Book Review: The Flying Drum by Bradford P. Keeney
June 23, 2011
The Flying Drum by Bradford P. Keeney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Keeney is a therapist who used systems theory and cybernetics and had a national reputation with several publications in the 80′s. He was a student of Gregory Bateson and Heinz von Foerster. He has developed a radical approach to therapy which is deeply informed and shaped by shamanism.
If you are interested in this, there is an engaging podcast available that I would recommend with an interview with Keeney by Tami Simon of Sounds True. Here is a link to this podcast.
“The Flying Drum” book is a fast read. He tells his personal story of his own “professional” development and describes his way he met with shamans from all around the world, received initiations and instructions, and brings what he learned to the world. It is literally fantastic, operating in that domain of what seems unbelievable and yet here in direct experience.
While the book has similarities to New Age books like those of Lynn Andrews, etc., it feels to have more substance and is more grounded in ordinary reality while not shy of stories of the seeming impossible. It is also a bit like Carlos Casteneda’s books with many descriptions of encounters and personal experiences but without going into as much of the detail of the stories of his contact with the shamans.
I found this book to be validating and inspiring.
Feb 1, 2011
February 1, 2011
Using imagery in therapy is energy medicine. If energy medicine can be defined as the means to change subtle energy systems in the body, then the use of imagery qualifies by addressing negative emotions in a way that can lead to transformation. Guided imagery, active imagination, and art therapy all can be used in this way.
Interesting new web site
September 11, 2010
Take a look at this new web site I discovered a couple of days ago, Guided Imagery Collective. Jose Said Osio is a kindred spirit and his well constructed and attractive site is about his interest in guided imagery, art, wellness, and spirit. Check it out.
Beautiful and Strange
June 21, 2010
These photos by Anthony Wood caught my eye and my imagination. I found them to be strange and beautiful- surreal and evocative. This is Photoshop-ing that avoids over-use and shows how one can make fine art with the same tools that so often stray into harshness or kitsch. There are three sets of photos on the web site- Nudes, Angels-Visions-Visitations, and Trees. I found the Nudes to be most interesting but all three bear a close look. Enjoy.
Comments?
Drawing = Thinking: Milton Glaser
November 24, 2009
In the short video below by C. McCoy via Vimeo, Milton Glaser talks about the importance of drawing- while drawing, of course!
MILTON GLASER DRAWS & LECTURES from C. Coy on Vimeo.
Fellini’s Imagination
October 24, 2009
"For me the world of my imagination is always closer to the truth than is the truth."
"If I wander around the world looking at things, it is only to reassure myself that the world I have invented is true."
Frederico Fellini (1920-1993)
Every issue of Life Magazine until the end of 1972 is available on Google Books for free. I did a search there for imagination and found this entry: From the July 30, 1971 issue of Life is an article by Dora Jane Hamblin on Frederico Fellini , the great Italian movie director. This piece is about the creation of his made-for-tv film, The Clowns. If you are familiar with his films you know how imaginative they are- perhaps some of the best examples of imagination in filmmaking. The Life magazine article has sketches made by Fellini as studies for this film.
Apparently, Fellini was greatly influenced the Jungian analyst Dr. Ernst Bernhard and by the autobiography of Carl Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections
“To Understand is to Perceive Patterns”
August 10, 2009
That phrase in the title, "To understand is to perceive patterns", I believe to be true. So much important and useful information comes from perception of pattern. The unconscious functions by pattern, which is why dreams are understood best through the observation of what an object stands for rather than a literal view of it. Pattern reveals so much through rational processes as well, which, for one example, is why statistical analysis can be so useful.
This interesting web site, Imaginary Foundation, began in Geneva in 1973 as an experimental "think-tank" for new ideas. "Created by an eclectic group of free thinkers, the foundation's research spans all creative endeavors and assigns as it's goal the wish to eliminate set conventions in favor of the humorous, the abstract, and the visionary." I wish there were more information on the web site about that these folks actually do and what are some the their results.
Well, at least it has lots of interesting and imaginative men's and women's t-shirts like the one pictured above, dresses, posters and more- all on the theme of the imagination.
And also very cool- but I don't know what I'd do with these, they also have a new set of trading cards, the All-Star Pattern Seeker Trading Cards, that have the pictures of twenty-three pattern oriented thinkers, such as Buckminster Fuller, Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Joseph Campbell, and others. Check it out.
Dali/Disney et al Team Up
July 6, 2009
I so enjoyed this short film, Destino, that resulted from the collaboration of Salvadore Dali and Walt Disney. I know, I was surprised too. The 6:16 film does not disappoint. There is a full history of Destino at Wikipedia where you will learn that the film was begun in 1945 and completed in 2003 by others. It is based on 18 seconds of original footage (the two tortoises at the end) but the folks that carried it forward did a really great job. You will see familiar elements from both the Dali and Disney iconographies. Strange- and fun. Enjoy.
An Imaginative Father’s Day Gift
June 21, 2009
This Father's Day, today, I received a very imaginative gift from my son, Noah, and his partner, Sarah. To see my gift, he asked me to enter a link in my iPhone browser. When I did so, it took me to Hardware Aisle, the blog of This Old House magazine, where he recounted the story of one of my handyman fiascos that turned out right. This was a surprising, unusual, and greatly appreciated gift.
