The Holy Grail of Being an Artist
Activate this superpower
I am a subscriber to Noted by Jillian Hess (highly recommended!) and left a comment on her new article ‘4 Cures for Writer's Block’
“Something you don't mention which I consider very important is to remove the stakes. Remove the need for self-importance and the dread of failure. Empty yourself and convert to thinking as experiment rather than product or a masterwork. Blocks are often the block created by expectation. Expect nothing. Write anything. then sort it out later, by accident you will find the solution that rises up out of your intuition. We can't depend on our intellect; it is too small and shallow. Nor on technique, that is just for refinements. The jewel we are looking for has to be discovered from our depth, it is already there whole. When that pops up then you can apply technique. Intuitive knowingness, not intellectual knowledge is the key that unlocks the blockage.”
I covered some of this idea in…
Failure and Self-Recrimination
This is a photo I took on our collage safari in Brooklyn. I love the forms that the water stains made in the paper and the overall composition of the photograph. Anyway…
Creativity and its flow through us is our main purpose as artists or writers. When that flow is working we are having a good day and we know it. When we experience a creative block, the block is actually ourselves. We are in our own way. Our little self, our conscious self, our ego or personal identity is eclipsing our deeper liquid, flowing self that opens out inwardly into an endless ocean of being and possibilities. It is basically that simple. I talk about is here…
The Ant and the Elephant
There is a saying that I came up with for myself years ago that I have been thinking about recently.
I spent a long time in my late 30’s and early 40’s contemplating this issue of how to reliably get into the creative flow and how to know you are in it and how to stay in it or get back into it. It is a tricky thing to figure out but it is the holy grail of being an artist. We have to train ourselves the right way to activate this superpower. I talk more about it here:
In my comment at the top to Julian Hess’s article the first thing I mention is ‘removing the stakes’ this means removing the personal interest in the result. Forget the result, that is unimportant related to creative work and you can’t really judge the result till much later after you have returned to your conscious self. The deeper intuitive self and the conscious self are never present at the same time. The conscious self cannot participate in the creative process, it can only, much later, be the judge of the result and not really the judge but more of an observer/explorer of the result.
Our conscious self is the part that applies the intellectual sinew to what our intuitive creativity gives birth to, we use technique to flesh things out into a finished thing. Intellect and technique however, are not worth too much without the original creative core to respond to and work with.
I love these concepts of relying on the intuitive in creating art. I know it's a much used word but I like the idea of Being In The Zone where I am just in this indescribable place where time is not in a normal measure and I'm just Doing and being. The work is taking place as it's supposed to and I'm some sort of conduit to a higher place that's guiding me. Hunger, thirst, going to the bathroom isn't even on the radar and the piece I'm working on is getting made, created, and all concentration is like a beam, a laser focusing on what has to be done. It's like a high but I'm not consciously really aware of it but am loving Being There. Thanks for the read!