The Life of the Creative Spirit

Drawing upon the ideas of more than three hundred notable creators, including painters, scientists, mathematicians, entrepreneurs, writers, poets, naturalists, actors, and rock climbers, The Life of the Creative Spirit explains how to work at most any vocation or avocation as an artist would. For employers, it gives insights for keeping creative workers happy. For educators and parents, it gives ideas for schooling the young and turning them on to a life of creative work. For the young, it offers better understanding of themselves and their career possibilities. For older creators, it gives strategies for keeping their creative faculties and interest going strong. And for readers in general, it gives an increased appreciation of creativity and its role in society, of the oneness of the aesthetic and the moral, and of how creative work puts spirituality into creators' lives, leading them to what the writer Jack London called ultimate happiness. The book presents new and valuable reasons for humanely treating animals and for preserving nature. It explains that compassion to animals is an integral part of a creative society, and that the more animals are revered and treated kindly, the more creative society will be. It explains that nature is likewise an integral part of a creative society, and that the current destruction of wilderness and species suppresses creativity in society, thereby suppressing the production of great goodness we give to each other through our art and work. Quotations of notable creators comprise half of the book. The author has collected them in the course of scholarly research of studying published diaries, journals, letters, and other autobiographical material, with the intent of making the collection form a gestalt on the topic of creativity. Table of Contents Chapter One: Introduction To Important Matters PART ONE: The Nature Of Creative Work Chapter Two: What A Project Is Chapter Three: How Projects Are Recursive Chapter Four: How Projects Use Modeling Chapter Five: How Creators Collaborate Chapter Six: What Goodness And Quality Are Chapter Seven: Where Quality Comes From Chapter Eight: How Inner And Outer Excellence Run Each Other Chapter Nine: How The Creative Spirit And Quality Humanize Us Chapter Ten: What Motivates Creators Chapter Eleven: How To Be A Universal Artist PART TWO: Examples Of Creators At Work Chapter Twelve: The Work Of The Artist Chapter Thirteen: The Work Of The Scientist Chapter Fourteen: The Work Of The Mathematician Chapter Fifteen: The Work Of The Mechanic Chapter Sixteen: The Work Of The Entrepreneur Chapter Seventeen: The Work Of The Rock Climber Chapter Eighteen: The Work Of The Collector PART THREE: The Responsibilities Of Creators Chapter Nineteen: Guarding Against A Life Given To Sensual Pleasures Chapter Twenty: Raising Children Chapter Twenty-one: Raising Oneself Chapter Twenty-two: Revering Every Form Of Life Chapter Twenty-three: Knowing And Preserving Nature PART FOUR: Credos Of Creative Workers September 2002 review in National Review Network (New Age Retailer magazine). Reviewer: Thomas Peter von Bahr, Pacific NorthWest Group, Lopez Island, Wash. This plain-covered, inconspicuous book is more than 350 pages long. The first 165 pages are Dr. H. Charles Romesburg's own, and the rest of the book is a collection of wonderful excerpts from the writings of many artists and "creators," ranging from Georgia O'Keeffe to Bertrand Russell to Rainer Maria Rilke to Maria Callas. So readers are treated not only to the rich fabric of thought of humanist and professor of forestry Romesburg as he examines what cultivates a creative life but also to inspiring musings about creativity by noted artists, writers, and thinkers.