The Importance of Creativity | Part 4
“Take care of the heart, and the head will take care of itself.”
In the previous blog post in this series, I shared this Venn diagram (see right) that illustrates how our mind, body, and soul are of equal importance when it comes to keeping ourselves well balanced and centred. Having discussed at length the connection between our mind and body and its relation to the arts, this final article in the series will focus on the natural creativity of the soul, something that doesn’t get talked about enough.
Soul
According to the Oxford Dictionary, a soul is defined as ‘the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal, regarded as immortal.’ Essentially, it is the part of us that makes us alive, the part of us that can be hard to put into words and difficult to understand. Although we may have worked out how our bodies function, for example, how our blood pumps round or what our organs do, the questions surrounding what animates our flesh, and what causes our individual identity and perception of the world, can only be described as our soul or life force energy. As intangible and mysterious as it may seem, we all likely have various concepts on what this might be, making it seem, perhaps, even more incomprehensible.
Nevertheless, it is there, and no matter how different our religions and beliefs, we refer to it regularly in our day to day life. One can be a lost soul, a kindred soul, a life and soul, or a soulmate. You can bare one’s soul, sell one’s soul, break one’s soul, lose one’s soul. Soul-destroyed or soul-crushed, soul-stirring or soul-searching. Bless your soul, a wise old soul, don’t tell a soul, God rest his soul. And when it comes to creativity, a work of art, or performance that is filled with emotional or intellectual intensity is described as having soul, whereas something without these magic elements lacks soul. We know what it is and we know when it is there, even if only on a subconscious level. So, how can this awareness of our own being enhance our creative output, and potentially our lives?
“You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.”
Where do our ideas come from?
This is a question that may haunt many a creative person, not only regarding how they may attempt to come up with an idea but also when they do come up with an idea, what source are they pulling from? Ideas, concepts, and inspiration are the bedrock of any creative project. Before a piece of music, a book, or even a film script can be written, you must know what you want it to be about, and at the very least recognise what it is that is driving you to create it. Depending on the individual, the process to get to this point can be very different, often leading to hugely varied outcomes.
Forced creativity is rarely a good idea, but not always easily avoided. In a world which revolves around money, many creative people may find themselves in situations where they are under a lot of pressure to work quickly or to produce work that fulfils certain commercial and monetary goals. Investors in the arts may or may not be particularly creatively minded themselves, and so their priority usually is to make money and bet on a ‘sure thing’. This can affect the type of art that comes from these ventures. Often it becomes formulaic and somewhat unoriginal, rehashing stories and ideas from the past that have been told time and time again, in an attempt to make certain that money will be made. The scope for innovation becomes more and more constrained, and only the most practiced in the art of creating within limitations can save the enterprise from its potentially inevitable flop.
We can choose to value our time, our freedom, and our space, even if it seems to go against the common narrative. Given the chance, a creative person who can extract themselves from the stress and influence of the modern day, will likely let go of their formulas and the notion of a ‘well-trodden path’. For a moment they can unlink themselves from the web of our societies and connect to their intuition. Suddenly, it becomes clear that to try and control when or how they can think up their best ideas is a futile effort, and instead they realise that it is a process of release instead. Why else do we get some of our most original ideas and ‘lightning bolt' moments when in the shower or out on a walk, after having slaved away at our desks for a whole day with little to show for it? It is because we have stopped trying and stopped forcing. In times of rest our minds become more open and more receptive, and suddenly the answers and ideas we were struggling to find during ‘working hours’ flow to us far more naturally. In spiritual terms, our subconscious mind opens up and is more able to co-create with the universal energies that surround us, channelling inspirations from higher dimensions that we are not usually aware of- though I understand that for some, this may sound a little too far-fetched…
“The creative process is a process of surrender, not control.”
Intuition & Authenticity
Intuitive creativity is a far more spiritual experience than forced creativity. It requires a certain letting go of the ego and the idea that we are the sole creators of our reality. Of course, that is not to say that we don’t have some control over our lives, because we do, just not necessarily in the way that we have been brought up to believe. Connecting to our intuition and seeing it as our guiding path opens up a whole new approach for us. We do not have to rely on trying to find the answers in the outside world, and can instead give ourselves a chance to explore the inner world. In many ways this is what our ‘flow state’ is. During the periods where the music, the words, or any creative ideas are pouring out of us with little resistance, we can often find ourselves with completed works or sections that we hardly remember creating. How did we do it? We didn’t work out the structure or the harmony like we usually may try to do; it just came to us. Those who have mastered the art of improvisation in any artform operate primarily within this flow state and have an incredibly strong connection to their intuition. It allows them to open that channel on the spot and to perform something they are creating in real time, without fearing judgement or ‘inaccuracies'.
