Fanning the Embers: The Necessity of Continuous Meditation

Good writing comes from what Robert Olen Butler describes as the white hot center of the unconscious, a particular area of the mind that can be difficult to access, the place from where we dream. Dreaming requires our full immersion. To dream, we must pass through the stages of sleep to the unconsious mind where dreaming takes place. The writer must enter this same space in the unconsious. With one obvious caveat -- to get there, he must remain fully awake.

Of course, the thing that makes it difficult to enter this kind of writer's trance is the constant disruption of our waking lives. The sleeping mind has no trouble focusing on the dream. The dream is all that exists in the sleeping mind. But for the waking mind trying to dream, it is a constant struggle that only some writers ever gain mastery over.

From my observations of other writers who are successful at accessing that white hot center of the dreaming mind, this is what I've concluded (and Robert Olen Butler has said as much in his book From Where You Dream): the fire that burns at the white hot center must not ever be allowed to go out.

For some of us, entering that dream zone means building a new fire every time we sit down to write. We spend most of our energy collecting kindling and opening the damper. Going into and out of the white hot center takes so much energy and concentration that we give up in frustration.

Interestingly, it doesn't take any special powers of concentration to dream when we're asleep. The sleeping mind does not struggle to dream. It happens as a natural matter of course.

Some writers have figured out that the white hot center requires a sort of pilot light, a small steady flame that is continuously being fed so that when he needs to turn up the heat, the fire is already lit. The ember must be kept burning even during the most mundane (or chaotic) moments of the writer's life.

This is why some writers can write anywhere, anytime. Even during a busy touring schedule that's physically and emotionally draining. If they see an opening of three hours, they take full advantage of it. It's a discipline that becomes reflexive. That fire that feeds the writing also feeds the writer. It's also why that same kind of writer will get agitated, I think, when he can't write, when he's called away to do anything else, even things he would otherwise enjoy doing. The writing has become white hot, a fire too intense to be ignored, and it draws the writer back to it.

Writers can't afford to let that fire go out, not even for an hour. It takes too much energy to re-light it once it's gone cold. We must continually fan those embers. Here are a few common characteristics I've noted in the successful writers around me:

1. Total immersion. In order to access the waking dream at will, the dream must be continuous throughout the day and night. A writer must work to stay fully immersed. Even when life demands attention elsewhere, the writer can never afford to completely come out of that dream space. He must be there inside his writer's mind continuously.

2. Conflict avoidance. Ever see writers who seem to be only half listening to conversations going on around them? The fully immersed writer knows the danger of being sucked into debates, petty arguments, and family dramas. Even into conversations or hobbies that may be too interesting. Anything that risks dividing the stream of energy that feeds the writing. Instead of being drawn in, they become detached observers, watching with interest what is happening around them, giving the appearance of participation without ever really yielding their writer's mind to the moment at hand.

3. Valuing the work. Fully immersed writers who prize their writing above all else earn the respect from others who don't write. People looking on see the importance of the writer's work and dare not disturb him with tasks someone else can do. Writers who struggle staying immersed feel the demands of everyone around them because those writers are sending out the signal that says, "I'm available; the writing can wait."

4. Cool distance. Some of my favorite people brush me off when they're working hard to stay immersed. They're polite, but they're very direct. They do not squander their time. They keep people at arm's length. They isolate themselves. They don't reply to emails or phone calls. They go in deep, and they stay there.

5. Calming activities. Fully immersed writers often like to run or walk. Some pray or meditate. They look for activities that turn off the noise around them. Some garden or cook or knit or paint. And they're careful not to let their calming activities become chores. They don't compete or strive for achievement there. They simply let it carry them into their writer's mind.

How do you fan the embers?