Series Finale: Creativity Is Not Nice to Have

Our creative energy is not simply sweet, it's critical

To end this series I’ll start, once again, with the science behind creativity. 

New research out of Johns Hopkins finds that just 20 mins of creating or consuming art a day impacts brain health. The book “Your Brain on Art,” which just came out this week, digs deep into the research and explains how our brains grow in sensory environments and when we allow curiosity, surprise and wonder—all elements inherent in art-making.

From the book’s co-author, Susan Magsamen:

“We misunderstand the arts and aesthetics and their role in our lives. I hope that this book pulls us back, and allows us to have more of a conversation about the fact that we’re wired for art. We are physiologically wired for art, our brains respond to it without needing to be taught.”

“We have relegated art to only entertainment or enrichment—not lifeblood or birthright. We want to put art at the center of our lives, not as something that would be nice to have.” - Susan Magsamen

Actor Ethan Hawke, in a viral Ted lecture/talk, offers a brilliant take on creativity as vital, not as something that’s simply pleasant, sweet and nice. It’s a short 9-mins video that’s going to stay with me throughout my life, I think. I’d give it a watch if you can.

He says, you don’t need art until you’re desperate to make sense of life.

When someone close to you dies, you lose a job, lose something important to you. You think, has anyone ever felt this bad before? How do I get out of this cloud? Or the inverse—you fall in love and wonder what is happening to me. Art is the sustenance guiding and accompanying us through these feelings. We begin to feel connected in these feelings, not alone. He puts a fine point on it: “First we have to survive, and then we have to thrive.”

Perhaps this is why Monet, when he asked what he could do to help France during the most brutal points of World War I, was told by War Minister Georges Clemenceau to keep painting. This is what we’re fighting for, he told him. 

The question then becomes, how do I walk my own creative path? Or if you’re a working artist, maybe it’s how do I expand my vision?

Well, first, as Ethan Hawke says, there is no path until you walk it.

The mystic Anthony de Mello has a wonderful parable on this. I’ll be paraphrasing it in my own way here, forgive me :)… De Mello’s story centers on a person who fled a village, which no one had ever left before. When the person came back several years later, she tells the villagers of incredible things she saw and experienced that have made her more aware of the wonders and magic of the world. The villagers asked her to draw a map to allow them to go on the same journey. But she said no, it’s a journey an individual needs to experience in their own way. Getting lost, wandering is key. But the villagers wouldn’t accept this, they kept on insisting on a map. Finally, she drew a map. And when the villagers had it in their hands, they framed and nailed it to a wall in the center of their town.

In other words, to awaken or expand our creative intelligence, to walk that path, doing is bigger than thinking.

And unknowing more important than knowing.

To that end, here are 3 routes into doing that I’ve found get me out of thinking, and allow me to get at least semi-comfortable with unknowing. They’re of course stolen from artists I’ve interviewed and studied. Without them I don’t think I’d be able to do the awkward and life-giving walk into my creative energy:

RITUAL

Habits are powerful beasts. And making a new one, we all know, is hard.

Aristotle said balance and growth in a human is experienced when the individual recognizes they have three selves that need attention and space: The productive self, the leisure self, and the contemplative/reflective self.

The poet Derek Walcott describes contemplative time as: a retreat, a withdrawal into some kind of silence that cuts out everything around you. What you’re taking on is really not a renewal of your identity but actually a renewal of your anonymity, so that what’s in front of you becomes more important than what you are.

For my son, this time is probably when I hear him say, “Hey Google, play AC/DC.” For me, it’s when I hide from all the schedules and logistics, and read and write. It sounds romantic and I have to say I make it as romantic as possible. There’s coffee, and a candle and nothing to do but indulge in language, my favourite thing. I felt guilty doing it for a while, but since I’ve been seeing a therapist I’m more able to flick it away.

I will say, this time wouldn’t happen if I didn’t make it a daily ritual with a time and a place.

COMMUNITY

All I can really say here is that being open to doing awkwardly feels uncomfortable. There’s an openness and looseness you have to get to, which is internal work that rubs against some wounds or histories you might have living inside you. This phrase from spiritual teacher Suzanne Stabile has helped me through: “This is solitary work that cannot be done alone.”

And so, find the right people, find the right group.

BOOKS/CONVERSATIONS

Books and conversations are companions. A podcast I enjoy and would recommend is called Art2Life, and it’s led by artist Nicholas Wilton. A book? There are so many! But I will mention John Cleese’s adorable and powerful book called Creativity: A Short & Cheerful Guide. It’s one of favourites.

Thank you friends. Writing this series and having cool conversations with creatives I admire has gotten me through this Canadian winter. It’s also been keeping the momentum going as I try to finish the last section of my novel, which has been torturous at times.

Also, I think the Dormer Window wants to be something bigger…a place where creative practice actually happens? Where we’re not just talking about it? Share thoughts in the comments if you have any or email me. I’d love to get them.

Oh and do share this newsletter with anyone you think would be into it. It would of course mean a lot to think it’s a message worth spreading.

In the meantime, the Dormer Window will be having an event to mark the end of the series where powerful creative work will be shared! More on that to come!

Thanks again.x