Julia Cameron: Life Lessons

An Interview with Julia Cameron – Life Lessons

Julia Cameron has been an active artist for more than four decades. She is the author of more than forty books, fiction, and nonfiction, including such bestselling works on the creative process as The Artist’s Way, Walking in This World, and Finding Water. A novelist, playwright, songwriter, and poet, she has multiple credits in theater, film, and television. She divides her time between Manhattan and the high desert of New Mexico.

OMTIMES: What prompted you to write Life Lessons?

JULIA CAMERON: Life Lessons was born out of my experience with living alone and seeking spiritual comfort. It could fairly be said that although I wrote the book for others, I also wrote it for myself. I live alone, up the mountain from central Santa Fe. The occasional bear, coyote or deer make up my visitors. Although I am frequently in touch by telephone with my friends from New York, it is still lonely. My Santa Fe friendships are blossoming, but “drop by” friendships are few and far between. When it snows, which is often, I find myself snowbound. The drifts around my house make visiting impossible, and so I face many a lonely night with prayer as my companion. My writing room holds octagonal windows looking into the woods. By day the room is cheerful, filled with light. By night, the room is dark, and as I peer through the glass, I spot flora and fauna, but no human being. It was on a snowy winter’s night when I felt particularly isolated that it came to me to write Life Lessons. I wanted comfort, and I realized that spiritual comfort was what I was seeking. Curled in my large leather writing chair, I set pen to page. Words floated easily as I sought out higher forces to ease my loneliness and anxiety.

OMTIMES: What types of issues did the words address, and did they lessen the loneliness and anxiety you describe?

JULIA CAMERON: The first prayer addressed my fearful state: “Little One, why are you anxious? Why do you worry and fret? I am with you always, and I intend you great good. Still your frantic imaginings…” The prayer struck straight to my heart. I was frightened, and my imagination was turned toward darkness. The prayer continued: “Feel my calm. There is no need for panic.” As I wrote, I could feel my anxiety slipping away. I did feel calm, and my thoughts appreciably lightened. I wrote one prayer, then two. The second prayer asked me to focus on the beauty all around me. The snow outside my window was a crystalline blanket. The icicles on my eves were not swords, but magic wands. As I wrote “Rest your heart in my quietude,” I found myself able to do exactly that. I wrote, “On a snowy night, feel my peace and tranquility.” I did feel peace. I did feel tranquility. Reaching out to higher forces, I felt the loveliness all around me. No longer anxious and disturbed, I found myself appreciating the beauty of God’s world. No longer turning a blind eye to God’s radiance, I found that as I strived to be appreciative, I was given the gift of appreciation. “This world is enchanted,” I caught myself thinking, and as I did, I felt the spell of a snowbound night drawing me closer to the divine. My simple prayer met with a generous response. I found myself thinking, “Why do so many of us desire more spiritual connection, yet find it so difficult?”

OMTIMES: Yes— why is it that we all are searching for a connection, and yet struggle to make that connection?

JULIA CAMERON: The yearning for a spiritual connection is innate in all human beings. It is our mythology about God that makes it seem difficult. In reality, the higher power is easily reached, as I was discovering. The simplest prayers, I was finding, are heard and answered. I wanted a book that reflected the gentleness and ease of spiritual connection. Taking pen to page, I would sit nightly in my writing room, looking out at the juniper and piñon and I would ask, “What do I need to say? What do my readers need to hear?” To put it simply, I asked to be of service. Curled in my chair, notebook in hand, I wrote what I “heard.” And what I heard was often soothing. “Dear One, bring me your troubles,” I wrote. “I take great joy in untangling your complicated life.” As the prayers unfolded, I found myself with a sense of optimism. As I asked for guidance, higher forces answered. “I illuminate your difficulties. I give you a lantern heart… Your path becomes broad and clear. I bring you clarity and grace.” The guidance that I received was gentle.

OMTIMES: These prayers seem to make it feel easier to connect with a higher power— why do you think that is?

JULIA CAMERON: The simplicity of these prayers created an easy pathway to and from God. It has been said that the only scoffers at prayer are those who haven’t tried it enough.

These entries invited the uninitiated to take a flyer into spiritual realms. I found my own sense of spiritual connection deepening as I wrote. As I aimed to ease my own disquietude, I found myself easing the anxiety of my imagined readers. As the reader addresses God, God, in turn, addresses the reader.

I found the “still, small voice” to be amplified by these prayers. God’s voice is always simple, gentle and direct. I came to believe that if my passage met that criterion, it would touch the souls of those who read them. Writing nightly, I found myself reaching two directions: first to God, and second to my reader. As I asked “What next?” the answers came to me, and my prayers covered a wide variety of situations. “Little One, You have lost a beloved.” “Hurried One, You pray for guidance but then rush on.” I found myself addressing a wide variety of situations. “Nervous One, Your nerves are frayed.” “Little One, You are tired, and that is hard.”

