Anthologies
By Shiva
Interview
With The Author
Interview
With The Author, Shiva
Each of our lives are all so much more interesting than any
novel one could ever read! Sometimes it is great to just take
a portion of our lives and create this little world that springs
forth from within our lives and soul.
For me,
writing seemed the last thing I would do in this life. Throughout
my years in Elementary, Junior High, High School and College,
English was always my worst subject. I always made "D's"...
sometimes I would manage a "C", but never anything
above that. Then I met a real English teacher. Her name was
Lynne. She was around my age and a fellow student in the Seminary
of the Religious Science School of Ministry. She was paying
for her tuition by teaching this class. She magically opened
me up to this wonderful world of words. Through her guidance
and inspiration, writing became an expression of the song of
the soul for me.
Lynne died
in a automobile accident about twenty years ago. But her gift
of teaching what she loved so much, still lives within my heart
and soul. Teaching has such a powerful influence in the lives
and direction of others in ways we cannot begin to understand
nor comprehend.
After I
started teaching as a spiritual teacher in the early 80's, I
began to accumulate a group of stories or personal experiences
that I used during my seminars. Some of them were really good!
Others were just good... Anyway, one night I decided to begin
to write these stories down and compile them.
I soon
found myself jotting down key words to a story on a pad and
later on I would enter a rough draft on my little Mac. As the
number of stories grew, I decided to create a small book comprised
of these stories. Once you do that, then you are faced with
the issue of coming up with a name for it. "Anthology"
came to mind. Since I was not too sure what "Anthology"
meant, I looked it up. It seems that one definition of Anthology
is, "an arrangement of beautiful flowers". Since my
stories were each a little flower, I named the book "Anthology
for the Spiritual Aspirant". I self-published the
original in 1994. Funny, every once in a while someone will
show up with one of these original copies.
The book
did not stop there. From time to time new stories would pop
up. I continued to jot them down and enter them in to my Mac.
Soon the stories seem to be taking a theme. Some were fiction,
others were significant dreams that held great meaning and still
others were simply stories that were personal recollections.
So I decided to break up the book into these categories. Now
I had three arrangements of flowers, so I changed the title
from "Anthology for the Spiritual Aspirant"
to "Anthologies: A Collection of Spiritual Flowers".
The stories
continued to come. I found that my personal experiences section
were becoming quite large. There were so many stories about
my experiences with my teacher that I ended up taking most of
them out and starting a new book, "The Fast Path with Rama"...
But that, if you pardon the pun, is another story.
I have
come to realize that "Anthologies for the Spiritual
Aspirant" will never really be finished. I have several
new additions to the book that need to be edited and new ones
seem to pop up all of the time. This is why it is so suited
as an electronic book.
When I
write I enter into a magical world.
If it is
a fiction, then I am this God that decides everything. I decide
the setting and environment. I create and develop the characters
and story line. If I do not like the direction or sequence of
events I can change it. The fate of every character and the
outcome is totally in my hands. It is so much fun!
When I
write about some of my own personal experiences, I begin to
see into these events in a much deeper level. This can really
be a catharsis and a healing process in itself.
As I write
about my spiritual insight, I can see how I have grown. Interestingly,
some of my writings seem to contradict others. But isn't that
the way it is anyway? We are not one or two dimensional beings.
Whether
I am writing about my personal experiences or this great pronouncement
of "Truth", it is an interesting experience to review
your great work of literature and find that it is so full of
this massive ego or other disgusting qualities such as being
this wimpy victim or self righteous asshole. And to have it
so readily displayed for all to behold!