If you’ve visited this website over the years, you probably noticed that I’ve usually published a post (article) about 2-3 times per week. Not so this year.
I’m broadening and enhancing my own process of creation this year; I learned how to podcast and I’ve been releasing audio here (and on iTunes and Stitcher) each Wednesday since late April.
• Some fantastic guests have been on the show and some wonderful ones will be coming on the show soon and it’s going to be a lot of fun!
For tiny glimpse…Mako Fujimura, Shane Claiborne, and Nicole Unice will be guests in the next weeks and months, (and plenty more who aren’t as famous but super insightful and interesting as well).
Because, I’ve had the unique experience of working at a winery and vineyard, I have also included a “wine education” segment each show.
• After episode 15, I’ll be pulling that segment out, and adding it back in when (and if) listeners submit questions about wine that they want me to cover on the show.
• I send out an update newsletter 2-3 times per month to alert you to shows and new stuff. So, if you are not on the list…please sign up! (HERE)
Other things I should mention.
• I will be making some things available for patrons only. (sponsors)
Extras, documents, resources, transcripts and other goodies are to be included.
• I’m hosting a relaxing retreat and gathering for creatives. There’s just 10 spots.
Want to come? Find out more here.
• I have a little summer challenge for you. See if it sparks your creative muse. Question Quest
• I’m deciding whether or not to release two episodes per week. I need to hear from you. Does one seem like enough, or would you enjoy a double scoop? :)
Will there still be blog posts?
Yes. A few times per month…plus….
• Video updates.
(That’s the plan anyway.)
So, I’d like to hear from you.
1. What are your favorite things here at the site?
2. Which podcasts have you like the most? (and why?)
3. What’s missing?
(Do you have suggestions? I’d like to hear them! Just leave your comments below or contact me privately, here.)
Today is something I’m really excited to share with you:
With a provocative title like “Jesus Feminist” Sarah Bessey thought she knew what was coming. Today we will talk about the outcome of the book, the moment she understood about moving mountains in a new way, and her great advice to not save your best work. We welcome her today.
First,
I invite you to just listen, read, enjoy and then contribute something, if you can, to help it survive.
That’s all. :)
Thank you.
With Love,
-Lisa
Today’s recommendation for creators: For this episode I recommend a companion resource:
Soul Care for Creators and Communicators
This book offers a new way to see yourself and your calling. If you are someone who creates and communicates in everyday life, this is a great read you will enjoy!
WINE SEGMENT (Learn something about wine.)
What is ICE WINE?
Ice Wine is unique to northern climates (like Canada where Sarah Bessey is from).
Key takeaway: Grapes or fruit must be ripe and freeze before being picked to be ice wine.
What is ice wine like? The flavor is very fruity, very sweet, concentrated taste that tastes “icy”, and has a high alcohol content (like 25%). It should be served as a 1oz pour for a dessert or with a dessert. I recommend trying some!
Do you have questions about viticulture, wine grapes or wine? Send them to me.
18:00
Growing up in a Post-Christian context. Organic churches without denominations and an understanding of church history. Never sang a hymn until she was in her 20s.
20:07
Introduction to “church-ianity” (vs. christianity) and not a lot of comfort in her pain of loss and 4 miscarriages.
21:20
Her wilderness season. Draw toward ancient Christian traditions.
22:00
Coming back home again to happy-clappy Christians in a community center environment.
22:30
On being “ecclesiastically promiscuous”.
23:30
God laughs and says “See you can find me anywhere!”
24:00
Influence and Inspiration. Some of Sarah’s favorites.
June 10 I will air an episode where I interview Sarah Bessey (author of the provocatively titled “Jesus Feminist”…find out what it really means.) This interview has some great gems in it about the process of creation, and some of Sarah’s story that got her to move from blogger to successful author. So, look for that and the shownotes here next week!
SHOWNOTES:
Episode 11 -An interview with Daniel J. Lewis.
Today we welcome podcast expert, the creative and enterprising Daniel J. Lewis. If you are new to the show, and maybe a fan of Daniel’s, thanks for stopping by and spending some of your time with me!
Tools, strategies, and action steps to make digital, internet marketing simple and affordable. Get it free using the promo code spark while supplies last.
To be a sponsor click on the Patreon logo (left sidebar). Thousands of people are listening. Reach them and spark their muse!
Wine Segment: Today, Daniel and I talk about the impact of marriage on personal growth….so I decided since it’s “wedding season” I’d feature a wedding-related wine segment.
What Wine pairs well with wedding cake? Rule of thumb: The wine should be sweeter than the cake. Wine from green grapes goes well with lemon cake.
Bittersweet chocolate cake pairs best with an off-dry red.
Do you have questions about wine grapes or wine? Send them to me.
Today, I am very happy to interview the prolific Daniel J Lewis!
You may notice improved audio in this episode!
That’s because Daniel graciously furnished me with professional audio tracks of it and I am grateful. He’s been at podcasting for a while and I aspire his professionalism. If you like the show and want to help me upgrade my equipment and improve the quality of every show–take a gander at the plea at the bottom of the shownotes!
I was so glad to connect with Daniel because through his website I found a way to make podcasting my own show a reality.
Interview:
MINUTE 3:30
Who is Daniel J Lewis?
(I ask Daniel to tell you himself. With dozens of interviews under his belt, he’s great at this stuff.)
