Saturday, March 27, 2010
There Is A Genius For Everybody
"Aren't you afraid you're never going to have any success? Aren't you afraid the humiliation of rejection will kill you? Aren't you afraid that you're going to work your whole life at this craft and nothing is ever going to come of it, and that you're going to die on a scrap heap of broken dreams with your mouth filled with the bitter ash of failure?" --Elizabeth Gilbert, 2009
Well, I know I certainly am. All the bloody time. To the point where I've avoided taking any plunges into the unknown with my creative work and have recoiled into the "safe" zone where success or failure can't be measured. But where does this fear come from, and how has it perpetuated into a collective fear of creative ventures?
This quote is taken from a TED talk by the acclaimed author Elizabeth Gilbert, who wrote the highly successful memoir Eat, Pray, Love. This particular author is on a serious mission to change the way we think about the creative genius, and all the pitfalls or demons associated with the concept. We put too much pressure on ourselves, as creative minds, to constantly produce extraordinary work over and over again--as if we were somehow placed here on earth to be the source of all "divine, creative, unknowable external mystery".
We have placed the genius on a pedestal and by doing so have opened up a world of narcissism and self torment. And what happens when we are unable to tap into that same genius from within that was able to produce that one amazing piece of work? Utter devastation and madness. We have collectively built up this notion that creativity and suffering are inextricable, and that real geniuses are doomed to live lives of anguish and grief over their work because of it.
This is no way to live, according to Elizabeth Gilbert. It's the kind of thing that would drive anyone to drink gin at 9:00 in the morning. Good point. We need to have some "protective psychological construct" to avoid this kind of self-destructive force. Another good point.
As much as I enjoy romanticizing the tormented artistic soul, I do agree that it is a dangerous idea and essentially very destructive to the human psyche--and probably not at all a fun place to be. I highly doubt Silvia Plath was having the time of her life when she was going through her dark episodes. Nobody has to go through that grief.
The solution: To think about ingenuity the way Ancient Greece and Rome did; that your genius does not necessarily come from within you but from without--like a disembodied spirit helping you along the way.
The argument: We know that the creative process does not always happen rationally (we've all been there) and can sometimes even feel "downright paranormal". Inspiration comes in ebbs and flows--sometimes in the most awkward instances. There's no reason to believe that it's all coming from within yourself which can be fully controlled--that you are the main portal of something we can't even fully understand.
Basically, what it boils down to is that we need to think of a way to escape this idea that if the work isn't flowing the way we want it to, then we're not really as capable as we thought we were in the first place; or that this bottleneck somehow represents the end of anything great to come out of the creative process ever again. This does not mean that we should give up, or torment ourselves with the magnitude of such a burden.
The conclusion: Don't let it kill you. Your genius is your guide that will come and go. You will recognize it when it's there; but when it's not, you will keep on going as you do, with the same routine, the same ethic, the same lifestyle, until it finds you again--which it will.
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I watched this talk too and I think she really hits the nail of the head. I've totally been in that space where I've jumped out of bed at insane hours of the night just to frantically rummage around to find any scrap of paper to write down an idea, or a sentence that seems to have struck me somewhere out of left-field. At other calmer times I find it harder to focus to develop these thoughts, feeling that perhaps that perhaps they are just lose ends leading to nowhere. This concept that creativity can't be laboured for (in a non-tortured, self-loathing way) - between those moments of inspiration really serves to put creativity on that unreachable pedestal. Like everything in life there needs to be an acceptance of balance: to accept those inspirational moments when they come; to accept when they're not there; and to keep chipping away in-between - exactly as you just said; a process of de-mystifying the creative genius!
ReplyDeleteIt's always that damn balance though - gets me every time - but as with everything, the more you work to achieve it - in all aspects of your life, hopefully it will come!!
that damn balance seems to be just as elusive as that damn genius! as long as we can enjoy the ride is what matters--with or without the all consuming anticipation of that eureka moment.
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