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About this book

A must-read for fans of Julia Cameron and Alex Grey, Soulforce is a primer for a new generation of artists and creatives who are ready to claim their true potential as creative forces for change.

Many artists, musicians, and creatives share a secret fear: that their art doesn’t really matter, and that it isn’t practical or useful enough to make a tangible contribution to a world in need. 

This couldn’t be further from the truth. 

The purpose of art is to bring us more alive, to connect us with something bigger than our individual selves, to inspire, heal, and bring us together. These are universal human needs whose fulfillment provides a necessary sense of meaning, purpose, and belonging, and without which life becomes a dry, dusty bone. 

However, in order to make art that fulfills this purpose, you first must surmount the challenges inherent to creating art in an extractive, consumer-driven society. 

This thought-provoking book examines how Soulforce—the transformative energy that comes from facing creative challenges from a place of wholeness, aliveness, and connection—can breathe new life into your creative works and empower you to have a new experience of your art and its impact on you, your community, and the world. 

Through his unique Soulforce Arts Approach, Arnold empowers us to see art through the lens of deep humanity and interbeing, and presents a curriculum to help us move from fear, doubt, and disconnection to a place where art becomes a tangible expression of love, life, and the divine in all of us.  

About the Author

Joseph Arnold is the Director of the Soulforce Arts Institute, where he provides musicians and artists with tools to reconnect with their Soulforce, helping them navigate physical discomfort, manage performance anxiety, enhance their creative spirit, and contribute positively to their communities. Joseph spends his time playing Gypsy Jazz with the Hot Club of Philadelphia, volunteering at his local food forest, and exploring the outer reaches of inner space. Learn more at www.soulforcearts.com.

Endorsements

“In Soulforce, Joseph Arnold courageously confronts the dominant mainstream paradigm which so afflicts art and artists no less than anyone else: a malign fantasy of hyper-control over a meaningless world. Arnold’s advice releases our innate creative energies, gives co-creative relationships the central place they deserve, honors wildness, and restores hope, both individual and collective. His account is both deeply spiritual and eminently practical. We are lucky to have it.” — Patrick Curry, PhD, author of Art and Enchantment: How Wonder Works

“Deeply moving and wonderfully practical, Soulforce affirms our heart’s wisdom about the power of art. Joseph Arnold’s message empowers artists to address their creative and physical blocks to make the kind of art the world needs right now.” — Marci Shimoff, #1 New York Times bestselling author, Happy for No Reason and Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul

“A deeply inspiring and hopeful vision for how a more fulfilling creative process can create a better world.” — Raji Malik, fingerstyle guitarist

“This is a book for artists who sometimes feel helpless in this chaotic world. With Soulforce, Arnold lays out his methods for artists of all stripes to crank up their creative energy, to fulfill their personal purpose, and share that energy with the world.” — Mark Baldwin, Borealis Press

“This book will help you as an artist develop a new mindset that will provide a path for personal growth and artistic mastery. Arnold’s unique perspective is based on his own experience seeking artistic fulfillment and satisfaction, in both his own career and in helping others. The ideas in this book will benefit any artist, at any level, seeking greater achievement and contentment.” — D.W. Fearn, producer, product designer, engineer, and founder of D.W. Fearn Professional Audio Equipment

“Soulforce lands with the whomp of an ocean wave! I’ve always believed that we’re in this world for a reason and it’s our task to discover that reason and then make our contribution. Joseph has done this with Soulforce and has shown you the reality of interbeing. It’s his gift for all of us.” — Bob Lada, Alexander Technique teacher and Professor at Berklee College of Music

“Joseph Arnold presents an impassioned plea for the necessity of the arts in our fragmented society. Though written with musicians in mind, all creative people will benefit from Joseph’s beautifully written and practical suggestions.” — Martha Hansen Fertman, EdD, Director of the Philadelphia School for the Alexander Technique

“Joseph Arnold shares and validates many of my thoughts about the creative process and the tensions artists face in a culture that is largely anthropocentric, ethnocentric, and egocentric. Soulforce strives toward creative integrity.” — Phyllis Purves-Smith, perceptual painter, New York Academy of Figurative Art Faculty 2000–2007, Associate Professor, University of the Arts 1976 –2010

“Joseph Arnold’s book, Soulforce, invites us step by step with vivid examples and practical explorations, like ‘The Magic Pause,’ into a refreshing new approach and experience of hope and celebration. In putting his own journey into a larger context, he instills the confidence that opening to our Soulforce is the healing medicine out of the present Separation model, and that everyone is a vital link within a whole web of interconnectedness. The artist thus becomes the midwife to a soulful world through their own active creative aliveness. This is a powerful proposition.” — Zoana Gepner-Müller, Alexander Technique teacher and Reiki Master