Writing
While honing my painting voice, I have at the same time been writing books and articles, often in conjunction with the themes and ideas I treat in my other media — most often, ideas at the intersection of mysticism and contemporary society.
Books
2023: Wandering Among Souls answers the question: "if it's turtles all the way down, what is at the bottom?"
Through a series of stories, anecdotes, exhortations, questions, provisional answers plus quotes from mystical masters from all paths and time periods, this book plumbs the "heart of all,” opening a doorway from our particular post-modern moment into the eternal present. Wandering Among Souls offers one antidote to our spiritually desiccated though desperately yearning era, defined by political hysteria and social disintegration. And also happy hours, jazz, gardening tips, subway chimes and long walks on the beach.
Independently published 2023.
2024: The Ten Minute Plays collects 32 of my most successful short plays. In the following collection, which represents about two-thirds of the pieces I have written (the others not warranting inclusion, due to their lower success as independent pieces), you will see a broad range of issues treated and theatrical conventions presented — and sometimes ignored or obliterated. Many of them have been produced, at some time or another. All were written between 2013 and 2022.
2024: The Absurdist-Mystical Plays collects six of my most successful full-length plays. These pieces, meandering, theatrical, questioning, humorous and absurd, open doorways, lead in circles, head in one direction only to change direction and then change again — and end with a raised eyebrow of bewilderment, a nod at the universal questions that underpin all: why? How? When? And perhaps most importantly: Who? For God’s sakes: who?
Mysticism in the Theater":What’s Needed Right Now introduces theater makers to the power of using mystical ideas to influence all aspects of a production. Routledge, England, 2022
These visual and written parables honor our need to create story around our experience, scars grown around the injury of existence. Independently published, 2020
"The writing is literary and full of illusions . . . Think of a Dan Brown-like adventure penned by an erudite Talmudic scholar." Kirkus Reviews "The Fool Returns is a Jewish Da Vinci Code, the difference being that so much of the author's research is based upon his own historic and verifiable studies." Read the Spirit Anaphora Literary Press, TX, 2014
Prophetic Activist Art: Handbook for a Spiritual Revolution outlines a specific model of using art to spur social transformation, as an extension of both artistic and spiritual practice. Centre for Human Ecology, Glasgow, Scotland, 2014
Shalom/Salaam: A Story of a Mystical Fraternity is a groundbreaking study introducing to the popular reader, the story of respectful and loving interfaith relations between Sufis (Islamic mystics) and Jewish spiritual thinkers for nearly one thousand years. “Block’s evident enthusiasm for the revelation of these common roots as a way forward for Muslim-Jewish relations propels this great read.” – Publishers Weekly
Fons Vitae. Louisville, KY, 2010
A Fatal Addiction: War in the Name of God illustrates how bellicose, war-like language is used to explain the spiritual quest in all religions. The institutional blending of the sacred and human aggression appear to be fundamental to human society. Algora Publisher, NY, 2012
Machiavelli in America' traces the influence of the Florentine thinker on American politics, from the Founders (c. 1770s) through today's rough-and-tumble political panorama. Algora Publisher, NY, 2014
Life Verbatim flowered into existence at at the intersection of George Orwell's 1984, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels and William Burroughs's Naked Lunch. This hero's quest tale includes a new economic model of goldenfreude (a combination of greed and limited resources, underpinning the economy); the Ice Man Truck (where little girls' tears turn to gold); Education Worms (replete with vacuum teets) for the kids; synthetically lobotomized voles (to service the keeper of goldenfreude), Nine Circles of Walmart High Command and a cameo by the word "is," from President Bill Clinton's Monica Lewinsky deposition. Independently published 2023.
Fiction and Theater
(click on any underlined link to see the work)
2023 Smith & Kraus: The Best 10-Minute Plays 2023 (Hanover, NH ), “Mollie and Harry”
2022 Hello Godot (Delhi, India), “Waiting Room.”
Masque and Spectacle (NY), “Let’s Pretend.”
2021 Black Horse Review (CA), “Seek Wisdom.”
2020 Big Windows Review (MI), “Mystic.”
2019 Meniscus Journal, Australia, “Raymond Carver”
North of Oxford Journal (MA), “White Picket Fence.”
North of Oxford Journal (MA), “Through the Window.”
