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Speaker 1: Creativity is an addiction, unplugged because we will always say

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yes to creativity, totally uncut because we all make mistakes.

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So let's turn it into a tool. This is arrow unplugged.

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I'm a poet, one that just happens to write in

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a forest. In twenty fifteen, I stepped into a very

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special collection of trees at the Billy Graham Library right

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here in Charlotte, North Carolina. While there I did nothing

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but write, but they were never my words. They were

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the lyrics from Billy's Forest. Nearly two years later, God

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spoke directly into my heart. He said, dude, it's time

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for you to grow beyond the library, to write in

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other collections of trees, mainly your own forest in South Charlotte,

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North Carolina. You see in every place that I have written,

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the spirit of Billy's lyrics vibrate the purpose and plan

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that God is put into play. I never know what

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I'm going to write about when I enter any of

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these forests, which gives us plenty of time to talk

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about it in the end. Remember these aren't my words.

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These are the lyrics from Billy's Forest, Chapter number three

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hundred thirty eight, October fifteenth, twenty twenty two. A spider's

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web that stretches from the roof gutters to the deck

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overlooking the forest has become a collector of the falling leaves.

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I see it as being caught in the final dance.

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Each leaf might have been looking forward to warming the

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forest floor, but the spider's web stop them in mid flight.

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It's stuck in a silent frame, as if to be

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trapped in a human smartphone selfie. I could take a

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picture of it, but the future receiver may not understand

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this particular moment. Leaves fall every day, It's no big

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deal unless you're sitting very close to the spider's web

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and time for these leaves stand still, a completely natural lockdown,

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held in a moment until an extremely strong gust of

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wind rips the spider's web away from its connection. Or

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as a human, I could take a broom and sweep

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it clean. But why why what if the dried leaves

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are helping to keep the spider warm and away from

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that wind. It's natural music, natural music. What around you

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is completely one hundred percent natural. But your human side,

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who washes it away? Something that was so blessed in

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your moment of WHOA, that's pretty cool, and your human

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side who washed it away. There was once a time,

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back in the nineteen nineties, in my early days of

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daily writing, that I would visit the forest every single day,

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this forest right here in South Charlotte, North Carolina, and

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I would make my way down this ninety five foot drop.

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And the reason being is because I wanted to go

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sit next to the creek that led to the lake

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that led to the ocean. But by sitting by that creek,

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I wanted to embrace a moment of connectedness with the universe.

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But to get there, I had to go down the hill.

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That hill was always blessed with this amazing array of

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spider webs. When I would go down the hill, I

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would always look down at my feet to make sure

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I was making the right step. But one day, one

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day I looked up and away from my feet, and

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I fell witness to one of the most beautiful spider webs.

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It was just so elegant, the way that the frost

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in the air lit it up. And there I was.

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In that moment. I could have walked through that spider's

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web and destroyed that piece of art, but in looking up,

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I was able to embrace it and respect it. So

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what are you doing while you're looking down? What are

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you missing? Are you the human that's going to wash

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it all away? Or is it time that you start

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to embrace the natural music around what makes you you.

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It's all there, but we're choosing to do other things,

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and that takes us away from the one thing, Nature's

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endless conversation with our mind, body, soul, and self. Take

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the time to start looking up and outward. You're going

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to find a new world that is speaking directly into

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your heart, the natural music of an everyday life. I Merril,

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these are not my words. These are the lyrics from

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Billy's Forest