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When I began this post several weeks ago none of us were wondering about how to avoid going stir crazy as we hunkered down trying to maintain “ social distance” as we tried to “ flatten the curve” of the spread of coronovirus-19. But now it seems a good way to make “hunker down time” a little more tolerable! So here is how it went originally:
The Pen Must Pause for Poetry
Which is simply another rephrasing of the golden oldie “you’ve got to stop and smell the roses.” But just because we already know something, just because we already believe it, doesn’t mean we don’t need to dig a little deeper into the idea. Creativity is like that. We all know that creativity is a good thing. We look at the works of great artists, past and present, painters, dancers, musicians, writers, and are often simply stunned by the power of their creative vision. “Awesome, amazing, astonishing!” And other similar A words. “How do/did s/he/they do that?” “I wish I was that creative!”
Well, don’t be so quick to write yourself off. I’m not saying that we can all paint like Tintoretto, sculpt like Michaelanglo, rise on point like Pavlova, wail like Janis Joplin, or whip out a sonnet like the Bard. But what I am saying is that there is a precious spark of creativity that burns brightly within each of us, but one sure way to smother it is to compare our creative efforts to the luminaries like those I mentioned above. There is a better, saner, healthier path to releasing and enjoying your own creativity. It should come as no surprise to you that I will assert that the path begins in Distilled Harmony.
The first two tenets of Distilled Harmony are Foster Harmony and Enable Beauty. And it is in those two tenets that we find the headwaters to the river of our own creativity. In this current exploration of the role of Distilled Harmony in creativity, I am going to shift our focus just a tad. Often when we consider Foster Harmony we think of an harmonic intention moving from within us outward toward others. We seek, in our behavior, to create a harmonious relationship with others - as advocated in most extant faiths and philosophies - the traditional golden rule, do unto others notion. But when we examine the relationship between Foster Harmony and creativity we need to explore internal intention. By that I mean testing the relationships between our beliefs and preferences and our artistic articulation or representation of those beliefs and preferences. That assertion may seem a little nebulous, and rightfully so, since I’m still working on it. The uncertainty comes in part from the fact that implicit in the notion of creativity is product. The meme “maker” is quite popular in my discipline (communication) these days. That is hardly surprising since the discipline comes to the attention of the general public almost entirely via media messages the construction of which, back in the 1800s when I was a student, was taught in “production” classes. A producer makes messages - hence anyone engaged in the creative production of a message is a “maker.” So if we are to understand and enhance our creativity, we need to understand what it is we wish to create. And here it is vital to note that, within the framework of Distilled Harmony, we would naturally seek to create “products” that draw upon a philosophical disposition inclined toward compassion and human kindness.
That inclination toward compassion and human kindness necessarily follows us into our consideration of the second tenet Enable Beauty. Creativity within Distilled Harmony’s dual tenets of Foster Harmony and Enable Beauty by definition excludes any concern, other than disinterest, with the creation of products that reflect discord and/or meanness, cruelty, etc. No doubt that seems a tad arbitrary, but a cursory glance at the current mediascape sadly reveals that such discordant, abrasive messages run no risk of extinction. They will continue to thrive without our help.
So how do we enhance our “compassionately inclined creativity?” In 1854, scientist Louis Pasteur said, “Chance favors only the prepared mind.” What is true for science, is at least equally so for art. To give our creativity a chance to take compassionate shape we must prepare ourselves to nurture such creations. I suggest three creative spaces and/or habits that you can begin immediately. First, the one from which this post takes its title:
The Pen Must Pause for Poetry.
This notion grew out of an assignment I used to give when I taught photography. I would assign my students the “single snapshot” assignment. The assignment was simply to take a “good picture.” They had to stay within the classroom building and they could only snap the shutter once. Then we would reassemble and discuss why they took that particular photo, why they framed it the way they did etc. How the image made them feel, and what response they hoped the image would awaken in a viewer. “The Pen Must Pause“ idea is a verbal version of that exercise I do for myself. Several times a day, I try to force myself to stop and write down a word or phrase that would enhance a poem. I know, I know, that is every bit as nebulous as a “good picture.” But it is also one of those “I know it when I see it things.” You are reading along, or listening to the lyric of a song and a word or phrase just hits you as beautiful or perfectly expressive. Those are the words I am trying to capture. Sure, I probably miss more than I catch, but I think just making the effort is worthwhile. My circadian rhythm has been turned upside down recently. The hours between midnight and 2:30 AM seem immune to sleep, while between 3 and 5 PM I have to fight for consciousness. I don’t know why, but I have thought about it and from those reflections captured these two phrases: “relentless wakefulness,” and “daylight’s somnolent assassin.” They have yet to claim a poem of their own, but they are ready to hop in should an appropriate ditty arise.
The Single Snapshot Exercise.
This is a personal version of the classroom exercise I mentioned earlier. I hesitate to even mention this exercise in this smartphone era, when we are inclined to take a picture of anything that remains still for even an instant. Then we try to figure out how we can capture our own face along with whatever it was that caught our eye. No doubt there is a macabre dark web site somewhere that collects “selfies” that resulted in something terrible happening to the photographer; “Oh, let me get a selfie with the cute grizzly bear!” Or “Let me capture a selfie with the Hogwarts train as it comes into the station!" or “Here by Niagara Falls.” You get the idea. I am NOT advocating that kind of photography. Rather I suggest trying to take a picture every day that is beautiful. It is probably best to try to avoid cute and sweet. Hopefully your life presents you with a lot of cute and sweet. In this exercise we are looking for beautiful. Remember the tenet is Enable Beauty - not enable cute, and certainly not enable myself. I worked on this exercise for several months, diligently printing out the photos, slipping them into plastic sleeves and saving them in a big three-ring binder. Now if I could only find the binder. I suppose this is a good time to point out that in both of these two exercises the process is more important than the product. It is the capture of the phrase, it is the taking of the picture that is shaping the prepared mind. It is the prepared mind that unleashes our creativity, and it is that unleashed creativity that, often unexpectedly, leaps out upon the page, the stage, the keyboard, wherever your muse calls home.
The Bibbity Boppity Boo Exercise
As we learned from Disney’s Cinderella - “Put them together and what have you got? Bibbity,Boppity, Boo!” So you take one from column A - the words or phases you have captured, and one from column b, the snapshots, and put them together and see what you have got, bibbity, boppity, boo. The creative intention is not to bind you to those somewhat arbitrary pairings. Rather it is to get you playing - and yes, that is the right word “playing” - with elements you have collected because they are beautiful, because they make you happy, make you smile.
Creativity is really all about freedom. Letting words and images, shapes and sounds, jumble up together. Sometimes it is just fine to let the jumble stay a jumble that just makes you smile. However, there are other times when those seeming random jumbles find a deeper and more consistent structure, a structure that your prepared mind gently and precisely pulls together into a truly beautiful construction that makes one inhale with that soft realization we so often encounter in the presence of beauty.
And moving through those three steps while staying indoors, maintaining social distance, and washing your hands after each step is how this initially unrelated Wall post can morph into a virus fighter! Stay well. Keep smiling, and wash your hands! Red and raw is the new beautiful!
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