2017 North of Oxford Journal (MA), “Exhortations.”
2004 Pedestal Magazine (Charlotte, NC), "Supreme Court, My Ass."
Articles
2018 H.E.A.T. Collective (NY): “Prophetic Activist Art.”
34Justice (DC), “Ramming Morality Into Our Economic System the John Ruskin Way.”
HowlRound (MA), “Atttar’s Conference of the Birds.”
HowlRound (MA), “Dietrich Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Discipleship.”
HowlRound (MA), “Chuang Tzu: Mysticism of the Absurd.”
HowlRound (MA), “Mysticism in the Theater: What’s Needed Right Now.”
2016 34Justice (DC), “War in the Name of God.”
34Justice (DC), “Truth or Politics.”
2014 34Justice (DC), “A Response to Machiavelli: Three Legislative Proposals.”
2013 34Justice (DC), “Machiavelli in America.”
2011 Sophia: The Magazine of Traditional Studies (VA), “Sufi-Hasidic Same Tales.”
2010 Muslim Dialogue, “Shed a Tear for Safed.”
2008 International Journal of the Arts in Society (Australia), “Prophetic Activist Art.”
The Panoptikon, (United Arab Emirates), “The Relevance of the Beautiful?”
Sophia: The Magazine of Traditional Studies (VA), “Sufi Influence on the Kabbalah.”
Popular Culture Association Almanack (NY), “War as Love: How the Spiritual Quest has been Co-opted to Sell War.”
2007 The Panoptikon: A Journal of Visual Culture, (United Arab Emirates), “Real Artistic Style.”
Sufi Magazine (London, England), “Early Kabbalists Under Sufi Influence.”
2006 Reflections (Hibbard, MN), "The Call for a Moral Ombudsman."
2005 Sufi Magazine (London, England), "Moses Maimonides and the Sufis of Islam."
2004 The Image Warehouse (Athens, TX), "Dear Julie: Thoughts on Democracy."
Sophia: The Magazine of Traditional Studies (VA), "Solomon Ibn Gabirol: A Jewish/Sufi."
Dystinct Art Magazine (New York), "A Key Out of the Palestinian/Israeli Labyrinth."
2003 Sufi Magazine (London, England), "Sufis and Hasids: Shared Teaching Tales."
Revista Sufi (Madrid, Spain), “Avraham Maimonides: un Sufi-Judio.”
2002 Detroit Jewish News (Detroit, MI), "The Jewish Gift to Islamic Mysticism."
2001 Sufi Magazine (London, England), "Abraham Maimonides: A Jewish Sufi."
Washington Review (Washington, D.C.), "Maxine Cable: Art Review”
Conference Papers, Workshops and Classes
2022 AAR/SBL Southeastern Regions Conference, Florida State University. Sufis and Hasids: Shared Teaching Tales.
Southern Oregon Guild of Artists, OR. Great Books (semester-long class).
2021 American University, Washington DC. Spoke about art, blasphemy and the spirit.
Arts and Human Rights International Conference, Lisbon, Portugal. Spoke about IHRAF.
Fundamental Rights Forum, Vienna, Austria. Spoke about IHRAF at conference.
Southern Oregon Guild of Artists, OR. Prophetic Activist Art (semester-long class).
RightsCon, international (online). Spoke about art, activism and the spirit.
2016 Brooklyn Museum, NY. Art and Culture as a Catalyst for Political and Social Change.
Dixon Place, NY. Prophetic Activist Art (semester-long class).
Dixon Place, NY. Great Books (semester-long class).
2015 Dixon Place, NY. Prophetic Activist Art (semester-long class).
Dixon Place, NY. Great Books (semester-long class).
2014 LabSchul, NY. Spoke on “Shalom/Salaam” at Yom Kippur service.
Temple Rodef Shalom, VA. Book talk on “Shalom/Salaam.”
Wednesday Morning Group, MD. Book talk on “Machiavelli in America.”
2013 Interfaith Institute of Peace, Foundational conference, DC.
American University, DC. Lecture on “A Fatal Addiction” book.
Institute of Islamic and Turkish Studies, VA. Lecture on “Shalom/Salaam” book.
Concordia College, NY. Lecture on Prophetic Activist Art.
Hunter High School (alumnae group), NY. Lecture on art and writing.
