Daily Nourishment for March 28, 2024: The State of Being Alone with James Baldwin
Daily Nourishment Read Time: 50 seconds
Pause/Prompt/Practice Time: 15 minutes
“Perhaps the primary distinction of the artist is that he must actively cultivate that state which most men, necessarily, must avoid; the state of being alone.” - James Baldwin, “The Creative Process”
Pause.
Take six deep breaths with a six-count inhale and a six-count exhale. Then read this poem by James Baldwin.
Prompt.
Here’s more from James Baldwin: “That all men are, when the chips are down, alone, is a banality—a banality because it is very frequently stated, but very rarely, on the evidence, believed. Most of us are not compelled to linger with the knowledge of our aloneness, for it is a knowledge that can paralyze all action in this world.
There are, forever, swamps to be drained, cities to be created, mines to be exploited, children to be fed. None of these things can be done alone. But the conquest of the physical world is not man’s only duty. He is also enjoined to conquer the great wilderness of himself. The precise role of the artist, then, is to illuminate that darkness, blaze roads through that vast forest, so that we will not, in all our doing, lose sight of its purpose, which is, after all, to make the world a more human dwelling place.”
Practice.
Set a timer for 13 minutes and write in response to the quotes above. Write whatever comes to mind or use one or more of the following questions/prompts:
Describe your relationship with solitude.
Do you have enough solitude for your spiritual life and creative practice? If so, how? If not, what do you want to do differently
Which writers and artists illuminate the darkness for you?
Which books, songs, paintings, TV shows, and other forms and genres of art help “make this world a more human dwelling place”?
What are you doing to put yourself in the way of the art that helps you inhabit this world?
What do you want to do more of so you can put yourself in the way of the art that helps you inhabit this world?
Today’s Daily Nourishment was provided by Charlotte Donlon.
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