July 2003

Happiness is not simple, but it is possible.

This month I have been working on my book as usual, and also coming up for air like a mole, to do a spot of journalism. I wrote a piece about opera for The Guardian, which was then syndicated to The Daily Mail. You can read it under JOURNALISM.

I love opera, but I hadn't really thought about it before in terms of happiness - or well being, if you like. I know it makes me feel better, but I hadn't asked why.

The answer is Right Brain versus Left Brain response.

We know that the Right Brain is the hidden mysterious dreamy part of us that is not ruled by logic or commonsense. It seems to be the part of the brain that is stimulated by art of all kinds, but music has a special role, because it is not mediated by language or narrative - both of which mobilise the ever-present Left Brain.

The problem is that our Western world is getting more and more Left Brain. We are hardheaded, ruthless, computer types, who don't leave time to dream. We call art a luxury. We demand 'Reality TV'. We like documentaries and newspapers. We don't trust the imagination. We don't believe in it.

But the success of HARRY POTTER is much more than hype. We need magic in our lives so badly, that we will read kid's books to get it. What grown ups need is not HARRY POTTER - we need art.

If we only use half our brain most of the time, then we are hopelessly lop-sided. Our Right Brain may not help us pay the electric bill or get promoted, but it will help us be happy - and I mean that quite straightforwardly - because no one can be happy on half a brain.

There are plenty of things we can do to stimulate the other side of the brain; trying using your left hand for right handed tasks - try writing your name, and see what kind of personality emerges.

But art is more than stimulation; art is creative and it responds to the creative elements in all of us. You may find an instant transformation - because everything in this world takes time - but as you work with art in your life, I am sure you will notice deep and lasting differences. Happiness even...

I am at my happiest when I am writing well. But writing not well, is better than not writing at all, providing of course, the stuff gets junked later. There is no excuse for keeping second-rate work.

The thing is that sometimes a whole lot of sediment has to be poured away before the clear flow can begin. There's no escape - it has to be written out - until the first line of something good.

I have been struggling with this book for what feels like forever, but just now, it is beginning to emerge in its full and final shape, and that is, if not a reward, then some justification for the darkness that comes first.

People often email me for advice on writing, but I can't give it, which is why I could never teach it. Apart from technical help and discipline, the struggles are always deeply personal. The struggle is part of the book - you can't give it away for someone else to resolve.

Someone you trust can help unblock you. A writer who knows you can probably, and shrewdly, say what the problem is. Otherwise you're on your own. There is no other way.

Help comes in different forms, and I had promised to add a Homepage this month for those of you interested in Astrology. I use a Psychic Astrologer, and I have just written a piece about that for The Times, which will go up on the site next month. We have decided to delay the new page because the poor astrologer is swamped with calls right now, and if we generate any more interest, she will pack up and go back to Corfu.

So it is coming - and for those of you who emailed and said GREAT - patience please. And for those of you who emailed and said WHAT?! - well, keep an open mind.

This month - there is a new interview with me, which features in a book that many of you have asked for; a guide to my work.

The series is called VINTAGE LIVING TEXTS, and there are lots of writers in the series. It's both an aid for students and a research archive.

This should help anyone doing an essay!

If you are going to be in New York City in July, please go and book for Deborah Warner's Angel Project - all details via the Lincoln Centre New York (212.875.5456, Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST - full contact details below)

The Angel Project is part of the 3 week long Lincoln Centre Festival, and it is a multi-venue personal tour. You travel from site to site on your own, and discover what is waiting for you. It's going to be fabulous, and well worth the time, if you happen to be around.

So, back to happiness. However we arrange our lives, they must have meaning. People say to me, 'Art can't change your life.' Maybe not, but art can prompt us towards the changes we need to make. A life of work, shopping and TV, is not a life, it is a poor existence. In the West we have been conned into thinking that money solves everything. It doesn't. There is no point working harder and harder just so that we can buy more things. If we try to centre our lives around real values - like love, friendship, generosity, compassion, then we are setting up a defence against the fake values of money and greed.

That will include making time for art - whether it's an exhibition or the theatre, whatever. When we make time, we dispel a little bit of the illusion that there is no time.

We have to have time for the things that matter - for each other, and for the creative imaginative parts of us that are fully human.

So next time you feel utterly swamped by LIFE, try and get your Right Brain to help you. Until you do, you are only half a person. Think what might happen, if you were whole.


Links:

www.blithe.com 'An online literary magazine featuring a diversity of new short stories by emerging and established gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered authors'

Further Info:

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