‘Creativity Confidence’ Inspired by the Universe
We are an incredibly creative
species, which is good because our world needs special attention right now. Many
feel that we are even in peril of wasting life and habitat because of a lack of
equitable and sustainability. Through
creativity, which can be utilized by anyone for any purpose, positive or
negative, we have become a power equal
to a force in nature but without the evolutionary commitment.
‘Creativity Confidence’ is not
confidence in creativity. I coined the phrase referring to something that you
may not aware of until it is highlighted. There are three points to help you to
understand it. Once you understand, consider the invitation to the party
delivered. It is the only party in the Universe. Accept it and come, or go home
and “arrange the deck chairs,” as they say.
The first point is the requirement to form, refine, or at least
consider your own worldview. How do you see yourself in relationship to the
larger Universe? This inquiry cannot happen overnight…it will require a
concerted effort and intense personal reflection. In the studio it means there
is an overall context for the meaning and value of the creative activity. Second, is I am talking about a
different way of perceiving, which for most of us is a blind spot our culture
does not support. In the studio it is a practice
that develops a different kind of intelligence and articulation that arises
from being, rather than doing. The third
point is to suspend resolution. By holding creative structural tension you
allow the process to develop beyond what you can do by yourself. The good news
is that there are people who are already doing it. This is incredibly helpful,
because it makes it possible for others to also take a leap.
In pragmatic terms, in order
to think “outside the box,” you need to understand the nature of the box you
are in. Like a gold fish in a bowl, you can’t even perceive the water unless
you know something about it. This is the beginning of ‘Creativity Confidence.’
It is not a belief or an attitude. It is a way of being connected in the world.
How you are in the world speaks to your fundamental relationship to life. How you perceive your relationship to the
Universe is your cosmology.
The other meaning of
Cosmology is the study of the origin and nature of the Universe, which for the first time in our history we have an actual
scientific foundation to inform our personal relationship with the Universe.
That is to say, we now have the means of perceiving the nature of our “box”
and, unlike the fish, we can now begin to perceive the water of the fish bowl
in which we are suspended. We can now
act upon that water, understand how that water affects us, and limits or
encourages our engagement with life.
However, the goal of ‘Creativity Confidence’ is not problem
solving, it is about actually creating something that was not there before.
It is conveyed through and built upon a clear interconnection between
expression and its relationship to the cosmos. Uninhibited imagination is a
means for understanding the fish bowl
construction, as well as a counter point for developing creative tension
between what is desired and what exists.
In nighttime dreaming the tension of every day life’s creative process
seeks resolution in any way it can, often inspiring leaps beyond habitual
thinking.
Are you familiar with the
book Once and Future King, by T. H. White? In the book a boy who lives
with surrogate parents in the country is unaware that he is the future king. He
is mentored by Merlin, Arch Magus. Merlin changes him into various animals in
order for him to learn different states of consciousness. There is a wonderful
passage where he is in the body of a fish as he learns to navigate in a fluid
world of water.
This is what artists do. In fact, this
is their job description. They are
compelled to extend boundaries, seeking unfamiliar margins of experience. Being
an artist is not so much about a particular talent, but ways of perceiving,
interpreting, and expressing experience . . . a way of communicating. Yet, not all painters, musicians, writers,
gardeners, chefs, mothers or CEO’s are curious enough to go beyond the required
skills of their discipline into artistry.
In King Arthur’s training
with radically different forms of
consciousness he barely, and somewhat reluctantly, escapes back into his
young boy body from the collective mind of an ant colony. There are many
different worlds out there to be explored by deep imagination, each of which
expands our emotional, kinesthetic and inter-relational intelligence. That is
one reason why travel can be so valuable. As we begin to experience other
cultures, we move beyond the narrow confines of our own. It does not work,
however, if we experience the new place as an extension of Disneyland. In Italy
last summer there were tourists from all over the world, arriving by the
busload, standing in long lines, snapping photographs for future reference in
order to move on to the next ‘ride’. Sometimes we are not even aware of the parts of life that are set up as theme
parks by our design or someone else’s.
There is an allegory of a
sphere coming to Flatland, a two-dimensional place of geometric shapes. She has
a conversation with Square. Sphere’s
attributes of volume are confusing to Square, her movement in space is seen as
a circle changing sizes. There is a huge gulf that cannot be bridged except
through new experiences, new perspectives, and deep exploration. In some belief
systems this could be viewed as normal
consciousness meets the mind of enlightenment. You cannot talk someone out
of it or into it, but it is this kind of experience that many artists seek to
explore and is often difficult to articulate.
‘Creativity Confidence’ is
not something that is only experienced by artists. It is an experience shared
by professionals in all fields, and it is encountered in different forms. Some
achieve, within their discipline, a creative state equal to any artist, but it
goes beyond creative process. They may
come to a turning point in their career when they suddenly glimpse a deeper
understanding of the nature of their relationships, or the fundamental
underpinnings of their own discipline. Knowing a deeper truth by whatever means
generates a boldness which has creative power.
Einstein and C.G. Jung are examples. You cannot help but wonder how can
these deeper, near-existential experiences be channeled, organized, or
assembled in a manner that will allow the quantum
leap to benefit our species and planet? I think that one possible means of
enabling this transition is through the cultivation of our own individual
‘Creativity Confidence'.
We live in incredible
creative structural tension today because we do not know how or if our planetary situation will be resolved. If we
choose to look at the box we are swimming in, to mix metaphors, we will see
that we have been back into a corner of our aquarium. As we can see, confidence
in our individual creativity is not enough. What we need is conviction that is
integral to our cosmology which accesses all the resources available to resolve
the creative structural tension of our time. /The studio is a great place to
develop ‘Creativity Confidence.’ Majio
