Francis Bacon — Mystery

Life is mysterious and full of questions with few answers. The job of the creative leader is not to provide the answers but to help his audience to explore the questions at even deeper levels. 

Life at its core is spiritual in nature. The artist connects the spiritual with the mysterious and fills the heart with joy. Our challenge as writers, artists and creative leaders is to reach deep within our spirits and share the magical mystery of the heart.

What spiritual questions are you exploring in your art? Your writing? Your acting? Your dancing? What is the mysterious hidden within your creation? What is the song sung from your heart?

Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry.  He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.'"

— Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

American Civil Rights Leader/Preacher/Author

1929 - 1968

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

One of those games we play is:  "Where were you when . . ."  On April 4, 1968, I was a nineteen year old college student at Goshen College in Indiana.  Two months earlier I had the privilege of marching with Dr. King at a Vietnam War protest march in Washington D.C. The murder of Dr. King on my birthday in 1968 impacted me both emotionally and spiritually.

For the past twenty-five years I have been sharing this quote by Dr. King in my speeches on leadership.  I believe that work is spiritual in nature.  The work we do helps to cleanse our souls and free our spirits.  Many people see work as a negative condition.  They hate Mondays and grumble about having to go to work.  Many people wish they did not have to work.  But if you have ever lost a job and sat idle for a few months, you appreciate the value of work in your life.

As creative leaders we have a special opportunity to share the fruit of our labor with others. Most of my life I have dreamed of being able to give up my bill-paying job and write full time.  Fortunately, this never happened.  I think I am a better person for having the discipline to get up an hour earlier than everyone and writing before going to work.  Sometimes what we wish for is not in our best interests.  The bill-paying work and the creative work are both important and both have helped to make me a better person.

Be proud of the work you do.  Celebrate the work you do.  Be happy with the gifts you have been given.

Mark Vonnegut

Writing for me is a spiritual exercise. I did not realize this until I read an essay several years ago in which Mark Vonnegut talks about his father, Kurt, one of my favorite authors. This quote opened for me the door into why I have spent 40 years writing without fame or fortune.



Since I rejected organized religion and experienced a spiritual crisis at age 18, writing became the spiritual road I walked. Writing gave my soul the courage and strength necessary to face the traumas of this world. I was called to be a preacher but I could not preach until I first cleansed my soul and made it strong through writing. 



The writing is what makes me whole, gives meaning to my life, and keeps me believing even when I feel there is nothing left to live for.  Writing is my spiritual path, my meditation and my gift of prayer.



What roads have you traveled?  What paths have you taken?  Have you questioned your faith or simply accepted the beliefs taught you as a child?  Is your art a spiritual path that you have wandered down?



Here are several of my spiritual poems.

Many do not understand my form of spirituality.  I do not fit into any mold or preconceived notion of what religion is or should be.  For some I am a sinner lost in the world.  Others ask why do you speak of God?  He does not exist?

For me, my salvation is in my ability to question — in my gift of doubt.  I walk the path of the doubting Thomas.  I shoulder the burden of uncertainty.  I live at the edge of chaos and thrive.

I ponder the question of why we are here — of what is the meaning of life.  I receive no answers, only more questions.  I choose to listen to the languages of God and wait for His Word.  I walk the path of no regret.

The Heart's Code — A Book Review

The Heart's Code: Tapping the Wisdom and Power of Our Heart Energy by Paul Pearsall

