Roberto Bolano

"You have to know how to look even if you don't know what you're looking for."

— Roberto Bolano

Chilean Novelist, Poet

1953 - 2003

One of the functions of artists and writers is to see the world in ways that nobody else does and at the same time help others to see the world in new ways.  I have often found that the best novels teach me new things about the world that I had not previously discovered.    Creative leaders may not know what they are looking for, but they will recognize it when they see it and they will find a way to communicate it to others.

Do you know how to look at the world?  What makes your way of viewing the world unique?  Do you know what you are looking for?  Have you found it or are you still looking?  Do you appreciate your unique vision of the world?  Have you accepted your vision of how the world should be?  Have you communicated your vision to others?

Here is a poem by Roberto Bolano from his book, The Romantic Dogs, translated by Laura Healy.

Self Portrait At Twenty Years

I set off, I took up the march and never knew
where it might take me. I went full of fear,
my stomach dropped, my head was buzzing:
I think it was the icy wind of the dead.
I don't know. I set off, I thought it was a shame
to leave so soon, but at the same time
I heard that mysterious and convincing call.
You either listen or you don't, and I listened
and almost burst out crying: a terrible sound,
born on the air and in the sea.
A sword and shield. And then,
despite the fear, I set off, I put my cheek
against death's cheek.
And it was impossible to close my eyes and miss seeing
that strange spectacle, slow and strange,
though fixed in such a swift reality:
thousands of guys like me, baby-faced
or bearded, but Latin American, all of us,
brushing cheeks with death.

Ansel Adams

"When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs.  When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence."

— Ansel Adams

American Photographer

1902 - 1984

Sometimes words are not enough.  And sometimes pictures fail to communicate what we are feeling.  And all we have left is the silence.  If the writing is blocked, pick up a brush and paint a picture.  If the painting is blocked, walk into the woods and listen.  Life goes on even without the human voice.  Listen to the sounds between the silences.  Listen to the heartache in another human being.  The universe is bigger than mankind.  And yet the universe is contained in the soul of one individual.  We will not live forever.  And some day the civilizations we are so proud of will vanish and be replaced.  Change never ends.  Focus on what is possible and forget about what cannot happen.  




When we let the small things make us angry, we lose sight of the bigger picture — that in the grand scheme of things it will not matter a thousand years from now.  Where were you when Rome burned?  So take a deep breath and take the the beauty of the universe into your soul and create a masterpiece.  And give back to the universe a portion of what you have been given.  What is to be, will be.

Now, listen to Ansel Adams in his own words.

Fernando Del Paso

Venus de Milo
Ancient Greek Statue

"Literature and music exist in time: they have a beginning and an end.  Painting and sculpture exist in space. . . . Where does the Venus de Milo begin: in her navel, in her breasts, or in her head?  Where does an abstract painting begin: in the lower left corner, or in the center?"

— Fernando Del Paso

Mexican Novelist, Painter and Poet

1935 -

Back of
Venus de Milo

De Paso has raised a very interesting question:  where does a painting or a sculpture begin?  When analyzing a painting, people often identify at what point the eye is drawn into the painting.  At what point do we the viewer enter into the picture?  But that point of entry is not the beginning of the painting.  In fact, paintings and sculptures have no beginning.  They just are here and now.

The flip side of this question is:  where does the novel exist?  In the head of the writer?  On the pages of the book it is printed in?  In cyberspace somewhere?  Or in the head of the reader?  And what novel are we talking about?  Is the novel that is in the writer's head the same as the novel on the page?  Is the novel that is in the reader's head the same as what is in the writer's imagination?  

Fernando Del Paso

How many times have you as a reader altered the novel on the page by changing the looks of a character or the physical location of the story.  Unlike the painting which is concrete and visual, the novel is nebulous and changing.  Yes, we can impose our stories upon the painting, but the painting still exists outside of us.  We change the novel as soon as it enters our brain.  We have altered the story as imagined by the novelist.

Have you ever wished that a novel would not end?  You may even have slowed down your reading so that the ending would be delayed?  Novels exist in time and have a beginning and a ending, but we can continue to revisit them through our memory. 

Paulo Coelho

"And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it."

— Paulo Coelho

Brazilian Novelist

1947 -

When one door closes, another one opens.  There is a method buried within the madness of the world.  The universe wants us to succeed, to find our way home, to taste the fruit of the vine.  Yet most of us do not listen with our hearts.  We hear only the shrill sounds bombarding our ears.  To be successful, we must first understand the power of desire.

Do you have the passion to be a creative leader?  Do you desire to write?  Then write as if your life depended on it.  Do you desire to paint?  Then paint as if your heart will explode if you don't put paint to canvas.  When our actions are aligned with our passion, then the universe opens and we are lifted into the heavens.  We are able to find beauty in the mundane like a jar of pickles, a can of tuna or a bottle of orange juice.  

When one door opens, another one closes.  The end can be found in the beginning.  We all travel circles within circles.  And nothing changes but what must remain the same.  So believe that your gift of creativity is yours to share with the universe and accept that the universe is a flower within your heart.