Appreciation of Beverly Clarkson’s lecture “The Stone Drum” (1992)
An Appreciation of Beverly Bond Clarkson’s lecture “The Stone Drum”
Newsletter; Vol. 17, No. 7, May 1992
An Appreciation of Beverly Bond Clarkson’s lecture “The Stone Drum” (March 7th, 1992)
Revelling as I was in the profundity of what was being said to me that day, I had no inclination to take notes. My remarks therefore reflect my experience of our speaker’s address, rather than its content, though I do know all that was said was profoundly true.
For our time together, I found myself to be both child and adult. At the adult level, there was an awareness that this was work, long in the preparation, of a high level indeed. Yet the child in me simply rested there against its mother’s knee, drinking in all she said, as in a soft, soothing, somehow sweetly familiar voice, Beverly Clarkson gave us the courage to meet the requirements, challenges and tribulations of life.
Captivating to this child’s mind were the images of a see-through mountain, snakes as roots of an encircling ivy, an eye, an eye all-seeing and shedding tears. And finally a drum, the stone drum, there, under her inner child’s feet, under our feet that day.
Each of us must relate with the utmost tenderness to our inner child. In our speaker’s experience, it was her inner child who oiled the stone drum which had emerged from the earth and beat it with the heels of her hands and her feet. Through continuing contact with one’s personal inner potential, represented by the inner child, one develops a new awareness in keeping with one’s true orientation and offering access to authentic individual creativity.
In place of a playful approach to creative activity, Beverly Clarkson was stressing the seriousness of an undertaking that enables us to know and to respond to a rhythm which is uniquely ours. Failing this, we may experience a creative blockage, involving intense suffering, a sense of paralysis, even of death, because we have been too long out of step with our individual beat. Should this occur, we may restore the authentic beat by attending tenderly over time to our neglected inner child.
The wisdom of Beverly Bond Clarkson’s words and the gratitude I felt for what she brought to us that morning prompted me to ask Harvey Shepherd if I might express our society’s thanks. The fact that in the past several weeks I had myself been working out my feelings about creativity and the inner pulse that sustains all creation, made me especially open to what she had said. Words of appreciation thus came easily in a natural response to a very special gift.
Now, in retrospect, I wonder if it was not indeed a magical gift, one which should be called the secret of happiness.
—Jocelyn Tanner