This collection was gathered during one person's life of making art and studying the spiritual traditions of the East and West. It is filled with the best thoughts on art, artists, and the creative process, drawn from various traditions, times, and places. It is intended to serve as a guide and an inspiration for all those who want to be reminded of the sources of creativity amid the fractured confusion of the contemporary scene. From the reports of mystics to the observations of scientists, these passages have been arranged in this volume to provide brief glimpses into the recesses of artistic being, into the tentative formations in consciousness, the first glimmers of imagination, the distinctive faculties of the creative mind, and the tensions of artistic expression in the workshop and the creative life. Fitzgerald?s great contribution has been to gather into a meaningful collection the words of 1,500 years of genius as a resource and inspiration for all those who would break out of creative limitations and take a bold step into the future. Astrid Fitzgerald's anthology of thoughts on art is the kind of book that will find the true reader: one who seeks solidarity with the kindred spirits of all times and places. - DORE ASHTON, author of The New School & A Critical Study of Philip Guston. Fitzgerald conveys a poet's sensibility in the organization of this collection on the spirit of art. A full field of illuminating ideas from great thinkers and artists is here for the reader to pluck from, dance through, roll about in, be startled by, and ponder. The theme that the artist is a conscious builder of a new world view resonates from Fitzgerald's strong philosophical foundation. She states, "The great ideas on art and expressions of the creative process contained in this volume...have nourished my ground of being, have strengthened my reason and intellect, and have given me courage in times of struggle and doubt. The quotations in this book are offered to the reader in the spirit of exploration: Consider this! Reflect on that! See what arises in your mind! - NANCY QUACKENBUSH, Napra ReVIEW.