Is This Your First Book?

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This is my first book and I've been working on it for between seven and eight years now. It was a long journey for me to get to understand what's in the book because I can't say that it's things that I know. But I recognized that in that moment was able to capture it in that moment. And then I can look back, you know, years later now and read some of it and be shocked by what's there. Not because it's not accurate, but that I didn't know that I knew it. The fact that it has taken on a life of its own is really shocking. So interesting to think about how new generations do always bring new forms alive

The flow and the ingredients by which an idea becomes an offering — and life practices which call that alchemy forth. The mystery of it all that can only be named and wondered at — and the ordinary mystery that creativity is a human birthright, a way of being rather than doing, that beckons to us all, in everything we do, from crafting something to conversing to the arranging of furniture in a room.

This is where Krista goes with the rock star music producer Rick Rubin. It's not a conversation about the creative process of the many great musicians he's worked with — but a conversation that is for and about us all.

There are some surprises, too, in his lovely, soothing voice — like the way he finds a metaphor for all of life in pro wrestling. And he leaves the doors of his studio wide open as they speak, so there is a soundtrack of ocean waves.

Rick Rubin has been a singular, transformative creative muse for artists across genres and generations — from the Beastie Boys to Johnny Cash, from Public Enemy to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, from Adele to Jay-Z. To name just a few. His new (and first) book is The Creative Act: A Way of Being. He is co-founder of the record label Def Jam Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records. He is also one of the hosts of the podcast, Broken Record.

Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.

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