The word mindfulness occupies a special place in a world awash with buzzwords and trendy hooks long on promises, but perhaps short on truth. Its core, mindful, means to be aware or conscious of something. Given this definition, mindfulness by itself can never elevate the way you experience and understand your daily life. Whether the goal is a refuge from the incessant noise in our media culture, the ability to focus and concentrate, or develop a sense of peace, mindfulness needs direction to put you on the path towards sanity, if not outright enlightenment.
So how does one cultivate mindfulness in a way that blocks the negative aspects of a harried life while amplifying the positive? The essayist Dinty W. Moore lays out a plan, of sorts, in his 2016 book The Mindful Writer (Wisdom Publications).
Title not withstanding, Moore’s book is useful for considering mindfulness across a wide spectrum of creative pursuits. All artists must, in Moore’s words, develop the skill of “… seeing with fresh eyes, thinking with an open mind, searching the nooks and crannies of any subject to find what has not yet been explored, or what might be explored further to shed some original light and engage…” the audience. If the artist’s job is to “look where you have to look,” no matter how joyous or painful the sight, then it must be accompanied by deliberate intent. Mindfulness, properly cultivated, can enhance a creative’s ability to do so.
Moore takes an unabashed Buddhist approach to mindfulness by referencing the four noble truths. He couches them in terms of the writing profession, but they are also applicable to the wider universe of artists:
1. The creative life is difficult, full of disappointment and dissatisfaction.
2. Much of this dissatisfaction comes from the ego, from our insistence on controlling both the process of creation and how the world reacts to our art.
3. There’s a way to lessen the disappointment and dissatisfaction and to live a more fruitful artistic life.
4. The way to accomplish this is to make both the practice of creation and the work itself less about ourselves. To thrive, we must be mindful of our motives and our attachment to desired outcomes.
A very Buddhist framework to mindfulness. If that was the entire focus, then it would have limited application to most artistic lives. Even if a creative could glimpse the path, the practical signposts are missing. Hence the bulk of the book—quotes from a wide range of writers and reflections on their meaning. It is this latter content that makes the little book worthwhile.
Moore divides the quotations into four sections. Below I’ve reproduced a sampling of the quotes, one from each section.
1. The Writer’s Mind. “A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people,” by Thomas Mann.
2. The Writer’s Desk. “Catch yourself thinking,” by Allen Ginsberg.
3. The Writer’s Vision. “How do I know what I think until I see what I say,” by E.M. Forster.
4. The Writer’s Life. “Writing is a struggle against silence,” by Carlos Fuentes.
From selections like these Moore riffs on what it means to be a creative and guides the reader to a deeper understanding of the four noble truths. His observations, and the quotes themselves, apply to the painter, the sculptor, and the film maker. People in all the arts have chosen a difficult course, one where they know of their inability to articulate the ephemeral visions they catch even as they know they must try. It’s the only way to prevent the world from decaying into silence.
There’s a reason not everyone is an artist, and it has little to do with ability—except for the ability to survive a deep dive into the human condition and what it means to be not just a created creature, but a creature capable of creation.
The book closes with a short section containing prompts for mindful writing, followed by an afterword. Here Moore restates his purpose and goal.
“The message of this small book is simple enough. First, don’t grasp too hard or you will choke off any creativity. Second, be open to the moment, the surprise, the gift of grace, or enlightenment. If you are not mindful, not attentive, you will fall victim to the first and fail to recognize the second. So be alert. Be deliberate. Take care.”
The words Moore chose for his book go a long way towards helping the artist achieve these goals.
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