This is part 2 of my interview with Susan Piver who has a new book out called The Wisdom of a Broken Heart; An Uncommon Guide to Healing,Insight, and Love. Please read part 1 of my interview with her in my post prior to this one.
What is it about writing as an art form that is so different from other artistic mediums?
Writing is the most naked of all the art forms because the artist has no medium. There’s no material. No paint, no body, no instrument, no camera, etc. There’s no one in there with you. the computer or pen doesn’t count because they are tools. Singing is maybe the closest to writing as an art form, but even there, most often there is a score to read from. But in writing, you are literally creating a work out of thin air.
In memoir, how is telling our story beneficial to others? In particular, how can a Buddhist, who is training in dropping their storylines, feel that writing memoir is a beneficial activity?
There is a way to write that solidifies your story, and there is a way to write that liberates you from your story.
If you go into your writing not knowing what you are going to say–which is like 100% of the time when you sit down at the blank page–and the writing just starts happening, things start flowing, this is where you have the sense that you are telling yourself the story as much as you are telling it to others. The writing goes somewhere and you go with. This is very liberating. When you go back and look at it, there is a wonderful passionate detachment.
Then there is a way that you write which is forced instead of inspired. You have an agenda, and you force that agenda. In this way, we solidify our internal story.
The difference here is writing from your highest wisdom instead of writing from your conventional mind. You can tell when you are reading something and whether the writer is telling themselves the story as they are writing it and puzzling through it. It’s very alive.
What is the most important teaching you have received?
I think it’s the one I read in Heart of the Buddha about how the only possible spiritual path is your personal experience. It has to be personal. That teaching turned me inward and gave me tremendous confidence, that someone said, It’s all within you. And in fact, that’s the only place it is. I stopped second-guessing myself and that was a great relief. We spend so much time looking outside for answers and have lost the confidence that we are the arbiters of our lives.
If you had moments left to live and your loved ones were gathered around you, what would you say in summation?
Well, first I would say, Come closer. Ad then I hope I would say what the 16th Karmapa said on his deathbed which was, Nothing happens.
Nothing happens is such a complicated teaching. But I think it’s saying, Look, I’m dying and on a profound level I want you to know it’s all space. But within that space, there is tremendous warmth.
What would you say the dharma, the teachings, all boil down to in one word?
Relax.
You can find Susan on Twitter @spiver and on her website susanpiver.com
{ 3 comments }
There is a tremendous depth of wisdom and compassion in these questions and answers. Thank you. Namaste.
.-= Sherralee´s last blog ..Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as the water from a… =-.
Relax.
Oh, how wise. And how incredibly difficult.
I love this reminder, this assertion that we are the arbiters of our lives. I have definitely lost touch with that over the years, and it is the task of my life to get that mastery back. That confidence that I can know what the story of my life is and means, and that I am the ONLY one who can. Working on it. Reading you, Bindu, is helping. Thank you.
xo
Thank you so much for this interview, both of you.
The question about writing memoir, Bindu, and your response, Susan, hit my particular nail on the head and I am very grateful for that.
Right, now I better get back to revising my memoir about learning to sit still (aka relax) in Afghanistan!
Thanks so much.
.-= Marianne´s last blog ..Facing your fears in five (relatively) easy steps =-.