Author Archives: B Gourley

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About B Gourley

Bernie Gourley is a writer living in Bangalore, India. His poetry collection, Poems of the Introverted Yogi is now available on Amazon. He teaches yoga, with a specialization in pranayama, and holds a RYT500 certification. For most of his adult life, he practiced martial arts, including: Kobudo, Muay Thai, Kalaripayattu, and Taiji. He is a world traveler, having visited more than 40 countries around the globe.

“Gitanjali 35” by Rabindranath Tagore [w/ Audio]

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Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
 Where knowledge is free;
 Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
 Where words come out from the depth of truth;
 Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
 Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
 Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action
  Into that heave of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

NOTE: This poem is often entitled “Let My Country Awake,” particularly when it is anthologized independently of the larger Gitanjali poem.

PROMPT: Opening Sentence

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You’re writing your autobiography. What’s your opening sentence?

“From humble beginnings would come humbling ends.”

DAILY PHOTO: Scenes from Blissfulness Hill

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Holdout [Tanka]

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a tree’s last blossom
 seems to wait til no one
  is looking to drop.
 what a thing it must be
  to see a holdout yield.

PROMPT: Objects / Can’t Live Without

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Daily writing prompt
What are three objects you couldn’t live without?
View all responses

I’ll need some sort of container capable of holding water, some variety of pointy stick, and something sharp like knapped flint or a length of hard metal.

“Seeking a Hermit-Sage in Vain” by Jia Dao [w/ Audio]

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I question a local boy under a pine.
 He says, "Teacher is gathering herbs
          right here on the mountain...
 But who can say where?
 The mountain is thick with clouds."

Faint Day Moon [Haiku]

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a daytime half moon,
 feeble compared to at night,
  yet I stop to look.

DAILY PHOTO: Pai’s Instagramable Places

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Diabolical [Free Verse]

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I don’t mind one crow,
     on a rail or curb,
   by its lonesome.

Nor am I troubled by
     a large number of the birds.
   (The group designation “murder,”
     notwithstanding.)

But where two or three 
     are gathered, facing 
    each other…

That’s when I get the
     heebie-jeebies.

BOOKS: “Imagination: A Very Short Introduction” by Jennifer Anna Gosetti-Ferencei

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Imagination: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)Imagination: A Very Short Introduction by Jennifer Anna Gosetti-Ferencei
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Amazon.in Page

This is a concise guide to the subject of imagination, the capacity to conceptualize that which does not exist in reality. Philosophy is the primary dimension through which the subject is investigated, though the insights of poets (particularly Romantics,) authors, and artists are frequently presented — in several cases, in detail. Also, the author does discuss ideas from other disciplines as relevant (e.g. psychology, anthropology, science.) This is notable, for example, in Chapter 2, which looks at early signs of imagination in the human record and the evolution of this capacity.

Philosophical views on imagination have varied to the greatest possible extent, from Plato’s belief that imagination represents untruths and is therefore dangerous to various views suggesting that imagination is a good thing, is fundamental to what it means to be human (e.g. to empathy,) and is inescapable for humans. This Plato against the world dispute is revisited in several places throughout the book. Besides those of Plato, the views of Kant, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, and Sartre are particularly extensively examined.

Creative types will find the final chapter (Ch.6 “Creativity from invention to wonder”) the most engaging part of the book as it deals with what makes for creativity. The chapter discusses topics such as whether constraints help or hinder creativity? Take, for example, poetry: does free verse poetry produce more imaginative material, or — on the contrary — is rhymed and metered verse more innovative and novel. If you think you know the answer, you might be surprised by the arguments that have been put forth.

I enjoyed reading this book and found it thought-provoking and worthy of the time.

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