More Than a Rock, 2nd Edition

Listening to the Stories50

Every moment and every event of every man’s life on earth plants something in his soul.

—Thomas Merton

Many thoughts were on my mind as I again took to the long and empty roads, en route to a workshop in Death Valley. A train of thought was set in motion, sparked by a startling revelation just days before my departure.

I’ve often suggested that the most important question an artist must be able to answer is this: Why do you do what you do? It is no small irony that my own attempts at an answer were heretofore not quite satisfactory. I always felt that I needed to do what I do, whether or not I could clearly articulate the reasons for it. There was never a doubt in my mind that my own sense of self would not be complete ...