The Artist's Way

he got where he is, he will not describe breaking in but
instead will talk of a series of lucky breaks. “A thousand
unseen helping hands,” Joseph Campbell calls these breaks.
I call them synchronicity. It is my contention that you can
count on them.
Remember that creativity is a tribal experience and that
tribal elders will initiate the gifted youngsters who cross
their path. This may sound like wishful thinking, but it is
not. Sometimes an older artist will be moved to help out
even against his or her own wishes. “I don’t know why I’m
doing this for you, but ...” Again, I would say that some of
the helping hands may be something more than human.
We like to pretend it is hard to follow our heart’s dreams.
The truth is, it is difficult to avoid walking through the many
doors that will open. Turn aside your dream and it will come
back to you again. Get willing to follow it again and a
second mysterious door will swing open.
The universe is prodigal in its support. We are miserly in
what we accept. All gift horses are looked in the mouth and
usually returned to sender. We say we are scared by failure,
but what frightens us more is the possibility of success.
Take a small step in the direction of a dream and watch
the synchronous doors flying open. Seeing, after all, is
believing. And if you see the results of your experiments,
you will not need to believe me. Remember the maxim
“Leap, and the net will appear.” In his book, The Scottish
Himalayan Expedition, W. H. Murray tells us his explorer’s
experience: