I often talked about universal creativity when I was teaching.
So few students self-identified as creative and it was as if I had to re-introduce themselves to their essential creative self.
I could see in their sad refusal to cherish and explore their creative selves the results of years of being told that creativity was for the few artists and that many of them had seen teachers link creativity with madness and who wants that.
My understanding of creativity has been deepened by the growing discoveries of DNA and the genome and the uniqueness of each individual.
Mirabai Star sees the Divine connection in Creativity.
"When you were a child, you knew yourself to be cocreator of the universe. But little by little you forgot who you were.
When you were a child, everything was about color. Now you pick black as your automatic font color, because that is the coin of the realm.
When you were a child, you traveled from place to place by dancing,
and now you cultivate stillness, which is great, but you are forgetting how to move to the music of your soul. You can hardly even hear that inner music over the clamor of all your obligations. . . .
"When you were a child, you knew yourself to be cocreator of the universe. But little by little you forgot who you were.
When you were a child, everything was about color. Now you pick black as your automatic font color, because that is the coin of the realm.
When you were a child, you traveled from place to place by dancing,
and now you cultivate stillness, which is great, but you are forgetting how to move to the music of your soul. You can hardly even hear that inner music over the clamor of all your obligations. . . .
Yes, you are worthy of art making.
Dispense with the hierarchy in your head that silences your own creative voice. . . .
It is not only your birthright to create, it is your true nature.
The world will be healed when you take up your brush and shake your body and sing your heart out. . . .
Dispense with the hierarchy in your head that silences your own creative voice. . . .
It is not only your birthright to create, it is your true nature.
The world will be healed when you take up your brush and shake your body and sing your heart out. . . .
The part of our brains with which we navigate the challenges of the everyday world is uneasy in the unpredictable sphere of art making.
Creativity has a habit of defying good sense.
I am not arguing, however, that the intellect has no place in the creative enterprise. The most intelligent people I know are artists and musicians. Their finely tuned minds are always grappling with some creative conundrum, trying to find ways to translate the music they hear in the concert hall of their heads into some intelligible form that others can grasp and appreciate."
We cannot squeeze ourselves through the eye of the needle to reach the land of wild creativity whilst saddled to the frontal cortex, whose job it is to evaluate external circumstances and regulate appropriate behavior.
I am not arguing, however, that the intellect has no place in the creative enterprise. The most intelligent people I know are artists and musicians. Their finely tuned minds are always grappling with some creative conundrum, trying to find ways to translate the music they hear in the concert hall of their heads into some intelligible form that others can grasp and appreciate."
What a creative life demands is that we take risks.
Creative risk taking might not turn our life upside down but, rather, might right the drifting ship of our soul.
When we make ourselves available for the inflow of [Spirit], we accept not only her generative power but also her ability to [overcome] whatever stands in the way of our full aliveness.
They may be calculated risks; they may yield entrepreneurial fruits, or they may simply enrich our own lives.
When we make ourselves available for the inflow of [Spirit], we accept not only her generative power but also her ability to [overcome] whatever stands in the way of our full aliveness.
You do not always have to suffer for art.
You are not required to sacrifice everything for beauty. The creative life can be quietly gratifying. The thing is to allow ourselves to become a vessel for a work of art to come through and allow that work to guide our hands.
Once we do, we are assenting to a sacred adventure. We are saying yes to the transcendent and embodied presence of the holy.
You are not required to sacrifice everything for beauty. The creative life can be quietly gratifying. The thing is to allow ourselves to become a vessel for a work of art to come through and allow that work to guide our hands.
Once we do, we are assenting to a sacred adventure. We are saying yes to the transcendent and embodied presence of the holy.
Often I seem to think I am too “old” to create something “new,” which is really too bad.
Self consciousness, ego and the fear that I will make myself ridiculous all get in the way of my free and joyous exploration of my own creativity.
THESE ARE ALL EVIL MANIFESTATIONS OF FALSE PRIDE. I WILL PRAY THAT YOU, DEAR READER, DO NOT LET THESE PETTY FEARS INTERFERE WITH YOUR CREATIVITY, IF YOU PROMISE TO PRAY FOR ME AND A FREER AND YES--WILDER -- EXPRESSION OF MINE.
Self consciousness, ego and the fear that I will make myself ridiculous all get in the way of my free and joyous exploration of my own creativity.
THESE ARE ALL EVIL MANIFESTATIONS OF FALSE PRIDE. I WILL PRAY THAT YOU, DEAR READER, DO NOT LET THESE PETTY FEARS INTERFERE WITH YOUR CREATIVITY, IF YOU PROMISE TO PRAY FOR ME AND A FREER AND YES--WILDER -- EXPRESSION OF MINE.
No comments:
Post a Comment