Book Review: BIG MAGIC – CREATIVE LIVING BEYOND FEAR,
by Elizabeth Gilbert
I am seduced by Elizabeth Gilbert’s new book, BIG MAGIC. I’ve read it and I want more. I want to discuss its creativity advice, philosophy and concepts. There’s so much in there to be considered, discussed, adopted and/or rejected as a working model for how to be a creative person.
Gilbert puts forth ideas and personal theories about:
Courage – Enchantment – Permission – Persistence – Trust – Divinity
Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love (Viking 2006) and more recently Big Magic (Riverhead Books 2015) has quietly become our collective authenticity guru. And this is, in my opinion a greater accomplishment than writing Eat Pray Love – even though that book became – as Elizabeth Gilbert calls it in her TED Talk – a “big mega sensation, international bestseller thing” that got made into a movie starring Julia Roberts. In fact she asks during this 20 minute talk, how can anyone top that? Time Magazine named her one of “The 100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2008. Her FB post about “Kids these Days” told millennials that there was nothing wrong with them. In fact, posted Gilbert: “Today’s American teenagers are the most sensitive, least violent, least bullying, least racist, least homophobic, most globally-minded, most compassionate, most environmentally-conscious, least dogmatic, and overall kindest group of young people this country has ever known.” This single post was liked by 25,685 people, and shared by 33,688.
In a quiet and unassuming way, I think she straight-up has topped the crazy super achievement of breaking through to millions of people worldwide. What I love about Elizabeth Gilbert is that she tweets, talks, posts and participates broadly and has slowly become a new face for the productive life of a creative person. She is followed, heard, beloved. And her message is centering, authentic and inspiring. She has topped Eat Pray Love with Being. And that is the greatest accomplishment of all.