| | Whilst I was in Pearson Airport in Toronto, enjoying the 6-hour layover on my way back home, I picked up a book from the airport convenience store, "In Conversation with Bono." The writer, the interviewer, is a journalist who first met Bono in 1980, and was the first British media writer to plug U2 outside of Dublin. As a result, Bono and the writer have a long history that allows for an honest, open interview.
I can't read on planes (I get motion sickness), but between the terminals and a bit of downtime back home, I'm on page 43 of this 300 page book, and am already finding some just amazing things. I have, of course, always looked up to Bono as a rock star, a humanitarian, and a person. I know he is over-publicized and idolized by alot, and I know he is very to-the-point and arrogant at times, but honest nonetheless.
In the first 40 or so pages, Bono has been discussing how he views himself and what role he believes he plays, between being a person, a performer, and a writer. I must admit, even though I am familiar with U2's amazing lyrics, that I never thought of Bono as a writer. But it is evident that he views himself in this light way more then the light of a rockstar or performer. The book has been looking deep not only at Bono's soul, but also the soul of a writer, and I think I had some of these things originally and I've forgotten about alot, or let alot slide. All of this comes at a time when I am very much trying to figure out how to approach writing from this point on. I am confused at the moment with where to take "Avenue of the Giants" and "Over Israeli Skies," and how to approach some subjects I very passionately want to get out there. I know I can do it, I know I have the capabilities to do it, I've just lost a bit of the "how."
Bono tells us that as a writer, he has to (bad paraphrase here), "get this hands under his skin, break his breastbone, rip out though his rib cage, and lay his skin on the table." This goes back to an old Irish belief that to be a writer, a true writer whose occupation is from the soul, you must be willing to lay your skin on the table.
I had severe writer's block while in Israel. There were several times I sat on the flat's proch in Haifa or The Coffee Bean patio in Jerusalem, trying to write, and I just couldn't. Bono believes that when a writer has writer's block, he should write about that. That comes from Bono's belief that he is always able to writer, because a writer must always be true to himself. Therefore, a writer can always write what's going on then and now from his soul, because he is completely unable to be dishonest with himself. Wow. That line struck me like an epiphany in the book while reading it in Canada; I've been dwelling on that thought ever since. I was sitting in Jerusalem trying to write something from a perspective that I used to be at, or that I wanted to be at -- not from the perspective that I *was* at. That was the problem.
I am still reading that book, and still working my way through some thoughts. There is passion and hope there, a bit of that reawakened in Israel; a bit of that through new life situations; and even more of that from getting an increidble new viewpoint on faith and life while standing inside the Garden Tomb outside Damascus Gate. I am thinking more and processing where my writing and my art is at alot more, and this trip did help. I look forward in two weeks to being in Portland with Justin, walking around with him in a city that motivates me and inspires me even more. My friend Dave Hart said that perfection lies in transit. I don't know if I fully agree with that, but I will agree that heart and finding and discovery lies in transit, and the opprotunity to get out there and know yourself, and the world, more intimately. |
