The most recent chapter stopped me in my tracks. This was another life-changing chapter for me. Let’s discuss “Right before our eyes” of The Creative Act by Rick Rubin.
Artists occasionally experience a sense of stagnation. A block. This isn’t because the flow of creativity has stopped. It can’t. This generative energy is ceaseless. It may just be that we are choosing not to engage with it.
Rick is talking about feeling creatively stopped up. But living itself is a creative act.
These past 6 months have been incredibly difficult personally. I lost two significant sources of stability, that I thought would always be there. I want to tell you how this chapter helped feel stable in my freshly-shaken world.When my sources of stability were shaken up, I lost access to the creative energy of the universe. And that was incredibly scary. And incredibly painful. And incredibly sad. I learned that this was only how I felt - my perception, not what was actually happening. The creative energy of the universe is always with me.
This chapter helped me I discover once again, what many people already know: we each have own own connection to ceaseless creative energy. Here, I can give some examples. Priests can help my connection to creativity, but I don’t need them, I have my own. Drugs can help my connection to creativity, but I don’t need them, I have my own connection. Asceticism can help my connection to creativity, but I don’t need it, I have my own connection.
The universe can feel so uncaring and cold sometimes. But look around us. Look at all the movement around us. Look at all the accomplishments around us. Look how old we’ve all gotten. We made it this far. Look how tall the tree across the street has grown. Look how it’s leaves have sprouted.
I saw creative movement happening outside of me. As a computer programmer, I’m used to being mostly-responsible for everything that shows up on the screen. It’s there because of choices I made and work that I did. However, there’s so much creative energy in the world. Things are happening that I can’t see. Things are happening that I can’t do. This is a comforting thought to lean into.
What if the source of creativity is always there, knocking patiently on the doors of our perception, waiting for us to unbolt the locks?
The sun still shines behind the clouds. I invite you to find a new way to tune in to your direct connection to the creative energy of the universe.