In 1970, after I’d written J’s the Novel, and a number of poems, (with no formal training in creative writing), I decided to spend a year studying and reflecting on what makes good writing, including where I had succeeded, and where and why I felt I had come up short. (Section one). Section Two offers examples of “masters at work” from my perspective. Section Three reflects on “Why Write” and Section Four briefly discusses other art forms, followed by “An Authorial Postscript.” and these comments were written then, and echoed again now.
Articles by jts-admin
Nature Reflections
by D Shapiro with comments by J Shapiro
Catalina’s gray silhouette
pierces the red afterglow
of a fallen sun
A kayak enters
the half moon’s reflection
a wave breaks…
Left
INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY (on finding and re-reading this, 2023)
This “snippet” “LEFT” was written on a ship, bound for Japan, the first week of May, 1970.
It was written as “creative fiction.” I was neither at the 1968 Democratic Convention demonstrations and police brutality nor at the Kent State shootings, which happened May 4 1970. When we arrived in Japan, we filmed some demonstrations between protestors of the Vietnam War and police. I wanted to create some a fictional reflection of a character’s inner struggling with these events. It was originally titled “Todd and Al dialogue” and intended to be part of a new fiction writing after J’s the novel. But that didn’t happen and just this snippet survives, which I recently found. Reading it all these years later it seems an interesting “x-ray” into where my mind was, and the inner/outer struggle regarding society and change. This snippet is now just one characters’ musings. Certainly there are autobiographical elements. Part of J’s the novel shared my journey to Israel, living on the Kibbutz, tracing Jesus’s path through the Holy land reading the “Old” and New testaments. I had just finished reading Auerbach’s Mimesis, about his viewing the Bible as complex and ambiguous compared to Homer’s Odysseus, and now was leaving Western literature and turning East. In this snippet I’m on a ship to Japan with the goal being India, to live on Sri Auribindo’s Ashram in Pondicherry. I was reading about Gandhi’s fight for internal liberation and his nonviolent battle against external British rule. I also wonder now, looking at this writing, how much seeped into it unconsciously of my own internal work I had to do regarding my father as a volunteer policeman, his anger and physical violence, his undercover cop car with the red light. Oh, Freud you would have a blast with that.
Poet on a Boat
by Deane H. Shapiro, Jr
This was written in 1970, in Asia, while reading Hardy’s Jude the Obscure. It is a conversation snippet. On a ship. Heading where? From where? There are “characters” Daled ( who later became the elder person of the Last Harbor); one called Ellis, and a poet.
Johanna comments:
A very honest examination and well-written. They develop your ideas more comprehensively about why write and who is the audience. The place of the artist in society (or whether there is a place for the artist). Good elaboration on the poet’s hope for making the world a better place through his writing. I like the title too, like the conceit of the ship and the different “levels” this offers. It’s a very honest, searching dialogue, each character trying to catch the others out, to force them to see their mixed motivations. Definitely something to put up. Love, J
Developing Healthy Life-styles
by Deane H. Shapiro, Jr., Ph.D.
Developing Healthy Lifestyles: A manual for the Executive Wellness Center’s Health Education and Stress Management Program.
Still ^AMusing
by D and J Shapiro
Had idea of starting to re-write poetry with J, a reprise of our 1970-71 poetry book:
A
Daily ^ Musing
Meditation: Classic and Contemporary Perspectives
Edited by Deane H. Shapiro, Jr. and Roger N. Walsh
Comments by colleagues on this book; click here.
* Selected by Choices: The Journal of the Association of College and Research Libraries as one of the Outstanding Academic Books for 1984-1985. Outstanding Research Book, 1985, Japanese Government, Asahi Press: (see here)
This collection of contemporary articles on meditation is the most comprehensive ever assembled on the subject. The editors have selected works that are classics in the field, methodologically interesting, and clinically relevant.
- Table of Contents
- Classic perspectives of meditation: Toward an empirical understanding of meditation as an altered state of consciousness.
- A systems approach to meditation research: Guidelines and suggestions.
- Epilogue – As a spiritual discipline, meditation is an ancient and revered practice, and its most outstanding practitioners have been ranked among the wisest people in history. Unfortunately, that history and tradition is sometimes lost and/or forgotten by those who unquestioningly and evangelically embrace a particular meditation technique or path, and try to convince all around them of its absolute truth. On the other hand, it may also be lost to us as Western scientists if we are not careful of our own biases and views as we study meditation.
- Tables (Studies on Fears and Phobia, Stress, and Tension Management; Studies of Hypertension; Subjective and other changes within and following meditation; Studies on Attention and Perception)