“Intuition cannot be produced. It has to be allowed to happen. But that is just what the rational mind cannot endure. It wants to control everything. It is not prepared to be silent, to be still, to allow things to happen . . . . [Active passivity] is what the Chinese call wu wei, action in inaction. It is a state of receptivity.”
–Bebe Griffiths
(Christian Mystics: 365 Readings and Meditations by Matthew Fox, p.241)
Only Flow
Bebe Griffiths (1906-1993) was an English Benedictine monk who worked as a missionary in India. Christianity, Taoism, Yoga philosophy? What first appears as a mixed bag is not. Acting without action (wu wei) implies letting the divine act through you. Applied to writing, it is not you who writes. The divine river flows through you. Words flow from your pen and onto paper by themselves. There is no writing, only flow.
No Control
“[Writing] cannot be produced. It has to be allowed to happen.” However, your mind wants to rule your writing. “[Your mind] wants to control everything. It is not prepared to be silent, to be still, to allow [your writing] to happen.” Don’t control your pen. Let the words flow free.
A Greater Source
To write without writing, you need to believe in the divine. You need to know deep in your bones that your writing comes from a greater source. If you don’t allow yourself to be a vehicle for the divine, your writing will become your writhing. Unshackle your spirit. Write without writing.
Photo Credit: Photo by Jim Bahn at Flickr Creative Commons.
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