Posted on December 26th, 2022

Creativity is a vital aspect of our journey towards self-knowing, peace and finding belonging in our inner and outer worlds.

In the hallucenogenically spectacular documentary Moonage Daydream, David Bowie speaks of the life of the artist as being an attempt to understand their relationship to the universe.

It is something we all need to do. In our own way. And perhaps that is why we venerate artists like Bowie, Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo who fully embrace this living at the edge of the unknown. And who’s transmissions from that journey seems to speak to and for all of us, our collective unconscious.

They are the Magellans and Neil Armstrongs of man’s quest for meaning. Fulfillment. And transcendence. Alchemists of our often painful and confusing human condition, into sometimes lasting works of beauty.

We may not all have the focus, compulsion or skill of exceptional artists. But we all have a unique perspective of life, of our place in the universe. And articulating this in some way — perhaps in humour or music or movement is a way of contributing to human culture. Adding our fruit to the banquet.

Spontaneity is a portal to intuition and our authentic truth. There is much we can touch and discover when we become curious about what we might do next.

In Bill Plotkin’s seminal Nature & the Human Soul he invites us to consider our human journey as being of many stages, from infant to elder. With parallel arrivals in human culture and the natural world — and a necessity to make meaning in both. In the earlier stages we find belonging, later and engendered by sense of belonging, is exploration and experimentation and eventually custodianship and cosmic citizenship as we curate both the human and the natural worlds for future generations of all species.

Modern culture, says Plotkin is mostly at an arrested adolescent stage, especially as regards cosmic citizenship — which requires attention to our cosmosology within, which much of the machinery of modern life serves to distract us from. And many of us missed the healthy fulfillment of particular stages — perhaps of an early childhood sense of familial belonging and an even deeper primal wound, that of not feeling an innate sense of worthiness to be here on this planet, and part of life itself.

Or we may have had a traumatic adolescence where we weren’t able to adapt towards experimentation with identity and collaborating with other souls. Finding our place in community.

Such experiences might have made us risk averse. And creativity includes risk, particularly if we attach great meaning to outcome. The predominant fear might be of rejection: “If I show myself, will I be loved?”.

But if we do NOT take risks in creative expression, we reject ourselves. The message we send ourselves is: “I am not safe to show my authentic self. I would be rejected”. And once upon a time, if our caregivers were insensitive or unkind, unhealed from their own wounding, this might have been our reality.

If you have spent time around children you may have witnessed that the desire to be seen and heard is as natural and important to humans as it is to birds. We want to express the beauty that we are, even through our pain.

Creative expression allows us to challenge core beliefs and heal primal wounding. By consciously choosing to express our unconsciousness, that great ocean of intelligence, sensitivity and wisdom, we cross-pollinate our deepest nature with our human cultural identity and can find more joy, freedom and harmony.

Carl Jung used the term libido to describe our life-force energy, including our sexual and generative energy and instincts. The same energy that we might bring to physical intimacy can be exercised in painting, poetry, music, writing. The healing power of a good relationship to your unique creative voice is extraordinary.

Modes I have discovered have been music, singing, poetry and lately Contact Improv ((Old Fascianed Way — performance and video by Sasha Dodo and Dolores Dewhurst Marks, song by Jamie Wrate). 

Contact Improv and poetry both require a deeper sense of listening to ourselves. And in poetry for example I find a beautiful process of meaning-making. Touching emotions which may feel unclear, complex or simply raw and painful, yet very much alive and articulating this, without overpowering the mystery is an alchemical process. Making one’s own medicine.

Life itself is risk. The only guarantee is that it will end someday. Taking little risks in showing ourselves to ourselves and to those around us is saying a big yes to life.

Take a risk. For yourself. Find a community of brave and gentle souls, in conscious communion with their nature. Extend the hand of trust — to life, to yourself, to others. We can support each other to live our truths and share our gifts.

You deserve to take part and be heard. Your own fulfillment enriches life itself.