Stoking the Creative Fires. Phil Cousineau

      

      STOKING THE CREATIVE FIRES

       Stepping Stones, Kyoto Rock Garden.

       Photograph by Phil Cousineau, 1986.

       BOOKS BY PHIL COUSINEAU

       The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work 1990

       Deadlines: A Rhapsody on a Theme of Famous Last Words 1991

      The Soul of the World: A Modern Book of Hours (with Eric Lawton) 1993

      Riders on the Storm: My Life with Jim Morrison and the Doors (John Densmore with Phil Cousineau) 1993

      Soul: An Archaeology: Readings from Socrates to Ray Charles 1994

      Prayers at 3 a.m.: Poems, Songs, Chants for the Middle of the Night 1995

      UFOs: A Mythic Manual for the Millennium 1995

      Design Outlaws: On the Frontier of the 21st Century (with Chris Zelov) 1996

      Soul Moments: Marvelous Stories of Synchronicity 1997

      The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker's Guide to Making Travel Sacred 1998

      Riddle Me This: A World Treasury of Folk and Literary Puzzles 1999

      The Soul Aflame: A Modern Book of Hours (with Eric Lawton) 2000

      The Book of Roads: Travel Stories 2000

      Once and Future Myths: The Power of Ancient Stories in Modern Times 2001

      The Way Things Are: Conversations with Huston Smith on the Spiritual Life 2002

      The Olympic Odyssey: Rekindling the Spirit of the Great Games 2003

      The Blue Museum: Poems 2004

      Angkor Wat: The Marvelous Enigma (Photographs) 2005

      A Seat at the Table: Struggling for American Indian Religious Freedom 2005

      The Jaguar People: An Amazon Chronicle (Photographs) 2006

      Night Train: New Poems 2007

      The Meaning of Tea (with Scott Hoyt) 2008

      First published in 2008 by Conari Press,

      an imprint of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC

      With offices at:

      500 Third Street, Suite 230

      San Francisco, CA 94107

       www.redwheelweiser.com

      Art permissions can be found on p. 222

      Copyright © 2008 by Phil Cousineau. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. Reviewers may quote brief passages.

      ISBN: 978-1-57324-299-8

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Cousineau, Phil.

      Stoking the creative fires : 9 ways to rekindle passion and imagination / Phil Cousineau.

      p. cm.

      Includes bibliographical references.

      ISBN 978-1-57324-299-8 (alk. paper)

      1. Creative ability. 2. Imagination. I. Title.

      BF408.C674 2008

      153.3—dc22

      2007049625

      Cover and text design by Brooke Johnson

      Typeset in Sabon and Scala Sans

      Cover art: Fire Dream, oil on linen, copyright © 2002 by Gregg Chadwick

      Printed in Canada

      TCP

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1992 (R1997).

      CONTENTS

       Acknowledgments

       A Fable about Fire

       Introduction: The Creative Journey

      Part I: Inspiration

      Chapter 1: Fires of the Imagination

      Chapter 2: Celebrating Reverie

      Chapter 3: Seizing the Moment

      Chapter 4: Seeking Guidance

      Part II: Perspiration

      Chapter 5: Creative Space

      Chapter 6: Deep Focus

      Chapter 7: Burn-out

      Part III: Realization

      Chapter 8: Real Work

      Chapter 9: Cool Fire

      Chapter 10: Passing the Torch

       Epilog

       Recommended Reading and Viewing

      This book is dedicated to the memory of Gary Rhine, whose creative fire lives on in his films, his family, and his friends.