줄리아 카메론의 저서 '예술가의 길'은 지난 4반세기 동안 4백만 권 이상 팔렸다. 저자의 말을 빌리자면 "글 소재가 고갈돼 고민하는 작가들과 예술가 지망생들에게 갈 길을 안내해주는 북극성(순우리말로 붙박이별) 역할을 해 온" 책이다.
1992년 출간될 당시 이 책의 출판사 타쳐/펭귄의 발행인이었던 조엘 포티노스 씨는 회상한다. 초판으로 9천 부를 인쇄하면서 책이 안 팔릴 것 같아 걱정했었다고 한다. 그 이유 중의 하나는 이 책이 다른 책들과 달라도 너무 다르기 때문이었다며, 종교나 교양 서적 등 기존 어떤 부류에도 속하지 않아 이 '예술가의 길'이 처음으로 '창의성(개발)'이란 카테고리를 새로 만들게 되었다고 한다.
칼릴 지브란 (1883-1931)이 그의 잠언 우화 시집 '모래와 거품(1926)에서 다음과 같이 상기시키듯 말이다.
파도가 밀려오면 내 발자욱들 다 지워지고
바닷 바람이 거품을 다 불어 없애버리지만
바다와 바닷가 모래사장은 영원토록 남아 있지.
다시 손을 움켜쥐었다가 펴보니 한 마리 새였어.
또 다시 손을 움켜쥐었다가 펴보니
한 사내가 슬픈 얼굴로 쳐다보고 있었어.
그리고 디시 한번 손을 움켜쥐었다가 펴보니
손 안엔 아무 것도 없이 안개 뿐이었어.
하지만 너무도 달콤한 노랫소리를 들을 수 있었지.
만일 그대가 이 높은 산 꼭대기에 오른다면
그대가 원하는 건 단 하나 뿐일 거야.
어서 산을 내려가 저 깊은 골짜기에
사는 사람들과 함께 하는 것이지.
그래서 이 산이 복산이라고 불리는 거지.
말이라는 감옥에 내가 가둔 모든 생각들을
나는 말이 아닌 내 행동으로 풀어놔야지.
아, 바로 이것이 '코스미안의 길'이어라.
재미 작가 이태상
The Cosmian Way
“I’m bored.” It’s a puny little phrase, yet it has the power to fill parents with a cascade of dread, annoyance and guilt.
Thus begins The New York Times Sunday Review (February 3, 2019) Opinion Column article ‘Let Children Get Bored Again’ by Pamela Paul, The editor of the Book Review and a co-author of the forthcoming book “How to Raise a Reader.” “Boredom spawns creativity and self-sufficiency,” she argues.
‘The Artist’s Way’ by Julia Cameron has sold more than four million copies, as the author puts it “that has been a lodestar for blocked writers and other artistic hopefuls for more than a quarter of century.”
The first printing was about 9,000 copies, said Joel Fotinos, formerly the publisher at Tarcher/Penguin, which published the book. According to Mr. Fotinos, there was concern that it wouldn’t sell. “Part of the reason,” Mr. Fotinos said, “was that this was a book that wasn’t like anything else. We didn’t know where to put it on the shelves ㅡ did it go in religion or self-help? Eventually there was a category called ‘creativity’, and ‘The Artist’s Way’ launched it.”
Now an editorial director at St. Martin’s Press, Mr. Fotinos said he is deluged with pitches from authors claiming they’ve written “the new Artist’s Way.” “But for Julia, creativity was a tool for survival,” he said. “It was literally her medicine and that’s why the book is authentic, and resonates with many people.”
Needless to say, this must be the case for everybody, young and old, not just for writers and so-called ‘artists’. Each and every one of us was born with ‘creativity’ in order to swim, not to sink.
Just as Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) comments in his book of aphorisms, poems, and parables, Sand and Foam(1926):
I am forever walking upon these shores,
Betwixt the sand and the foam.
The high tide will erase my foot-prints,
And the wind will blow away the foam.
But the sea and the shore will remain
Forever.
Once I filled my hand with mist.
Then I opened it and lo, the mist was a worm.
And I closed and opened my hand again, and behold there was a bird.
And again I closed and opened my hand, and in its hollow stood a man with a sad face, turned upward.
And again I closed my hand, and when I opened it there was naught but mist.
But I heard a song of exceeding sweetness.
You may have heard of the Blessed Mountain.
It is the highest mountain in our world.
Should you reach the summit you would have only one desire, and that to descend and be with those who dwell in the deepest valley.
That is why it is called the Blessed Mountain.
Every thought I have imprisoned in expression I must free by my deeds.
This is rather The Cosmian Way, methinks.
Tae Sang Lee
Chairman of Cosmian News