Your Creative Life

Creativity or Creating

   I was reading Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's Finding Flow when it occurred to me that there seemed to be something missing in the empirical studies he is presenting. He says: "But because almost any activity can produce flow provided the relevant elements are present, it is possible to improve the quality of life by making sure that clear goals, immediate feedback, skills balanced to action opportunities, and the remaining conditions of flow are as much as possible a constant part of everyday life."

   He says further in Creativity that creativity does not happen inside people's heads, but in the interaction between a person's thoughts and a sociocultural context. It is a systemic rather than individual phenomenon.

   As I write this, I get a little bit clearer about the distinction between creativity and creating. Indeed creativity may be a state or condition. Creating is what goes on inside people's heads.

   What I'm trying to say here is that maybe we are awash in energy that is benevolent and our thinking, our discursive thoughts keep us from connecting with this energy. When these habitual patterns of experiencing our consciousness is pierced, we are better able to create.   

I've Been Away

   I've been away the past couple of days at a meditation center learning more about how to meditate. I learned a little more about creativity - that there seems to be a process starting with arising, then form, then dissolving.

   What I'm really trying to do here is to find something to write about. I have been reviewing my books on creativity. As I review a book to see if it's worth keeping, I decide whether to add it to the list of books I'm selling on Amazon.com. One book I've decided to keep for a while longer is Thunder and Lightning: Cracking Open the Writer's Craft by Natalie Goldberg. She says, "Here is a good exercise: imagine a scene as a photograph . . . and describe what you see." Seems to make sense.

   I'm reminded of a paragraph by Robert Fritz in Creating, where he says, "It is possible for creativity to exist without having the creative process. It is also possible to have the creative process without having creativity." I think what this means to me is that in order to write, I must write a lot. It also means that if I don't want to write I can read. It means as well that in order to bring something in to fruition, I have to work at it.

Time to Review

It's time for me to take a look at what I've learned so far.

• Begin with a question that may turn out to be based on a falsehood.
• Examine core beliefs that don't work.
• Develop a meditation practice.
• Relate everything I do to a higher goal or purpose.
• Acquire the belief that I am connected to a higher power, others and myself.
• Discard the beliefs that I'm not connected, that I'm alone, that I'm not worthy.
• Acquire the belief that I'm creative because I must be/am and that I cannot not be creative.

These compare favorably with Julia Cameron's Basic Principles in The Artist's Way.

Become a Generative Leader

   Become a generative leader. Prof. Ray says that generative leaders pass along their experience of the highest goal and ignite creativity in others. They share the fruits of their quest for the highest goal with others and spread its effect in a beneficial spiral.

  He says further that the ultimate challenge of sharing our gifts is bringing our inner resources, our highest Self out into the world for others. Unless we can find a way to do this at some level, we haven't really achieved the highest goal.

   As we find a way to do this, we begin to receive from others and the universe. As we give and receive, we get into a larger flow than just the flow of absorption in the moment. Our inner resources connect with the systems around us and at the same time these systems nurture us.

   Our quest for the highest goal is fed in a natural way because being in this flow is the highest goal itself. To be of service and make the contribution only we can make to the universe, we must become a generative leader no matter what our role in life.

   We can be a leader to ourselves, to one other person or to the world. But if we start right now with an intention of being generative, of letting our creativity create creativity around us, of giving and receiving, we see remarkable things happen.

Experience Synergy in Every Moment

   Experience synergy in every moment.  Prof. Ray says that we can achieve synergy in our lives by developing organizing structures based on our highest goal and by getting into the flow of intuitive decision-making. By practicing observation and asking penetrating questions, we can hear what our inner intuitive voice has to say. Instead of agonizing over each decision and how it affects our ability to have balance, it is better to listen to our inner intuitive voice which comes to us as a sense of rightness rather than emotion or desire.

   He says further that Intuition is a powerful resource that we all have but we must develop. It is an inner knowing beyond and deeper than our emotions. When we live from intuition we achieve the highest goal in each moment.

   For me this means to just do the next thing in front of me. I don't have to see if that next thing has anything to do with balance. I do ask myself if it is the right thing to do. In so doing, I get the answer as long as it is connected to the hightest goal or higher power. I'm not attached to the outcome

Relate from Your Heart

   Relate from your heart. Prof. Ray defines compassion as seeing the highest in your Self first and then seeing the highest in others. He says if we have a full, rich feeling of self-worth, we have already taken the first step toward having compassion. If we see others from this perspective, we begin to change the nature of our relationships for the better. We make connections that move us toward the highest goal.

