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What is creativity, for us humble mortals? What
is its key and hidden agenda, secret of vitality
and perhaps happiness? I think that we all have
the potential for superior creativity -- meaning
mind blowing experiences and true surprises -- yet
many of us are afraid of it. Why? Because, to a
large extent, it is like walking with your eyes
covered in an unknown or vaguely familiar land,
trusting the hand leading yours: the hand of inspiration.
Who knows where you may fall? What are you about
to discover?
At a deeper level, it is, I believe, the fear of
the infinite or -same thing- of the void. Let me
try and explain this a little bit more. The void
is a very positive concept in Asian thinking, but
is simply not understood with our western eyes.
I think that each and every one of us is a little
nothingness, an abstract limit, between two infinites
and as such two voids: the infinitely small void
and the infinitely big void. This is so scary -yes,
let’s face it: it is scary- that we unconsciously
grasp and take a firm hold of something that we
feel is very reassuring: the small finite (i.e.
my room, my beliefs, my objects, my money…)
and the relatively large finite (i.e. my world within
the boundaries of my travels, the internet, whatever…)
Moreover, I could even add that, according to some
of the latest scientific theories, time itself and
the whole world may have been created… from
a ZERO…which is of course absolutely nothing.
So, to come back to creating: if you want to be
creative…you will need some guts.
My experience of creation -- mainly through painting--
is, as the old saying goes, “you do new things
with the old things”. Why? Because creating,
although it seems to be mostly about its end-result
(what is created), is also very much about the process
of creating: how you organize differently -- your
way-- whatever idea, impression, feeling, memory,
taste, rhythm…that you have lived, seen or
felt before...
And the key to it, as I said before, is to hold
that hand with your eyes blinded and move forward.
It means to be truly yourself, without others preconceived
judgment (including yours) stepping in. Also, in
order to make those billions of connections that
exist in your brain jilt differently, you will have
to make one step at a time. As Cézanne said:
“One brush stroke leads to the other one”.
Creation is almost a way to breathe: if you knew
before you actually created it what it is that you
want to make, then it would not be creation in the
first place…as it would already sit in your
brain.
For me, most of the time I did something that really
stirred my inner enthusiasm, and hopefully the one
of others too, I had to knock down along the way
some preconceived idea that I thought the OTHERS
may have, such as: “This painting will be
way too dark: people like colors”. Or “I
am good with colors, why do I paint all white?”
So, in the end, I follow my instinct, a certain
inner feeling -which is in fact that very connection
to one’s own emptiness… that little
hand that we are afraid to hold. Because the closer
you are to your true self, the closer you will be
to the true self of other human beings. What looks
more like void… than void? I know it is really
disturbing. I would like to be something, if not
somebody!
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