From the mind of Paul Jones

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and learn a little bit about me. As you have probably already determined, my name is Paul Jones and I currently reside in Nashville, TN, (Music City, USA). I created this blog for several reasons, but mostly as a creative outlet. I am an artist without a muse, who has spent nearly half my life repressing my creativity and allowing the highly ordered side of my brain to rule. My transition from the right brain to the left brain occurred quickly after joining the Army right out of high school. Being forced by vocation into a world of order and conformity, my left brain established a beach head and began its fight for supremacy.

While still in the military, I discovered the Christian teachings of Witness Lee and his doctrines gave my left brain the ample supply to push my creativity into full retreat. In the fifteen years following, I moved from the creative world of graphic design and though a series of job changes eventually found myself working as a software developer, a job nearly devoid ofany form of creative expression. By 2002, the repression of my creative self and the complete immersion in Christian dogma began to take its toll on my psychological being.

After the sudden death of a friend and my dad’s rapid decline due to an incapacitating mental illness, my mind stopped being able to order everything and my missing outlet for expression resulted in an extended bout of depression and severe anxiety. I sought chemical and professional intervention to escape the mental spiral or my mind into the dark abyss of severe depression. With a personal dislike for drugs and a complete disrespect for psychiatrists, I sought desperately for some way to deal with my depression and anxiety without the need for medication.

The path to a better mindset required me to look deep inside myself and plumb the depths of my darkness in hopes that I might discover the source of my discontent. The ongoing journey has been a personal and spiritual discovery. Often it leads me to challenge what I believe, do or think. My mind is a place full of opinions, facts, thoughts and loads of Christian doctrine. However, my heart is filled with many other things like love, joy, hope and faith, but my mind has grown strong over the years and often represses the heart.

This blog is my journey. From a place in my mind that is often cluttered and ineffectual to the places of my heart which strongly desire to live a life unfettered. Under the grace of God, I hope that I can find the narrow path that leads me out of the darkness of my mind into a place where  I can find freedom once again. I hope that you will join me on this journey and walk with me on this path or rediscovery, where creative expression gives voice to my heart and allows the brighter parts of me to shine through. Sure, there may be some dark paths along the way, I may take the wrong fork in the road and at times, I may even feel faint at heart, but that is part of the journey.

Welcome to my life, feel free to comment.