Projects of Transcendence Record Type: Review   ID: 229
Drawing the Light From Within: Keys to Awaken Your Creative Power Cornell, Judith
Judith Cornell is both artist and scholar. Her area of expertise is sacred art engaged in by "ordinary" people. She calls her approach "integral art," because it is "a method of creating from a sense of unity, love, and joy by learning to see with all of our ‘eyes.’" (p. xxii). It came to her in a moment of illumination, an exceptional human experience, in which she perceived light as both physical and spiritual, integrated as one. She developed special guided visualizations to help people of all ages to see their inner light. "When the mind is focused on inner light, in a state of love, the eye of contemplation pierces the illusions of the outer world and sees the underlying unity of all life" (p. xxii). As an instructor, she also creates a nonthreatening atmosphere composed of loving intentions and nonjudgmental support. She views art as sacred practice, and in her studies, realized that the method she was evolving was similar to Hindu Tantric art. In her Introduction, there is a paragraph that sums up what she attempts in her art and this book: "Is creativity a learnable skill? Does everyone possess the ability to perform extraordinary feats that we commonly ascribe to only a few? Can expanded states of consciousness and creativity be reached without the aid of drugs or years of intensive training? Can problem-solving processes in drawing and painting provide insights into solving the challenges we face as human beings living together on this earth? These are some of the questions I addressed in developing my teaching method and writing this book. In every instance, the answer is emphatically yes. The exercises in this book reveal a powerful way of thinking and observing that I believe is necessary now more than ever in the push and pull of daily life" (p. xix). A major lesson her students learn from drawing illusions of the physical world is the "illusionary nature of the physical world" (p. 141).
Publisher Information:	New York: Prentice-Hall, 1990. 210p. 98 figs (40 col); 39 refs; Sugg. reading: 199-205

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