Tracing My Lines of Development

Taking a broad perspective on my life, I see that I am and have been passionate about three major lines of development: The Visio-Spatial Creative Line, the Cognitive Line, and the Spiritual Line. As I reflected on the kinds of things I have done, consciously or unconsciously, to engage and enjoy these particular capacities in my self, I realized that my initial focus on these three lines of development were all connected to my efforts to deal with, understand, overcome, and/or compensate for my stuttering.

 

With the onset of my stuttering at a very early age, I felt separate and alone in the midst of a world that appeared to laugh at me, ignore me, or feel uncomfortable around me when I tried to speak. Shifting my focus away from the verbal-relational world that had become so painful for me, I retreated into the Visio-Spatial world of drawing. When I discovered that my means of escape actually had the capacity to communicate, I began to throw myself into the Visio-Spatial realm and progressed to other mediums over the years, including painting, sculpture, photography, architectural design, and filmmaking. When I was accepted into film school at the end of my senior year of high school, I began my search to understand and heal my stuttering, so I could more fully embrace the collaborative process of filmmaking. This search led to the awakening of my passion for the search for knowledge, understanding, and expanded awareness. Then, while I was in college, I took a course in personal anthropology and had a profound awakening when my teacher told me that many of the world’s Shamanic traditions saw stuttering as a spiritual calling. This reframing of my “handicap” into a sacred calling led me to a quest along the Spiritual Line that has taken me through many years of study and practice in many of the world’s spiritual systems.

 

Over the years, I have continued my engagement and enjoyment of these lines of development by continuing my Visio-Spatial explorations of drawing, photography, design, and filmmaking; by continuing my personal and formal Cognitive studies through many different domains of knowledge and experience; and by continuing my spiritual quest through various traditions.