This workshop with poet and philosopher, Luke Fischer, will explore ways in which poetry and art bring us into touch with the receptive, affective and empathetic sides of ourselves. While our society is still dominated by forms of masculinity that seek to avoid the inner life (men talk about sport rather than emotions), art and poetry cultivate an attunement to feelings and a sensitivity to the world around us. The creative process also involves a receptive dimension, rather than a brute act of will; the artist cultivates a gentle openness to the spark or inspiration that ignites the process of art-making. In these various ways art, music and poetry nurture qualities that have traditionally been associated with ‘femininity’. Could art, then, open a path towards more expansive ways of being in the world with a broad significance for our society?