OMTIMES: Did you share this work with anyone as you were writing it?

JULIA CAMERON: As I wrote, I became increasingly conscious of the guidance I was receiving. At the midpoint of the book, I decided to share my prayers with a friend. “I love them,” she breathed. “They’re so simple, but straight to the point.” Encouraged, I wrote on, sharing my prayers with a small group of far flung friends as I wrote. I was discovering that using these prayers moved us into what seekers call “conscious contact.” Setting aside our difficulties, we discovered an ease in communion. God was not distant and difficult; rather, God was near and easy. Increasingly, we felt that the portal to spirituality was joy, not suffering. I wrote nightly during the long Santa Fe winter. Writing a prayer, a day, I moved towards spring. Trees budded in an unseasonably warm March. Light lingered longer. Whether as a result of my prayers or the season’s turning, I found myself feeling less isolated. I wrote, “Little One, You are never alone, never abandoned.”

Increasingly, I believed this to be true.

The book I wrote to soothe myself and others was doing its job. The nightly blanket of darkness felt comforting. The moon felt like God’s gift, serene and steady. I wrote, “A loving bond unites us.” I wrote, “Rest assured that our words for you are not mere fantasy. Our connection is real, and it brings you great comfort.” Reading over what I had written, I found grace and dignity in the prayers. They were not without humor, but the humor was gentle. “Little One, Learn from your animal companions.” “Messy One, Bring order to your surroundings.” “Restless One, Learn to sit quietly.” Addressing the reader intimately, the prayers forged a connection.

The bond between human and divine was real. I did not doubt their guidance. Sharing the prayers with my friends, I found that they, too experienced connection and relief.

“The prayers are lovely,” one friend told me, “and they feel like they’re mine.”

I was delighted with this response. Writing the prayers, I had felt closely connected to the divine. Sharing the prayers, I felt I shared that connection. Their comfort was real, as I soon had the chance to find out.

“We’re due for snow,” a friend told me in mid-May, and sure enough, eighteen inches of snow arrived overnight.

As the flakes fell, I found myself feeling comforted. I had finished writing the little book, and I found that its life lessons had indeed taught me. Far from feeling isolated and alone in my perch up the mountain, I found myself feeling blessed and comforted.

OMTIMES: Did you use these prayers as comfort for yourself even after you had finished writing them?

JULIA CAMERON: As I read what I had written— “Little One, Surrender your sense of urgency. There is no emergency. Trust God,” I found myself in agreement with the prayers. Although I knew I had written them myself, upon reading them, the prayers seemed to be dictated from a higher consciousness. I had written “Lonely One, We are with you at all times, although you seldom sense our presence. We are by your side, closer than your breath.” Reading this, I did sense higher forces hovering near. Satisfied that the little book was successful in its goal to soothe and comfort, I phoned my publisher, Joel Fotinos. “Joel,” I told him, “It seems I’ve written a little book. Would you like to hear some of it?” “I’d like that,” Joel said, and so I read to him from what I had written. “Little One, There is a divine plan of goodness for you. We guard and guide you.” “Little One, Ask us to prosper you.” “Little One, Come to us for abundance.” Joel listened quietly. I continued. “Frightened One, Come to us with your fears.” “Little One, You feel small as the events in your life loom large.” “Fearful One, You face your day with apprehension… Stop your anxiety. Your soul is safe and protected.” Joel listened quietly. I read to him for a dozen minutes, then I paused. “I’m calling this book Life Lessons,” I told him. “I like that,” Joel said across the miles between us. “I’d like to have this book.” And so the little book that began on a cold and snowy night finished on the first night of summer. I was delighted with Joel’s response, and I hoped it boded well for the little book’s future. Putting myself into bed that night, I turned once more to the prayers, I read, “Little One, Let yourself believe. As you ask us to come to you, we do. Feel our presence. We are real. When you reach to us, we reach back. When you speak to us, we answer. There are higher forces that intend you good. This is a fact. Accept us as reality. Come to us, and many blessings come back to you.” Reading the words of higher forces, I drifted to sleep feeling comforted. It is my hope that the sense of comfort that I felt will be felt by much more.

OMTIMES: Can this book be used in conjunction with The Artist’s Way?

JULIA CAMERON: The prayers contained in Life Lessons parallel the lessons contained in The Artist’s Way. Both books, used together, help us to forge a spiritual path. The essays of The Artist’s Way expand on the ideas formulated more simply in the prayers. I recommend using the books in conjunction, according to the reader’s mood.

OMTIMES: What is your hope for the reader of this book?

JULIA CAMERON: I intended this book to be soothing, and I believe that it is. It is my hope that readers will be comforted. When I share the prayers on an individual basis, I find people responding with hope and relief. “Little One…You are grounded and safe” the book concludes, and I know this to be true.