I've been chewing on the stuff discussed in this thread for a bit. What
it brings up in me is outside the usual fare of the list, but I hear
people I have never met, but care about, suffering and would like to
offer what I can that may help.
Any aversion to discussion of personal psychology, any possible interior
self and ideas of personal growth and change might be an indication to
proceed with caution , if at all.
It seems to me that problems with creativity are an outward, conscious
and concrete expression of an inward, psychological dilemma. For
example, as expressed in this thread, the feelings that there is nothing
new to photograph. no new way to see and photograph the things around
me, even the most appealing. And feelings that everything I do is
derivative, it's all been done before, first by others, then, all to
many times, by me. I may be able to improve on details in some way, but
there is nothing really original in it. I can't get the joy out of it
that I wish I could get, feel that I ought to be able to get, used to get...
How do I do something new? I believe that there are always new ways to
see, understand and stand in relation to the world. How often are we
amazed when someone else does something that changes how we see, in
detail or sometimes in very big ways? And wonder "Why didn't I see that,
it was staring me right in the face. Damn!"
One true story about this situation is that we can see no more than is
contained in our conscious self. So the only way we can become creative,
in the narrow sense of photography, as well as other, possibly more
significant, aspects of our lives, is to grow and change. Remember that
feeling, not just in the mind, but felt, perhaps as a shift of some
sort, in the body, when first confronted with a piece of nature, art,
experience that caused that "Why didn't I..." reaction? That's the
feeling of change engendered from the outside.
The only way to be truly creative from within is to be open to becoming
someone different than I have been. That's scary stuff, the ego is VERY
conservative and highly resistant to change in my view of who and what I
am, even little changes that most others around me may not notice. And
yet, unless I change that, I'm stuck, and will tend to be troubled by
ennui, depression, funks, nightmares, insomnia, troubled situations in
my life and relationships, and on and on.
In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus is quoted as saying that what I bring
fourth from within me will save me and what I don't bring forth will
destroy me. In AION, Carl Jung says that when an inner situation is not
made conscious, it happens outside, as fate. Apologies to those who may
find either of these sources questionable or heretical to their
particular beliefs. I personally find the expression of this particular
psychological and spiritual truth, so simply stated, in sources so far
apart in time, space and belief system to be particularly powerful.
I suspect that's why so many continuously creative people are so
irascible. Something unstoppable within them keeps forcing change at a
pace that is really disturbing to the ego.
So if I'm stuck and frustrated in my chosen creative outlet, harder
focus and work in that area may lead to nothing but a worsening
situation. The solution may lie in another area of my life entirely.
Once that is resolved through growth and change, I will find creativity
returning, possibly in the same area as before, possibly somewhere else.
It may even be that my definition of myself as a photographer of a
particular kind, or even as a photographer at all, is standing in the
way not only of my artistic creativity, but in the way of resolving
other life issues. This stuff works in both directions.
And yes, there are known ways to open up to change, so it can come with
joy and blessings, at least much of the time, rather than with physical
and emotional suffering as I am dragged forward kicking and screaming.
In keeping with the quite proper list etiquette of not discussing belief
systems, political or religious, I present no ideas or prescriptions
here, but I can't resist passing on my personal discovery that suffering
is optional. Not that I am anywhere near perfect at it, but my life has
become pretty darn good as I have learned to do this even at a modest level.
Moose
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