creativity and spirituality

[tyboogie]

BEWARE: deep thought thread ahead






stumbled across this recently


"This is where I see the value of artistic expression or creative endeavor as a door to self-inquiry. Art, in its purest form, is an attempt to discover the fount of creation. It is allowing the force of life/creation to manifest through your hand, or voice, or in whatever medium you work. Art allows you to observe that thought manifests through you. It allows you to admit to your powerlessness. In a sense, your only power is to shade the light of life with your ego. Because of this, moments of creation carry the sense of freedom from the ego.

Artistic technique is not necessary to experience this. The process of watching your hand move over the piano, letting the hand be moved by a feeling, letting the feeling move out of darkness and into life without hindering it -- this is what matters. This is meditation on creation.

The artistic spirit is one of play, of improvisation, of willingness to let go and watch what happens. Artists and some spiritual seekers are sometimes denigrated for letting go into hedonism. This is the line that separates grace and the fall from grace. Perhaps we must allow our hand to follow the impulse into the fire, yet once we have done that we needn't do it again and again. We are interested in the process, moment, and observation of letting go and not the results. The Mona Lisa is not important, but how it, and you, came to be is.

So pick up a brush or pen or other instrument, and play. Do not become enamoured of the results. In fact, you could destroy them each day. As you observe creation, you also observe the process by which your self came into being. "You" watch your birth. In the stunned silence of "you" watching "you," a revelation may occur regarding your true nature. This is for you to discover, rather than believe any words I might leave."

-----

the article reminded me of art and the role it plays in an artists spiritual life.

ive always felt like the act of creating work was in itself a spiritual experience--- when your creating you ARE tapping into that same energy that created creation-(some have been known to name this energy "god")--so it is liberating for the ego--

what do you guys think about how the creative act/process feeds the spiritual side?

[jester]

Hmmmm, I'm not sure. I feel that art is important to me as a part of my life (and that includes visual arts as well as literature and music, all on the creative side, too). However, I feel that sentences like

So pick up a brush or pen or other instrument, and play. Do not become enamoured of the results. In fact, you could destroy them each day. As you observe creation, you also observe the process by which your self came into being. "You" watch your birth. In the stunned silence of "you" watching "you," a revelation may occur regarding your true nature. This is for you to discover, rather than believe any words I might leave.

encourage people too much just to let their "creative spirits" go on auto-pilot without at least trying to learn the trade. That's not bad in itself but it's often those people who think themselves sooooo creative and much better than others who in their eyes "just copy nature". Get my point?

Jester

[Lono]

i create shit all the time,,,, literally..
matter of fact,, i just created some in my pants. :nod:


-LOno

[Erik]

I think that if there is no artistic technique involved it cannot be art. It might be spiritualism though.

The technique is what is used to have an idea or feeling manifest itself. Otherwise the outcome is certainly not going to be in key with that thought or feeling. The quest for the fount of creation is linked to this by the fact that no matter how good the technique there is always unpredictability and therefore the goal is never reached: the manifestation of what is in the mind in the real world remains inperfect.

The process of acquiring the proper technique is itself meditative and will help hone the mind to the task of depicting the essence of the image.

But tossing overboard any artistic skill will bring the level down to housewives and spiritual geezers that will say 'oh this emanates such a stron aura' but are otherwise completely full of sh*t and almost never produce anything worth looking at except maybe by accident.

Art, the mind and technique can not be separated.

:rant: sorry...

[tyboogie]

yea the article was a little new agey with its "aloofness" but it brought up a good point --- the connection between the artist and the creative force in the universe---

and Erik I agree about the technique--you cant let go until you know how to hold on--but i think technique is just a natural part of the puzzle--you can still have technique and experience spirituality through your work ---but lets disregard the article--im just curious what role people think creating art plays in their spiritual life, if any. haha funny stuff erik

I havent heard alot of artists articulate this side of themselves--i dont know--maybe it doesnt need to be stated--maybe its just understood deep down?


lono--dude no matter what your family/friends/support system say--that is NOT art..sorry

[oglzogl]

I am not a spiritual person really. To me the physical/mental experience, and our connection with nature, is spirituality.. but I am interested in this subject.

I would say that a lot of the artwork I create does reflect my philosophies and psycology. Probably more so when I was younger. As a matter of fact, looking back, I think that expressing my philosophies was the main goal of my artwork.. even if I never really thought about it at the time I was creating.

I think it is inevitable that your creations mirror your thoughts. Whether you are drawing from nature or not. I would agree about technique.. if you don't understand how to express yourself, you won't express yourself very well. Still, "letting yourself go" does allow you to see things in a new way that you may have never explored if you had been too wrapped up in technique. I think that, once you realize how to see (and are able to put that on paper), you do yourself a big favor by letting yourself go.. probably the surrealist in me coming out.

Most of the time I feel really cheesy talking about this stuff but, this kind of thing is very interesting to me. Books by Carl Jung (Man and His Symbols, The Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious, etc.) have always been some of my favorite reading.. because you come to realize how important expressing yourself is to your mind. And it is also very interesting to me to understand the role the arts have played in human society (art history in general has always been a favorite subject.. and I really like Joseph Campbell's explorations)..

... well, some things are hard to verbalize. So they are probably best left unsaid. Probably said too much.. and one thing I've never really liked is hearing someone go off on how "this piece of art represents the inner struggle of blah blah blah blah blah" so I'll try to quit before I sound like that. Hope it's not too late...

[KayCustomz]

my head hurts from reaading all this:huh:

[tyboogie]

thx ogl--that was the kind of responses i was hoping for---i like joseph campbell too "The hero with a thousand faces" is a really interesting read( mythic/ cultural archetypes)

its great if your writing a story!


i know what you mean about talking about this stuff-- i just wanted to see what other poepkle thought about the aact of being creative and if it ahd a specific spiritual connection--

but i dont want to define and categorize it---i mean the mystery of everything is what keeps it interesting--





Kay--take a deep breath---thank of happy thoughts like puppys---ok now try to read again--the second time itll make sense