Peter Clothier

"I'll continue to let the words flow where they will," Peter Clothier writes in Persist, a book examining his personal and our universal drive toward creativity. "I'll follow where they lead, even though they lead me through unexplored and unexpected byways, as they have just now done. They have guided me well thus far. I've learned to trust their wisdom, and they never stop coming. That's the joy of it."

As a small book of essays, written over a 30-year period, Persist is one of those rare tomes composed from the writer's soul, sweat and seeking spirit to know himself better. While following a valuable range of topics, including "Discipline" and "What to Say When There's Nothing to Say," Peter Clothier is most inspiring when he lets the words flow, imparting insights that infuse into our hearts that compel us to sit down and write or create in our individual and unique ways.

There's the wisdom of, "The more I am able to find my own wounded places, deep inside, and let the light into to illuminate the shadows, the more I am able to communicate with others: it's in our anger, in our pain, and in our grief and our joy that we find common ground."

Many books I've read about creativity over the years have ended up at Goodwill. One book reads, "When a person opts for the fully creative life, then she must do what is required of her to combat the powerful anticreating forces aligned against her." I read these words and went into a mental tailspin, wondering why many of us fight so hard to create value.

His Own Vision

Contrast this with Peter's: "So whenever I find myself kow-towing to convention or pausing as I write to wonder whether what I have to say is sensible, appropriate, acceptable, I think of the word 'beauty,' and I remind myself to trust my own intelligence, my own vision, and my own intention enough to give them the freedom they demand and to take the risk."

Life and creativity don't have to be a battle. They are the joy of self-acceptance of creative gifts that each of us has if we have the courage to look deeply within.

Persist transcends mental analysis. Consider the following: "The creative life is nothing if not an unending journey of the imagination, which needs the sharp edge of adventure to keep it moving forward into the unknown. Adventure implies risk; as in other walks or life, the greater the risk, the greater the reward."

Peter Clothier now in his seventh decade has reached serenity even as he struggles to write nearly every day. But the struggle is joyous. Towards the end of Persist, he writes, "A good part of the successful creative process consists in maintaining a flow of thought, image and medium, but the trick is that it must be done without exception of tangible or emotional return. It must be no less an expression of freedom than the spirit that created it. It must come, as does the work itself, purely from the heart."

The Courage to Create by Rollo May, published in 1975, reads, "Courage is not the absence of despair; it is rather, the capacity to move ahead in spite of despair. But if you do not express your own original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself. Also, you will have betrayed our community in failing to make your contribution to the whole."

His Own Values

Fellow art reviewer, Roberta Carasso writes, "Peter Clothier sets our compass, not at due North but at due Integrity. Throughout the writing he stresses the need to maintain a sense of our own values, even when those around us have skewed values...Clothier advocates being rooted in reality where the artist aspires to transcend to higher values despite often being surrounded by non-artists or non-writers seeking to pass themselves off as genuine."

Persist, a book of honesty and authenticity, is filled with words that flow and shimmer like those in an inspiring poem or like brushstrokes in a classic Impressionist painting. These words infuse into our collective psyche, challenging us to engage in our own creativity and help change the world for the better.

I recently emailed Peter Clothier asking him what he is doing lately. here is what he wrote to me: "I've been busy for the past few months with the promotion of my recently-published book, "Persist." The book has been received with gratifying response; the enthusiastic, 5-star reviews on Amazon are not untypical of others that have appeared, and continue to appear elsewhere. In connection with the publication, I have also been offering lectures and workshops at a wide variety of venues, including a TED talk at Fullerton College and lectures at Texas Christian University, the Portland Art Museum and many locations in Southern California.

"On the writing front, I have been working on a new collection of essays, now nearly complete and ready for submission. I also continue to make daily entries in my blogs, "The Buddha Diaries" and "Persist: The Blog," and am grateful to have an always-growing, world-wide readership."

Liz Goldner