Abstract
Enriching the human spirit' lends itself more to poetic and artistic description than precise definition. It's hard to measure using facts, statistics and graphs that aid donors and institutions demand (Crawford 2004). Yet it is clearly seen in the sparkle in eyes, vitality in bodies, emotional expressiveness, aliveness in relationships and the collective vibrancy of a community, as well as in their visions for the future. Embodied engagement in the creative processes of the arts brings present moment aliveness, while enabling personal, community and planetary transformation (Nachmanovitch 1990). For sustainability, gaining intrinsic satisfaction and fulfilment through creative and cultural pursuits is a healthy contrast to extrinsic, materialistic, consumption-based lifestyles (Shafer 2003). I invite you on a journey through stories and reflections demonstrating the enlivening and transformative power of the arts. They come from personal experiences of awakening the human spirit through playfulness and performing: as a clown in rural China and urban South Africa, as a community empowerment volunteer in Zambian villages, and from university research.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Social Ecology: Applying Ecological Understandings to Our Lives and Our Planet |
| Editors | David Wright, Catherine E. Camden-Pratt, Stuart B. Hill |
| Place of Publication | U.K. |
| Publisher | Hawthorn Press |
| Pages | 194-201 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781907359118 |
| Publication status | Published - 2011 |