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June 2008 
The Environment of Creation
Wabisabisatva
How do we distinguish between being masochistic and being spiritual?
There are so many times in life that it seems a valid goal to be with the situation as it is and not have the need to run away from external circumstances that seem to being taking us out of our center. But when is it wise to make a choice to remove oneself from a situation that is not healthy or is a consistent distraction from our life's purpose.
When do you say enough and move on?
Like so many other challenging aspects of life- this too appears to require an acute awareness of where the line is between taking care of oneself and running away from one's own experiences in life. So you are living with roommates that you can't stand and trying to be disciplined in your daily life with your art, your reading, your spiritual practices and are constantly interrupted literally and just generally energetically. Thus you have a consistent reason not to be able to complete the tasks that you have set out for yourself. Let's face it anyone trying to be disciplined with their spiritual practice or living on the creative life path faces enough internal, daily obstacles, that the last thing that they need are external distractions. There is already so much resistance around that existential meaning crisis that so many artists and spiritual seekers face. Ironically, you find time and again that artists do place themselves in challenging external environments. So why do we do this?
Do we do this to hinder the artist process, so that we can place blame on external circumstances and not have to take responsibility for our lack of ability to be creative to concentrate on our life's work? Is this external environment actually an escape from the basic existential anxiety around trying to create meaning in one's life?
Or is it actually just this opposite: is this external environment actually the fuel that sends the artist back to themselves - like the concept of equal and opposite forces. Is it that the more external distraction that the artist faces the more he/she must return to his/her core and with more distraction he/she moves deeper inside of his/herself? But what is the balance?
How does the artist know which is the right answer?
It is true that I should be able to maintain my center no matter what the external circumstances -but is this a necessary component of my creative process? It is similar in many ways to the artistic concern, throughout the ages, that without deep heartache and pain that the artist would not be able to create. But isn't creation that comes out of these painful places a different kind of art? Can art be classified based on its emotional or spiritual origin? Is this reactionary art? Collective consciousness art? Universal principal art? or I hate my roommates and can't really focus art? Do all of these have the same purpose in their existence?
Is catharsis of emotion in the form of a painting the same as the ink drawing of a spiritual master who has meditated for decades?
Obviously, all art has different messages and energies to convey...so perhaps this is how you, as an artist, decide what environment to place yourself in. If you want to do reactionary art - place yourself in the such an environment which will consistently provoke this. If you want to present universal principles - do the like. The core element, perhaps, is to recognize when you do have choices and why you are making the choices that you are. The circumstances in which you find yourself are not an accident. Taking responsibility for the environment in which you find yourself both externally and internally is part and parcel to the production of an authentic, creative, and aligned spiritual being. Another aspect here, to keep in mind, is that we have a tendency to repeat the patterns that we have grown up with. So if you grew up in an environment where you constantly felt inclined to hide away and this is where and when you produced your art - you will likely be inclined to produce the same circumstances throughout life in which to produce your art. It is as though you associate these emotions and this state mind and general state of external energy with the production of art. Somewhere in your consciousness there is a belief that without these uncomfortable, distracting circumstances you actually wouldn't be able to be artistic, that your creative self literally needs to feed on being reactive against negative external energies. Maybe this is true? Maybe it is not. But the key is to be mindful of these aspects and to allow yourself to experiment with what happens if you drop this story - What happens when there are no longer any distractions from the outside? Then do you begin to mimic the negative energies internally? Do you begin to feel anxious? Or do you actually feel free to be creative in a naturally aligned way, not reacting anything but actually able to mirror or channel the energies of the universe without interruption?
Access: Public
Wow!
Thank you, there is much to think about here.
Thank you for reading…. I'd love to know your thoughts around the subject :)
You photograph too well. There's charm, gentleness…but enough about all that. You know yourself too well since you brush your teeth everyday and kiss your pillow!
Have you seen the movie La Vie en Rose? I ask because you are filled with living, and the movie portrays someone who also was filled with living, though in another vibration.
All the best,
When we are truly present and ALIVE creativity flows through us…. ALL the rest is dancing around the NOW. When we are flowing… creating… these questions fall away.
Thanks for creating this environment.
:)
I totally agree with you and oh how difficult that full attention to the present can be - at times….thanks for reading and keeping me on my toes :)
where is this dialogue from?
thank you for posting this.
Is catharsis of emotion in the form of a painting the same as the ink drawing of a spiritual master who has meditated for decades?
