What We Ache For

March 28, 2005
"I am drawn to write not because I think the creative process will bring me happiness, but because when I write I am happy." So admits Oriah Mountain Dreamer, writer, artist, workshop and retreat leader. Sharing more than a handful of deeply personal experiences, she demonstrates the intrinsic connection between creativity, spirituality and sexuality, which she defines as "an awareness of and appreciation for our physical life and a material reality alive with sensual detail." While most of her examples discuss the process of writing, she carefully includes all forms of creativity—from dance to music to physical art. A ready-made audience familiar with her bestselling titles (The Invitation, The Dance
and The Call
) will welcome her latest offering. New readers, artists or not, will find a variety of treasures within this volume: the suggested contemplations, warm-up or writing exercises or even just her personal struggles as a creator. Many may breathe a sigh of relief when given permission to end a thought mid-sentence if it's going nowhere; may not realize that they're stifling creativity if they're trying to create in the same place they pay their bills; may not admit that creative people must cultivate "necessary silence." Those looking to refresh their spirit, revive their creativity or merely get to know themselves better should spend some time with this book.

April 1, 2005
Mountain Dreamer begins this smoothly written guide to spiritual richness via creativity by defining our essential human nature and capacity for awareness via spirituality, sexuality in the broadest sense of interconnectedness with all life forms, and creativity, "the soul-deep impulse . . . to go beyond the perceptions of the senses to the conception of something new." The author of the well-known creativity titles " The Invitation " (1999), " The Dance" (2001), and " The Call" (2003) speaks throughout of creative work as the unpredictable and the open-ended, inviting readers to cultivate the creative while integrating it with their sensual and sacred natures. To focus intent while letting go is the lesson, and to that end she follows each chapter with thought-provoking inquiries, practical suggestions for producing creative work, and writing exercises. Mountain Dreamer's deceptively simple writing style makes major creativity aids accessible to a wide variety of readers. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)