2012 Monmouth University, NJ. Lecture on “Shalom/Salaam” book.
Columbia University, NY. Lecture on “Shalom/Salaam” book.
Mishin Gallery, SF. A series of talks about art, activism and peacemaking.
Biblioteca Jaume Fuster, Barcelona, Spain. “Prophetic Activist Art” lecture.
Muslim Community Center, MD. “Sufi Islam Influence on Judaism.”
2011 Kandinsky in Govan Conference, Glasgow, Scotland. “Prophetic Activist Art” (Keynote).
Jewish-Islamic Dialogue Society, Washington DC. “Sufi Islam Influence on Judaism.”
Muslim-Jewish Dialogue of Western New York, Buffalo. “Shalom/Salaam.”
Middlebury College, VT. Lecture on “Shalom/Salaam” book and class visits.
US State Department, Washington DC. “Using Recovered Histories in Conflict Resolution.”
2010 DePaul Institute of Human Rights Law, IL. Week-long Artist-in-Residence.
2009 Exploring Human Rights through the Arts, DePaul College of Law, Chicago. Keynote speaker.
Al-Azhar University and the West, Cairo, Egypt. “The Maimonides of Cairo: Jewish-Sufis.”
Xavier University, Cincinnati, OH. Lecture, workshops and studio visits.
2008 Patristic, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies, Villanova College, PA. “Maimonidean Prophecy.”
Towards the Abrahamic Family Reunion, Fetzer Institute, MI. “Prophetic Activist Art.”
Arts & Society, Birmingham institute of Art & Design, England. “Prophetic Activist Art.”
Perspectives on Creativity, Holy Family University, PA. “Painting as Prayer.”
Johnson State College, VT. Lectures and class visits.
University of Arkansas, AR. Lecture on “Prophetic Activist Art.”
Manhattan College, NY. Lecture and class visits.
Hanover College, IN. Series of lectures, workshops and talks over three days.
2007 Mid-Atlantic Popular Culture Association, Philadelphia, PA. “War as Love.”
Peace and Justice Studies Association, Elizabeth College, PA. “War as Love.”
ACA/PCA Annual Conference, Boston, MA. “Spanish Jews Under Sufi Influence.”
Rethinking Resistance 2007, Emory University, Atlanta, GA. “Machiavellian Resistance.”
Ohio University, OH. Lecture on “Prophetic Activist Art,” plus graduate studio visits.
McDaniel College, MD. Lecture on “Prophetic Activist Art.”
Grand Valley State University, MI. Invited panelist for “Power of Art” symposium.
American University, DC. Ran workshop in conjunction with Creative Peace Initiatives.
Franklin College, IN. “Robert & Elizabeth Johnson Professorship in Leadership” lecture series.
Antioch College, OH. Lecture on “Prophetic Activist Art.”
East Carolina University, NC. Lecture on “Prophetic Activist Art.”
2006 Southeast College Art Conference, Vanderbilt University, TN. Chaired “art for social change;” presented “Artist as Shaman in an Age of Uncertainty.”
Peace and Justice Studies Association, Manhattan College, NY. “Prophetic Activist Art.”
International Peace Research Association, University of Calgary. “Prophetic Activist Art.”
2005 Franklin & Marshall College, PA. Spoke about Human Rights Painting Project.
Hood College, Frederick, MD. Spoke about Human Rights Painting Project.
Brandeis University, Waltham, MA. Spoke to alumnae about my art, at Fine Gallery.
2004 George Washington University, DC. Participated in a symposium on the “Shalom/Salaam Project,” with heads of Islamic and Jewish Programs.
Committing Voice: Interdisciplinary Art in the New Millennium, Goddard College, Plainfield, VT. “Shalom/Salaam Project.”
2003 George Washington University, DC. Spoke about Human Rights Painting Project.
Ohio State University, Mansfield, OH. Spoke about the Human Rights Painting Project.
2002 Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY. Spoke about the Human Rights Painting Project.
American University, Washington DC. Spoke about the Human Rights Painting Project.
2001 Michigan State University, Kresge Museum, East Lansing, MI. Spoke on my art. 2000-2001
Jewish Study Center, Washington DC. Taught a class on Hasidism and Sufism. 2000
University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD. Spoke on Spanish art and culture.