Obviously, all art has different messages and energies to convey…so perhaps this is how you, as an artist, decide what environment to place yourself in. If you want to do reactionary art - place yourself in the such an environment which will consistently provoke this. If you want to present universal principles - do the like.
i think what i am trying to do is hybridize these two—get inside the messiness of myth & emotion and try to find the thread, track the way out to something more whole & pure. my life choices & the varying physical environments i have placed myself in certainly reflect this.
i'm learning as a writer that my characters (and myself) don't always arrive at the purer place, get all the way there….but none of them, though they may have initially let themselves get lost, have a willingness to stay that way. As they move, opening towards the next terrain, each step is a process, & not necessarily THE end or answer, for them or for me.
As a photographer i will take maybe 7 images of the same thing, tweaking the composition, turning the angle, adjusting for aperture. sometimes its the first image in the series that works, sometimes it's the last. sometimes it has to do with technique and sometimes it has to do with my own presence in the moment.
But back to writing; it has been cathartic for me to understand that where i, and my characters, or my poem, get to in the process is where we get to in the process, and that not all transformations have to be grandiose and final. it's never that way, ey? i decided this week that the next poem i write i will experiment with actually trying to put MORE stages in the process; break it down even more microscopically. The hypothesis is that when we do this with language, that's where the abstraction and nonrational beauty may lie…Looking to find more ways to access that.
i'm thinking a lot this week about abstraction and what's coming up is a strong desire to complete my current writing project so that i might move away artistically from the concrete world. Actually the urge is to do it now and I realize while writing this that I have already begun exploring abstraction in recent photography . To do it as well through poetry may help move me through the narrative-driven world of prose…which seems somedays like a karmic, technicolor rock i have bound myself to…..i am beginning to see in abstraction a glimmer of freedom.
Other creatives, dialogue is welcome!
- You asked where this dialogue is from: it is something that I wrote a few months ago. I so appreciate all your engagement and feedback around your own process and creativity. Thank you :)
Hi there - wow - I got stuck with the photo - soooo beautiful - and now I don't have time to read the post :-) gotta work…but will be back later :-) many greetings to U :)
Hi again :) Very interesting post - a topic which I have been thinking a lot about - even though I am not an “artist” in the conventional sense.
I was to become one - a violinist - but I felt real limited in the way classical music was performed - playing the same sonatas again and again leaves little for real artistic expression - so I set out to meet musicians from all over the world and see how people express how they experienced the world around them. I did meet many interesting artists in the process (not only musicians but painters, writers, poets etc….)
I concluded that for me it makes no real sense to differentiate between artist and audience - I feel that we are both - and art for me is just self-expression in any form possible - be it music, or mathematics - and so this way - we are all artists expressing the world around us every day.
I thought our surroundings and audience determine how that song, painting or poem ends up to be - and so I wrote a blogpost on “interacting with the audience” that explains further what I mean - have a look if interested and have the time…..
many greetings to all :)
hi szavanna—sorry it took me so long to respond; new to Gaia and so far a somewhat sporadic visitor. I checked out your blog, and I admire what i intrepret as a quite non-egoic artistic journey you made/are making. Thanks for the perspective. It is quite beautiful.
Thoughts:
process vs. product?
and the American / general Western value on the latter?
How did your varying global locations affect what you were trying to do?
Wabisabisatva, thanks again for letting me ramble earlier about my own art.
xox,
rainwriter
Hi there rainwriter and Wabisabisatva - hm process vs product - interesting question.
I am really into the process - the way I look at it - the product just happens from time to time….I just enjoy the experience - and the more I travel the more I enjoy the process. For me travelling is a very important way of getting to the bottom of things :) - to understand things, people, experiences better and make better decisions - and in general just understand myself better. Traveling with an open mind and heart for me is an addiction - meeting people from different worlds and just have a cup of tea with them or even better play music together - teaches me a lot - lessons that one can't really write about - but must experience - and then use the knowledge and skills learnt in my own life and projects.
Western value of product - hm this is a big topic - may be Wabisabisatva - you could start a new post about it - I think this is a very important issue these days?
If you ask me about the consumer society we have today - well - I am against most of what is going on - I am experimenting with many open principles in my projects - be it an IT or an art project - and see how many ways we can share things, knowledge, skills freely. I am really interested to find out as much as possible about the open source project concepts, and also about the world of open content - using more open licenses when selling, sharing products, art work, licenses that enable free sharing and collaboration and promotes the creation of more alive and cretive communities, anything that helps achive that - I like to test and see how it works in a day-to-day situation. Hm I am not sure if this is what you asked - but hope that you enjoyed this point of view :)
thanks for checking my blog - please contact me if you have more questions or thoughts about my posts….
wishing both of you a great day!