Harley King — Gift of Memory

Without memory, we lose all sense of self. We lose the threads and tangles that tell our stories. We lose our history from where we came. We lose our connection to the past. Memory gives our lives meaning and explains who we are and from where we came.

Yet, memory is fragmented, distorted and unconnected. Distorted memories can create false selves and cause us unhappiness. We must reshape our memories into a cohesive story that allows us to enjoy the person whom we have become. We must dig through the ashes of forgetfulness and find the keys to who we are.

Cradle your memories in your arms.  Give them the love and attention that they need.  Memory restores us to the world in which we live.  Choose to cherish your memories.

And as creative leaders, you are fortunate to have the skills and talents necessary to craft memory into a powerful story that touches the hearts and souls of others. Through the retelling of memory life is restored.

Christina Baldwin — The Gift of Creativity

Sometimes as writers we become caught up in the business of publishing and experience the hurt and pain of rejection. We become frustrated and sometimes quit writing because we don't think we are good enough. The need to write, to express ourselves, is not about being published. The need to write and to create is the gift in itself. Celebrate and honor the gift you have been given. Write for the sake of writing.  Write for the sake of the gift.

The same can be said of painting and any of the other forms of creative expression. Painting is not about selling your art to the highest bidder or having your painting hang in a museum somewhere. The art of painting is a gift to be honored and treasured. Respect and appreciate the gift that you have been given.

Harley King

Telling my personal story has often been difficult for me because my nature is to stick to the facts.  I was raised to believe in factual truth.  I have a bad habit of correcting my wife in front of people when she has the facts wrong.  And she lets me know it.  Old habits are hard to break.



It has taken me years to appreciate the importance of changing our stories in their re-telling — to understand the value of embellishing the facts.  Facts are not as important as meaning.  The truth resides deeper in our memories than facts.


Yet where does one draw the line? Reporters in recent times have been fired or forced to resign because they have played too loose with the facts.  And in some cases, reporters have fabricated the entire story.  Memoirists have been criticized and had their books pulled from the shelves because it was found that they fabricated some of their memories.



Do we violate the reader and writer bond when we embellish our stories?  The reader is expecting the truth and is upset to find the writer has altered the facts.  The trust is broken.  The reader feels betrayed.



Yet the great storytellers embellished their memories to make them entertaining.  Life as we live it has long stretches of boredom.  Life as we imagine it is full of adventure and romance.  Great writers understand this principle.  



Life as we know it is chaotic and without purpose. Imagination allows us to bring order and meaning to events.  Life is lived in the moment and only understood through creative reflection. Life is not as much about names, events and facts as it is about feelings, connections and dreams.  Life is about memory.  Cherish your creative memories.

May your memories grow in proportion 

to the richness of your creative spirit.

Chinua Achebe

"Art is man's constant effort to create for himself a different order of reality from that which is given to him."

— Chinua Achebe

Nigerian Novelist/Poet

1930 - 2013

Commentary

Through our painting and writing we have an opportunity to recreate the world as we want it to be.  We have the ability and the opportunity to alter reality.  The world into which we are born can be changed.  We can change our story by retelling it in new ways.  Have you changed your story?  Have you altered the reality in which you live?  Or are you caught up in facts as reality?  The more you can alter and change reality, the better artist you will become.

Biography

Chinua Achebe was born Albert Chinualumogu Achebe in the Igbo village of Ogidi in southeastern Nigeria.  Chinualumogu means "May God fight on my behalf."  His parents, Isaiah Okafo Achebe and Janet Anaenechi Iloegbunam Achebe stood at the crossroads of traditional Igbo culture and Christian culture.  His father and mother converted to Protestantism.  

Achebe's mother and sister told him many stories as a child which is a Igbo tradition.  He entered St. Philip's Central school when he was six.  He also attended Sunday school every week.  When he was twelve he moved away from his family and his village to attend the Central school where his older brother taught.  At fourteen, he entered secondary school and completed it in four years instead of the normal five.

In 1948, Achebe entered Nigeria's first university and studied English, history and theology. After his college studies, Achebe found work writing scripts for oral delivery at the Nigerian Broadcasting Service, a radio network, in the city of Lagos.  

Achebe's first and most famous novel, Things Fall Apart, was published in 1958. The novel has sold over 8 million copies and has been translated into 50 languages.

Video

Here is a video of Chinua Achebe discussing Africa after 50 years after writing and publishing Things Fall Apart.