407: Into the Dark Wood (The Dharma Toolkit, Episode 30)

Join us for a walk into the forest of the unknown. Enchantments await. Groves of images. Bridges to the unseen. A path that wanders lost until some deeper magic happens...We are back in the realm of art and the making of images, the making of things, the making of meaning. Nagasiddhi's trainings in technical sculpture, prop design and building, the rituals of puppetry, and carpentry with wood left by his father long ago - all these have prepared him for a life of inhabiting his craft in the context of Buddhist practice. We are with an artist at work in that country where the river under the river flows. Only now there is the deep underworld of uncertainty to contend with. Reflections on pandemic, on the nature of creativity, on the totemic aspects of imagination itself. From James Hillman to Philip Glass to Diana Wynne Jones and The Psychedelic Furs: this is a conversation where culture collides with fairy tales and you can almost taste the bittersweet air of inspiration, the peace of attending to old thing and lost things and all the found objects of the heart.Featured this week:Nagasiddhi's artGino Bartali, the war hero cyclist from ItalySong by John Donne & Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne JonesJames Hillman's 'The Dream and the Underworld'Kiki Smith on art as a bridge to the unseenThe Psychedelic Furs, 'Made of Rain (released July 2020): on Apple Music | on Spotify***Check out our Dharma Toolkit space for details of all we have on offer to help you make it through the weirdness and stay inspired.Come meditate with us any week day!***Theme music by Ackport! Used with kind permission.#coronavirus #Covid19 #crisis #pandemic #Buddhism #Buddhist #Buddha #Dharma #Triratna #community #sangha #love #poetry #Arts #art #images #sculpture #puppetry