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Reading this book is like preparing to run a marathon.  Not because it is long.  It is only 228 pages.  Not because the writing is poor.  It is well written.  This book takes patience and time to read because each chapter, each paragraph and each sentence is packed full of content that needs to be absorbed and understood.  The first time I attempted to read this book, I set it aside after two chapters.  This time I ran the entire race and finished the book.
The essence of the book is best described by the subtitle:  Tapping the Wisdom and Power of Our Heart Energy. Paul Pearsall's key message is that the heart communicates through energy and he backs it up with scientific evidence.  The name he gives this energy is cardio-energetics.
Much of Pearsall's research has been done with heart transplant patients.  He tells a story early on about an eight year old girl who received the heart of a ten year old girl who had been murdered.  The young girl dreamed of the man who had murdered the girl and based on her description, the police were able to find him and convict him of murder.  The heart, Pearsall teaches, has the ability to remember.  He documents throughout the book many stories of heart transplant patients who remembered things from their donor that they should never have known.  Some even change their behavior like the foods they liked.
One of the powerful experiments that he shares occurred in 1993 under the direction of the United States Army Intelligence and Security Command.  The scientists scraped white blood cells from the mouth of a volunteer and placed them in a test tube with a probe from a polygraph detector.  The volunteer was placed in a room and shown violent scenes.  The test tube was placed in another room.  The polygraph detected extreme excitation  in the cells in the test tube even though they were down the hall.  Later experiments documented the same result even when the separation was 50 miles.  Pearsall says, "The donated cells remained energetically and nonlocally connected with their donor and seemed to 'remember' where they came from."
I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in spirituality, energy work and the scientific basis for the power within the heart.  The heart is more than a pump that is at the beck and call of the brain.  The heart has the power to heal and a memory distinct from the brain.  The heart communicates at a much deeper level than mere words with the hearts it comes in contact with.  People in business today talk about leaders with emotional intelligence.  This book provides some of the scientific support for the importance of emotion and the heart.




View all my reviews

Harley King

Are you bored with your life?  Do you wish you could become someone other than who you are?  A 2007 survey of high school students found that two-thirds admitted to being bored in class every day.  Even creative people, unfortunately, allow themselves to be bored.



Many people feel that their lives are boring.  My hope is that your life can be like a bowl of chili — hot, spicy and full of flavor.  I believe boredom is a state of mind that can be overcome by looking at life new ways.  The fact that you are reading this means that you are still above ground and have not been buried.  The world we live in is very exciting and full of hope if we spend a few minutes every day celebrating life.



For creative leaders like you and me, creativity is a crucial antidote for our survival.  Find joy in your creative energy and your creations.  Creativity overcomes the dull, boring and uninteresting.



Every year people in the northern climates grow tired of the cold.  Cabin fever sets in and our rational minds go on vacation.  Hiding indoors during the winter months can be very boring.  We miss moving about in the outdoors.  We keep looking for something to divert our attention from the cold and snow.  



Have you ever been chilled to the bone and the warmth of a bowl of soup or cup of hot chocolate picked you up and made your whole spirit feel better?  The temperature last night where I live dropped to a minus eight degrees so I thought it was only appropriate to make chili today.  Hot and spicy chili to warm up the body and the spirit.

May your life be like a bowl of chili — 

hot, spicy and full of flavor.

Harley King

Sometimes we become so lost in the rain of pain and suffering that we fail to see the rainbow of greatness within our souls.  A perfect world does not exist despite how much our hearts wish that it did.  Humans often create their own pain and suffering.  We remember the slights and hurts years after they occur.  We repeat the same bad decisions expecting different results.  Human pain and suffering is a part of the natural order of physical world within which we live.  



Violence and disruption are also a part of the planet.  The civilized world often pretends that the physical world does not exist.  We hide within our buildings safe from the elements.  And we are shocked and surprised when a volcano erupts spilling lava over the land or an earthquake opens up and swallows people and buildings.  Thousands die every years as a result of natural disasters creating more pain and suffering.



Yet within each of us is something greater than the pain and suffering we experience.  If we allow it, the rain of pain and suffering can nourish and water these seeds of greatness.  The pain and suffering can help us grow emotionally and spiritually.  If we learn to harness the pain and suffering, we will be able to transform it into creative works of art.  We can find that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

How To Nourish the Seeds of Greatness

1. Choose to let go of the slights and pain that others have caused you.


2. Choose to forgive those who have harmed you.


3. Believe that you have been give artistic talents to share with the world.


4. Trust that you can transform the pain into creative works.


5. Believe that you are destined for greatness.