4:10 How Daniel got started in podcasting.
6:50 His roots of faith and his unique upbringing as an influence for a spiritually integrative creative process.
(Yes, I too was homeschooled…until 7th grade.)
9:20 on Creative slumps
Col 3:23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
10:37 On how our Worldview influences our creative process
11:50 A creative life of service to others
12:40 on creation (process) not beginning and ending with us.
13:00 Biggest surprises in his marriage
15:00 The purifying nature of the institution of marriage
15:30 The application of knowledge, not knowledge itself, is what matters
17:00 Best advice lately? Function on the assumption of love.
18:00 Long-term marriage commitment as a method for growth
19:00 Higher education and finding other options
19:30 How formal education and degrees are less important than experience (in the digital age).
19:45 The message is key to creation (and to podcasting)
20:00 “Don’t wait to be perfect before you start!”
20:20 “The Perfect is the enemy of the finished…”
21:00 On learning perseverance from messing up and moving on.
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Episode 5 – The god of Wine and re-thinking the nature of creative process
Today’s episode is about the Greek god of Wine and rethinking our ideas about the process of creation, and a better understanding the notion of “creative genius”:
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wine segment
What the Greeks thought about wine is reflected in the god of wine that they worshiped. (I don’t recommend worshiping the god of wine, or any god except the benevolent Creator.)
• Dionysus was the Greek god of wine and grape harvest
• The only god to have a mortal parent. Born from Zues’ thigh. That’s because his mother burnt to a crisp when Zues showed himself to her in his glory. Whoops.
Symposium means “drinking together”.
Additional note: These originally-small gatherings were for upper class men and with carefully imposed rules about consumption. They occured for leisure and thoughtful discussion.
• I will be offering a symposium-stlyle web-event where we will all have a glass of wine at the same time and discus a topic–possibly in July. Only patrons will get to come. This is your invitation. :)
If you want in, or you are curious about the rewards for being a sponsor of the show, go to Patreon.com/sparkmymuse
• Most of the great Greek plays were initially written to be performed at the Spring feast of Dionysus. . . .when the buds of grape leaves start to open. It was a most sacred festival.
• Dionysus was a patron of the arts!
For Greeks, Dionysus was credited with creating wine and spreading the art of viticulture (the horticulture of grapes).
• He had a dual nature; on one hand, he brought joy and divine ecstasy; or he would bring madness, brutal and blinding rage–a good depiction of the dual nature of wine.
• He was brought back to life…like grape vines that undergo brutal pruning and look dead, but then burst back to life.
• Blood and red wine are often linked for the ancients.
(Blood gives the body life, wine has powerful bodily effects.)
“All the products of a man’s genius may be temporal and corruptible, but the creative fire itself is eternal, and everything temporal ought to be consumed in it. It is the tragedy of creativeness that it was eternity and the eternal, but produces the temporal, and builds up the culture which is in time and a part of history. The creative act is an escape from the power of time and ascent to the divine…”
Today we’re thinking of the creative process as re-imagined and being “divinely co-operative”.
We (commonly) think of genius as applied to us in a personal way like a characteristic. A natural capacity, but the Greeks seem to have a much healthier view of what the process of creation is truly like…
• For the Greeks …divinity is always present.
• A genius = an unseen guardian, or custodial and protecting spirit…who gives a human inspiration: For the Greek, we each have one. (It’s not us; but it will help us.)
Three reasons why depersonalizing our part in the creative process is helpful:
1. Failure is not personal
2. Success shouldn’t cause arrogance
3. Patience and giving up control (not forcing it) will reinvorgate your creativity
What do you think?
Is the creative process a “divine cooperation”?
In the next episode we will cover “the proper rites of friendship” and skinny on “wine spritzers”.
(Dura Europos – Fresco from 2nd C Synagogue Jews cross the Red Sea pursued by Pharaoh.)
The Jewish people have a big event, a central story, that encapsulates what the Jewish (and Judeo-Christian) faith is about:
Crossing a sea: Crossing from slavery to LIBERATION
“Let my people go!”
This is the cry of (the Jewish) God, the Living God, through Moses; and it’s really the cry of freedom in every human heart.
So what do we want to be liberated from?
Oppression.
Yes, of course.
…and oppression takes many forms.
But, we tend to also want liberation from authority…and that’s not what God has in mind. That misses the mark and produces precarious results.
In fact, the best liberation we can have is one that happens internally.
Our heart is liberated from sin and death and then we receive peace and life.
This is no marginal quality of our faith tradition. Liberation is found not in fleeing something (or someone) but in returning.
A homecoming. A reception by the Father for the children he loves.
Liberation must always be about fleeing to someone (the One).
…and that someone isn’t just another warden in a different prison, but One who wants our peace to be fully realized.
It’s about community identity and belonging.
Each brings freedom and saves us from ourselves.
Sometimes we suppose liberation means freedom to act autonomously and unilaterally for our own interests. True liberation is the antithesis of that.
When I consider, in this very moment, what I hope to be liberated from in my own life, it seems to concern being free from believing lies. Lies about myself, others, and any sorts of ignoble things that imprison my future in a jailhouse of smallness.
A confined place that is missing the grandeur of what it means to be a sentient being enjoying the majesty of creation that a benevolent incomprehendable Being has fashioned.
