In MInd Writing Slogans, Allen Ginsberg selected and arranged a series of quotes and presented them as a guide to perception and creation. They are posted all over the internet, so I won’t re-post all of them, but the first series on primary perception (22 out of 84) really struck a chord with me today. The two that keep pinging around in my head are “notice what you notice” and “if we don’t show anyone, we’re free to write anything.”
- “First Thought, Best Thought” — Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche
- “Take a friendly attitude toward your thoughts.” — Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche
- “The Mind must be loose.” — John Adams
- “One perception must immediately and directly lead to a further perception.” — Charles Olson, “Projective Verse”
- “My writing is a picture of the mind moving.” — Philip Whalen
- Surprise Mind — Allen Ginsberg
- “The old pond, a frog jumps in, Kerplunk!” — Basho
- “Magic is the total delight (appreciation) of chance.” — Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche
- “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself. I am large. I contain multitudes.” –– Walt Whitman
- “…What quality went to form a man of achievement, especially in literature? … Negative capability, that is, when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason.” — John Keats
- “Form is never more than an extension ofcontent. — Robert Creeley to Charles Olson
- “Form follows function.” — Frank Lloyd Wright*
- Ordinary Mind includes eternal perceptions. — A. G.
- “Nothing is better for being Eternal
- Nor so white as the white that dies of a day.” — Louis Zukofsky
- Notice what you notice. — A. G.
- Catch yourself thinking. — A. G.
- Observe what’s vivid. — A. G.
- Vividness is self-selecting. — A. G.
- “Spots of Time” — William Wordsworth
- If we don’t show anyone we’re free to write anything. –– A. G.
- “My mind is open to itself.” — Gelek Rinpoche
- “Each on his bed spoke to himself alone, making no sound.” — Charles Reznikoff
Creative Creativity 