Feed Your Curiosity: Honor Your Influences
Who influenced you to become who you are? Maybe it was someone who revealed something in you no one else could. Perhaps it was a person who showed how to bring life and work and art together and make it work.
The tools of influence are many: A kind word, subversive thoughts, bold art, unfettered imagination, a whisper in your soul, "I want to do that, too."
Over the years, I could point to influential individuals that spoke to parts of me, but never the whole. With all my curiosities and interests, it seemed impossible to bring them all together into one pursuit. That is until I learned about the journalist, Bill Moyers.
My introduction to Moyers started with his books, long-form conversations with people across time, politics, and country. He was searching for answers and could ask tough questions, but he also knew how to listen. And that's what led me to his TV show on PBS, "Moyers & Co."
"You said a movie tinkers around inside your brain. It steals up to form or confirm social attitudes. Movies actually can help to create a healthy, informed, concerned, and inquisitive society or a negative, apathetic, and ignorant one." – Bill Moyers to David Puttnam in A World of Ideas: Conversations with Thoughtful Men and Women About American Life Today and the Ideas Shaping Our Future by Bill Moyers (1989)
A traditional talking head show, Moyers sat across from his guests and asked questions, listened, challenged, and responded accordingly. I devoured these episodes with a fervor because they were accessible and fascinating. Many of these recorded conversations would become the foundation of his books. They also served as a source of inspiration for several of my blog posts in 2011 and 2012:
News & Truth (August 3, 2012)
A Poverty of Attention (May 9, 2012)
Boredom And Bucketlists (July 10, 2011)
Often a recorded conversation—whether in audio or video form—just doesn't have the same impact in the written word. Moyers found a way to make it work. I'm sure he gave all credit to his editors and collaborators as they shaped a conversation to be read.
"In our discourse, it is not enough for us in the Western democratic tradition simply to seek the truth. We also have to defeat and humiliate our opponents. And that happens in politics. It happens in the law courts. It happens in religious discourse. It happens in the media. It happens in academia." – Karen Armstrong in Bill Moyers Journal: The Conversation Continues by Bill Moyers (2011)
His work was political in nature—he did work in the Johnson administration—but he also explored the arts and culture, often having deep discussions with poets and essayists about life and American values. These were some of my favorite episodes. I love the stuff that didn't make sense in a logical sense, but had to be felt and experienced deeply to be understood.
"Myths inspire the realization of the possibility of your perfection, the fullness of your strength, and the bringing of solar light into the world. Slaying monsters is slaying the dark things. Myths grab you somewhere down inside. As a boy, you go at it one way, as I did reading my Indian stories. Later on, myths tell you more, and more, and still more. I think that anyone who has ever dealt seriously with religious or mythic ideas will tell you that we learn them as a child on one level, but then many different levels are revealed. Myths are infinite in their revelation." – Joseph Campbell in The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers (1988)
When I found out that Bill Moyers passed away this week, I knew I needed to honor his influence on my work. He inspired me to want to ask profound questions, create a welcoming space for people to respond, to listen, and to create a body of work that transcends labels and genres. Thank you for setting an example of what it looks like when creativity and curiosity fuels your life.
"We become alienated when we take somebody else's story as the story of our lives. Our deep sense of the sacredness of our own life begins to be eclipsed. And the only way to find that, when we go into these periods of chaos where we lose our identity, is to go back into our own memory system." – Sam Keen in A World of Ideas II: Public Opinions from Private Citizens by Bill Moyers (1990)
Thank you, Bill. I will now retreat into my “memory system” and continue searching for the story of my life.
Thoughts of Time & Trash (GWTW827)
Every night before I go to bed, I grab my journal and spend a few minutes writing about the day. Some days there’s a lot to say, while others recount what I wasn’t able to get done. Lately, I’ve noticed a trend. I list four or more things I got done and then follow up with a dismissive statement, “I just wasn’t productive.” If you compare the ambition of my task list with what was actually accomplished, then yes, something is off. But it’s not a lack of productivity, it’s over-scheduling my day. Sure, I could dive into why I do this, but a more interesting question is this: How much of my day is filled with trash?
“A Life of Awe & Wonder” with Lee C. Camp (GWTW828)
How curious are you about asking and reflecting upon the deep questions of life? You know, massive questions like, “How do you think about a life worth living?” or “What kind of people are we becoming as individuals and as a community by employing any given technology?” Today’s guest on Getting Work To Work is no stranger to asking these questions of himself, his guests on his podcast, and the students in his classroom. Lee C. Camp is a theologian, professor and host of the acclaimed No Small Endeavor podcast. In our conversation, we dive into the origin of why he takes the big questions seriously. We touch on technology and science, discipline and willpower, being present in the moment, and healthy rhythms of life. Lee also shares how podcasting has shaped his work as an academic, how he creates space in conversations, and what he’s learned about life chasing cumulus clouds in the cockpit of a sailplane.
Newsletter Notes:
My sonic soundtrack is Experience by Ludovico Einaudi.
I set the "Feed Your Curiosity" type in Boris Bold, a delicious font by Deadbolt Design.
Bill Moyers was a giant in my mind. I read so many of his books and watched his PBS work, always fascinated. You are right, he knew how to not just ask questions but to listen to the responses and follow up. Years ago (the 80's?) he did a series on Creativity and I'll always remember one of the first shows was about the guys who founded FedEx. Ex-pilots they figured out a way for packages to be delivered overnight. No one had figured that out before and what they came up with was pretty astounding at the time. Maybe not your textbook definition of creativity, but it was creativity nonetheless. The whole series was enlightening.
Between Moyers and Studs Terkel I learned how to interview people. Have a few questions, listen, and follow up. Turn an interview into a conversation. That's what those guys did and it is indeed a lost art. Everyone else is always more concerned with hammering home their talking points, those two were interested in the why behind the talking points.
Another giant gone not easily replaced. Thank you for all you taught us Bill! RIP!
I found the transcripts here: https://billmoyers.com/series/creativity/