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The Way of the Dreamcatcher:
Spirit Lessons with Robert Lax: Poet, Peacemaker, Sage
by S. T. Georgiou
foreword by Brother Patrick Hart, OCSO
Novalis, 2002. 284 pages; color & b/w photos
Robert Lax (1915 - 2000) may be one of the most under-appreciated American poets of the twentieth century. It takes some work to find copies of his luminous, joymaking poetry, but it is worth the effort. The considerable correspondence between Lax and his closest friend, Thomas Merton, also rewards, doubly, with the insight and humor of both men. The Way of the Dreamcatcher consists primarily of dialogues between Lax and a young artist and teacher during the final years of Lax’s life, and provides yet another view of Lax as poet, sage, spiritual master, and man.
Steve Georgiou arrived on the Greek island of Patmos in 1993 having never heard of Robert Lax, and with no agenda to meet the man described by the locals as a “wise old poet in the hills.” (Lax lived on the island of Kalymnos for ten years before moving to Patmos, where he lived for about twenty-five years. He returned to the United States in the summer of 2000, just two months before his death.) For Georgiou it was a timely meeting, coming at a time in “my life when I needed to establish a holistic foundation on which to grow -- a definitive, imperishable centre from which to expand and continue the second half of my existence.” In Lax, Georgiou found a “lightgiver” whose “graced company,” during visits over a period of several years, “helped me to discover my place in a world that oftentimes seems hollow and corrupt.” Not a bad outcome for a chance meeting on an island far from home, and one made all the more valuable by Georgiou’s foresight in preserving his conversations with Lax for the sake of the rest of us.
The Way of the Dreamcatcher is nicely organized, beginning with the backstory of Georgiou’s first encounter with Lax and with background on Lax’s life and work. Lengthy sections of dialogue between the two men cover the general topics of craft, art, and spirit. The discussions are free-ranging, occasionally punctuated, like the Lax-Merton correspondence, with sudden bursts of meaningful nonsense. Despite his initial lack of familiarity with Lax, Georgiou does his homework and is a well-prepared (perhaps sometimes too well-prepared) dialogue partner on subsequent visits to Patmos. Samples of Lax’s poetry are also included, along with a generous helping of photos of Lax and his Greek environs.
As a spiritual guide, Lax is disarmingly, refreshingly straightforward: “I believe that there is one supreme force -- if force is what you want to call it -- and that is the force of God’s love. That is what endures and prevails.” The force of God’s love is at the heart of all Lax does -- pouring tea for his guest, walking beside the sea, displaying postcards he’s received upon his walls. God’s love is at the heart of justice, as well, in that “the dark is there to help the light, and the light is there to help the dark”:
Ideally, the errors of the unjust man should inspire feelings of compassion and forgiveness in the just man, and so the just man -- the one who knows better -- freely gives of his goodness to his unjust brother. In this way, the just man serves as an impartial and consistent model of love. He doesn’t judge -- he only loves.
This force is also central to the creation of art. “Art has to do with the transformation of consciousness,” Lax tells Georgiou. Art is a “harmonic enterprise because it has the capability to make the world a better place.” In the work of the artist who creates from the heart, “both darkness and light are unveiled and explored. Essentially, the artist feels for balance. Ultimately, this intuitive quest can offer something valuable to the world.” One does not have to read far into Lax’s publshed work to confirm that he himself approached his art in a manner consistent with his ideals.
The Way of the Dreamcatcher offers considerable gifts. The dialogues show Lax to be an unassuming but thoroughly effective teacher. They demonstrate that the substance of what Robert Lax had to teach was perfectly harmonized with the way he lived his life. And, significantly, the book enables Lax to continue sharing his innate and learned wisdom with readers, poets, artists, who strive to bring good to the world.
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