  He says further that when we experience compassion we experience our vast inner resource in the form of love we have within us. When we experience this we are experiencing the highest goal. This love doesn't come from the other person. It's within us. In fact, he says, a great teacher once said there is enough love in the individual human heart to fill the universe. When we relate with our heart we understand that there is only one way to meet the challenge of relationships with the people in our world: the way of compassion - seeing the highest first in yourself and then in others.

   Somewhat recently I've experienced what Prof. Ray is talking about consequent to sitting meditation. I had been told that I was well-defended by my therapist. I took this as a compliment at the time. I could probably add that I might have been a bit shallow as well. During meditation I noticed that my chest felt like it had been cracked open. I felt joy but also sadness simultaneously. I've come to see this as the experience of compassion. Indeed, my perspective has changed for the better of myself and others.

Live with the Highest Goal

   Live with the Highest Goal. Prof. Ray says that because everything in the world is a connected system, we can't beat it. We can only join it. The best way is to live with heuristics - generalizations or rules of thumb for learning and discovery. Some of the more common examples of heuristics are Pay Attention, Ask Dumb Questions, and See with Your Heart.

   For this section it's important to select a pressing issue. For me the most pressing issue has been to find work in the form of helping others and to be able to earn a living from it. It's important for me to be of service, to participate, and to earn a living. This has caused me to exercise persistence. Two heuristics that come to mind and that have been useful are Just do What's in Front of Me and Have no Attachment to Outcome.

   I have found that if I practice these two, I don't consider the past or the future. I just do whatever is next and then test to see if it feels right or not. If it doesn't feel right, then I do something else. What is important is that I do something rather than remain inert. I notice too that I've been living with heuristics all along and didn't know it.

Travel Your Own Path

   Travel Your Own Path.  Prof. Ray asks: What does the highest goal mean to you right now? The necessity of finding and following our own path is the stuff of timeless legend and lore. Yet we often avoid the quest for the highest goal because it is frightening to create our own way.

   I contend that we develop habits, habitual ways of responding to life, that we think protect us, but actually get in our way. Prof. Ray provides that the key is to pay attention to what works for us so that we begin to develop our own path. The benefits are that the more we develop and stay on our own path the more self-worth and purpose we have, and the more we will want the rewards that support a meaningful life. Our experience of the highest goal will become its own reward, a beneficial addiction that can increase the meaning of our lives and the transformation of the world.

   I didn't begin to follow a/my path until I stopped drinking and committed to a twelve step program. Indeed, I had to renounce my addiction to drink in order to find and practice the twelve steps. Whatever I do now must conform to these steps, something that is practical and works. I've also begun a dedicated practice of sitting meditation. I've chosen Shambhala training because it too is practical and works.

Beyond Passion and Success

   Go Beyond Passion and Success. Prof. Ray says that living for the highest goal is radically different from what is normally considered the highest goal: reaching success in external terms and having passion for what you do in life. Most of us sub-optimize. We tend to be satisfied with the short term and that which is transitory. He says to go beyond these lesser goals in order to use the gift of life we have been given.

   How does this apply to me?  Upon reflection I have been closed and defensive and wondering why my life is going nowhere and why I'm not getting what I want in life. My intention was to retire after 30 years so I could enjoy life, that is, play golf and travel. Now I see that I was settling for something less, what was expected, just relative success. But when I retired, I got bored quickly and then I decided to do what I wanted to do all along: To follow a path of spirit. That has meant developing a discipline and practice of daily sitting meditation. This has begun to open my heart and I've started to wake up.

Most Meaningful Thing Exercise

   The first question of Prof. Ray's Most Meaningful Thing exercise is: What was the most important, meaningful thing that happened to me this week? I got engaged.

   The second question is: Why was this so important, meaningful to me? I've not been married for almost 30 years and I never thought it would happen.

   Continuing to ask why was this so important? I was able to recognize that it's time for me to do this with this particular person.

   Again, why? Because I'm in love. Why? At 62, time is short.

   Why? Defenses are down. Why? Because I'm able to feel tenderness, an opening heart.

   So, the highest goal for me now is to experience life with an opening heart.

   In future posts I'll look at the 8 steps Prof. Ray presents in his book when we are committed to living with the highest goal in mind. He assures us that if we practice any or all of the steps our lives will be changed for the better forever.