This leads me onto discuss authenticity. In many ways intuition and authenticity go hand in hand. To open that intuitive channel, be able to listen to it, and follow through, may only be possible for someone who is at home in their authentic self. Someone who knows who they are are, what they want, and what they are aiming at. There is a level of confidence and self-belief, but not arrogance. It is more about alignment; being committed to a certain end and seeing it through without concern for what others will think. That is not to say that creative goals should ever be prioritised over and above relationships with people- that is dangerous, and risky, and utterly pointless- but artistically speaking, an authentic person is able to follow their own vision despite criticism, rejection, or concerns over popularity and monetary success. Nevertheless, I have often found when observing artists who are at home in their authenticity, that they do find success within their originality because their work ‘has soul’, and audiences relate to their output more than any over-manufactured dross. This is likely because they are not forcing themselves to make a certain statement or to fit into a certain stereotype; they are simply being themselves, which can be incredibly attractive and alluring to those who have not yet been able to remove their mask.
“There’s room for everybody on the planet to be creative and conscious if you are your own person. If you’re trying to be like somebody else, then there isn’t.”
When we can operate authentically, we may find that we are more connected to humanity and are open to understanding the frailties of the human condition. We judge people a little less and understand that everyone is on their own unique path with their own mistakes to make and lessons to learn. What we create becomes something that seeks to unite people together rather than segregate them. There is a universal ambition to create things that add beauty to the world and reach out towards those that are furthest from us, rather than making divisive choices that aim to alienate sections of society. We cannot lose sight of this.
Creating Our Lives
There is no doubt that life is an artform itself. Although we may not perceive it this way, ultimately through every choice we make regarding what we think, say, feel, do, and how we react and behave, we are the primary creators of our lives. At any moment we could make choices that completely transform the trajectory of our lives, positively or negatively. We don’t have to subscribe to any of the beliefs or narratives that surround us if we don’t want to, or we absolutely can. Once we are at home in our authenticity and are intuitively guided, we are in a better position to make the choices that suit our personal situation and desires. Rather than falling into the trap of pursuing the things we think we should want based on what we see around us or, heaven forbid, online, we know what is for us and what is not. We better ascertain our place in the world, side stepping away from that which we deem inconsequential to our most important aspirations and instead, focussing on what truly makes living our life worthwhile.
This is where imagination comes in. In order to get from one place to another, for example from a state in which you are loveless to a state in which you are in love, requires imagination. If you cannot imagine yourself as being someone who could be loved, is worthy of love, or even deserves love, then the pathway towards finding it becomes even more difficult. Internally, there is too much resistance and you may find that the dates you go on are unsatisfying or that the people you meet are uninterested… and in worse cases, mistreat you. Just like in the arts where you have to imagine something in order to create it, in life we must also be able to imagine something in order to achieve it. When we feel worthy of whatever it is that we desire in the privacy of our own minds, only then are we going to be more motivated to make choices or take actions that naturally lead us towards that end. This requires faith and persistence- faith in ourselves and persistence in our vision. We must have faith in our own creative power to achieve what it is that we desire and be able to persist in our vision even when external circumstances seem to convey the opposite of what we dream.
It may seem like a complex balancing act, however it is the skills learnt in creating something artistic that can better prepare us to generate real positive change within our own lives and potentially in the lives around us. The arts prove to us that the things that we imagine can manifest in the world through our own participation. We can have an idea for a piece of music and then make the choice to create it within our reality. Suddenly it is there for all to enjoy. So why wouldn’t this work for all ideas, of all kinds?
Conclusion
Throughout this series, I have established that the arts help a person make connections and find balance between their mind, body, and soul. They are the one part of the curriculum that offers an outlet to innovate and explore ideas outside of the conventions of the society in which we live, expanding our perspectives to see beyond what we are initially faced with. And, woven into the tapestry of what it means to study any artform are valuable life skills that can transform the way in which someone may choose to live their life. Children benefit from arts education because it is one of the few areas where they have the opportunity to create something from scratch and bring it to life through their own efforts. It is a proof of their own power and agency. Few academic subjects share the same magic that teaches a child that they can create what they imagine and imagine what they want to create. And so, if the arts do truly disappear from the curriculum, where will children have the opportunity to learn this, particularly if they are not bestowed the gift of extra-curricular lessons?
Of course, I cannot deny that the experience of studying an artform can still be filled with limitations, conventions, and relics from the past. Anything studied within an institution still falls under the umbrella of expectations, conformity, and orthodoxy that the original school model designed to produce factory workers aimed to fulfil. Though, I hope that those in arts education, particularly on the academic side, will work to reassess and change this by contemplating what it should really mean to study an artform. The arts require more freedom than rules. They need to be open in order for people to be able to find their place within them and create from a truly authentic space, otherwise it becomes restrained, formulaic, and boring. Fortunately, I know that anyone who is lucky enough to have creative opportunities and is truly committed to their creative goals will not be stopped by any dogmatic opinions, and will lead by example to make real and lasting change.
“Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.”
