return to the solitude within, to find again the dream that lies at the hearth of the soul. We need to feel the dream with the wonder of a child approaching a threshold of discovery. When we rediscover our childlike nature, we enter into a world of gentle possibility. The false burdens fall away. We come into rhythm with ourselves.” – John O’Donohue
One of the most rewarding aspects of WOTM for us is creating an environment that allows creatives “to return to the solitude within, to find again the dream that lies at the hearth of the soul.”
Tranquil Fountain & Labyrinth
New Harmony is an ideal setting for such solitude. Yet, we also encourage you to spend some time with others rekindling or building on your respective dreams “with the wonder of a child approaching a threshold of discovery.”
It’s the combination of community – the creative energy you share and the sparks you create in each other – as well as the tranquility and equanimity of the place itself that make West of the Moon so special for me and Terry.
Hopefully, that is what makes the experience special for you, and allows you to recognize that part of yourself that you may overlook from time to time, and, in doing so, allows you to “be the person that you are,” so that “everything will come into rhythm.”
As the year comes to a close, consider this time one of transition. One of beginning. One where you “enter into a world of gentle possibility.”
“A young boy dreams big dreams of what lies beyond” photo by desertdutchman courtesy of Creative Commons.