Here are the discussion questions for the eighth email in the AMV Deep Dive of Marden J. Clark’s essay collection Liberating Form.
If you haven’t signed up for the email, you can read it (and sign up to receive future ones) here: The New Mormon Mysticism.
Please note that comments are moderated, and the goal is to make this a place welcome to Mormons of all stripes (as well as folks with an interest in Mormonism).
- Which works of Mormon (or non-Mormon) literature wrestle with these paradoxes, challenges, and strengths in a robust way?
- Of the concepts Clark discusses, which do you think has the most potential for fruitful dramatization in Mormon art?
- What other notions that could be classified under Mormon mysticism (whether new or not) do you find interesting?
A Motley Vision 
Another great post, William. I have copied down a quote from you, and I may just pass it along to my students at some point. They get so tangled up in the thought that their work might, or might not, be inspired. It’s this:
“I don’t think giving yourself wholly up to the Spirit—or whatever you believe to be the source of creative inspiration—means being swallowed up and overwritten by the Spirit or the Muse. Rather, it’s a peeling away of insecurity and impatience and false pride and self consciousness.”
(And, I would add, plain old hard work, though I think you imply this.)
Thanks you! And, yes, definitely hard work is part of it. Although I think too often we lionize the grind and so I’d say there’s both play and experimentation involved.