The Act of Creation
Thirty years ago I left Los Angeles to travel through the UK with a video camera, meeting and interviewing people who were integrating their awareness of the spiritual into their lives and work.
I was coming out of a tumultuous year-long relationship where I had explored some dark shadows, and I needed to redeem myself.
I ended up spending 5 years bouncing back and forth between the US and Europe, collecting stories. I wanted to illustrate a deeper truth running underneath all of these stories; that while we appear separate we are not, we are all part of a single organism. And that by witnessing one another's stories we could have more than an intellectual experience of that connection. I saw that I would need to get some distance from my life to collect evidence that might bring people closer together in a world that seemed to thrive on the drama of separation.
This quote from Rick Rubin reminds me of how I traveled at that time and how moving forward in faith opened up so many doors to me that defied logic. It also reminds me of how often I've faltered over the years and the price I've paid for doing so.
One of the inspirations for the Witness Circle is to offer greater numbers of people the experience of recognizing themselves in others in a simple, yet impactful way that bypasses the intellect, while shifting consciousness.
I'll be offering Circles shortly as a free introduction to friends who are interested in learning ways of bypassing the ego to connect deeper with the people in their lives. If you're interested in being put on the waiting list, please send me a direct message.
In the meantime, enjoy the quote.
"The act of creation is an attempt to enter a mysterious realm, a longing to transcend. What we create allows us to share glimpses of an inner landscape, one that's beyond our understanding.
Art is our portal to the unseen world. Without the spiritual component, the artist works with a crucial disadvantage. The spiritual world provides a sense of wonder and a degree of open mindedness, not always found within the confines of science.
The world of reason can be narrow and filled with dead ends. While a spiritual viewpoint is limitless and invites fantastic possibilities. The Unseen World is boundless.
The word 'spirituality' may not speak to those who dwell chiefly in the intellect, or those who equate the word with organized religion. If you prefer to think of spirituality as simply believing in connection, that's fine. Or if you choose to think of it as believing in magic, that's fine too. The things we believe can carry a charge regardless of whether they can be proven or not.
The practice of spirituality is a way of looking at the world where you're not alone. There are deeper meanings behind the surface. The energy around you can be harnessed to elevate your work. You're part of something much larger than can be explained; a world of immense possibilities. Harnessing this energy can be marvelously useful in your creative pursuits. The principle operates on faith, believing and behaving as if it's true; no proof needed.
When you're working on a project, you may notice apparent coincidences appearing more often than randomness allows, almost as if there's another hand guiding yours in a certain direction: as if there's an inner knowing gently informing your movements.
Faith allows you to trust the direction without needing to understand it. Pay particular attention to the moments that take your breath away. A beautiful sunset, an unusual eye color, a moving piece of music, the elegant design of a complex machine.
If a piece of work, a fragment of consciousness or an element of nature, is somehow allowing us to access something bigger, that is its spiritual component made manifest. It awards us a glimpse of the unseen. It's not unusual for science to catch up to art eventually. Nor is it unusual for art to catch up to the Spiritual."
- Rick Rubin "The Creative Act: A Way of Being”