Brief Greetings to New Subscribers
Greetings Good Travelers and Wayfarers. Frank Inzan Owen here, coming to you from the Hidden Mountain Studio.
Welcome to all of the recent new subscribers to The Poet’s Dreamingbody. I’m happy to make your acquaintance and to have you along for this journey.
Just to restate the mission here, we’re exploring a few parallel themes: the dreamingbody (that part of us not bound to a body, which can travel beyond the body, but which is also activated and enlivened by being in a physical body — that spiritual aspect of ourselves that can be cultivated, that feels connected to Nature, moved by beauty and art and poetry, and which gains insights from exercising what I call ‘the faculties of soft-attention’).
If you ever feel a part of yourself experiencing a call to slow down, to tune in with Nature, or you notice yourself wishing to sit under a star-filled sky…that call often comes from the dreamingbody.
If you ever notice yourself receiving moments of deep inner-knowing, or stirrings, “prompts”, images, or flashes of inspiration, simply from dwelling in an open and aware, and receptive state, that which registers these various impressions is often the dreamingbody. And, it’s a quality of being that has produced many of the poems you will encounter here at The Poet’s Dreamingbody.
The other theme is Wayfaring and the Wayfaring poets of old — men and women who comprise a loose confederation of creatives and meditators, whose lives and verses offer us a map, a template, even something of a “breadcrumb trail” for how to lead inspired, buoyant, resilient lives of creative and spiritual practice.
As your co-traveler, and as the curator of The Poet’s Dreamingbody, much of what is encountered here is inspired by a set of attributes that many of the Wayfaring poets shared: contemplative practice (meditation, hillwalking, tea and sake sipping with other Wayfarers, idleness and ‘just-being’), communion with Nature (moon-viewing, star-gazing, wandering through cloud-filled valleys, meditating on cliff-sides), and artistry (usually poetics but some of the people we discuss were also painters and potters).
Being a modern-day Wayfarer myself — which, for me, is defined as a Tao-and-Nature oriented practitioner of non-monastic Zen — I’m aware that my own path is constantly evolving and, thus, this will have a shaping influence on some of what is presented here. So will the psychology of C.G. Jung.
All in all, when things are posted, and how often, is often a mood-driven phenomenon. Sometimes there will be a “sprint” of sorts, with a number of related posts over a span of days. Sometimes there will be a quiet lull with the occasional middle-of-the-night transmission of quotes for contemplation, questions for you to consider on your own path of deep-seeing and artistry, and/or responses to questions sent in from readers and listeners.
I certainly don’t operate an advice column here, but if there’s ever a topic or question that surfaces for you in relation to your experience here at The Poet’s Dreamingbody, feel free to shoot me a note at: hiddenmountainstudio@gmail.com
For those who have been along for the journey for a while now, thanks again for being here. For those who have just subscribed, welcome to The Poet’s Dreamingbody. I look forward to the path ahead with you.
To conclude, here's a brief list of items coming up.
> Music and the Dreamingbody: A post about some of the music and musicians featured here at The Poet’s Dreamingbody
> Wayfaring Poet Profiles: Bai Juyi, Su Dongpo, Stonehouse, the Female Poets of China, and then…crossing the waters to Japan.
> Explorations of Themes: Hillwalking/Walking As Creative/Spiritual Practice
Until you hear from me again, take care of you, good traveler.
Frank Inzan Owen
SOUND MAP:
Experience the compelling sonic medicine of ethnomusicologist and ambient musician Loren Nerell here: “Return to Temple of the Frog” / Gong Prophet / Loren Nerell