Cultivating Creativity

We all constantly projecting what is happening within ourselves outside of us on to others. That energy, in fact, creates the concept of other, that is disconnected from our self. Jeremy Taylor, my dream work mentor, would say, "any charged response you have reflects projection. There would not be that response if it was not  more about you." Projection simple means what is going on inside ourselves, we see outside ourselves. It is sometimes the issue in reverse, what you mask. We project our shadow, that part of us that we do not want to or cannot own on to a person or group.

Think for a moment of your strongest reaction to injustice. Is it about dishonesty, prejudice, inequity or something else? Consider that this could be a deep issue within you that you have carried all your life, and first must be resolved there.

The bright shadow is the phenomena of projecting, that is not owning good qualities about yourself, by seeing them in other people. Taylor went so far as to say that what hurts our world community far more than projecting bad on to others is projecting the bright shadow---not owning our potential. When I heard that comment I was dumbfounded. With all the prejudice and hate in the world could this be true? He always prefaced this kind of statement with: “This is way too important to take my word for it. Please examine it for yourself.” I have and I can say from experience, that one of the most important resources, that is given away instead of used and developed, is creativity.

Creative is not being clever, nor different, nor shocking, nor is it elaborating on something already in place. It is not generated solely in the brain but includes the whole system, that is the psyche. You know that you are being asked to create when you find yourself in a double bind, or an impasse or in some dichotomy. You know that you are in the ballpark when you face Einstein’s quote about a problem not being able to be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it. Now, we are talking about creativity.

The Japanese cultural arts are a model in which you master a discipline so that you can transcend it, or in other words become truly be creative with the technique. It is rare to transcend, even in that culture which occurs in a context different from ours. Think of the many well-known artists who continue to repeat their successes. Pablo Picasso is an unusual example of an artist whoconsistently moved beyond his own proverbial box.

They say in Japan when you have mastered one art, all the rest are easy. There is an old story that takes place in feudal times: Traveling in the entourage of a Daimio is his calligraphy teacher, who he insists wear a sword even though he has no experience in using it. And sure enough, just as the calligraphy master feared, in a back alley in Kyoto a masterless samurai takes offense to how he looked at him and challenges him to a duel until death the next morning.

The poor calligraphy master is shaken, thinking his life is as good as over. He puts his things in order and goes to his master to say good bye and ask for advice. His master laughs and says, “if you take up the sword like you do the brush, you will have nothing to worry about.” The next morning the calligraphy master appears before the ronin and in the prescribed manner takes off and folds his outer garments just like he would grind his ink to prepare for calligraphy on the finest silk. As he prepares himself for death, the ronin falls to his knees and bows, apologizing for his affront, thus ending the duel.

There was something about how the calligraphy master conducted himself which caused the swordsman to doubt that he would survive the match. This is traditional Japanese culture's answer to how to prepare for creativity. Creativity demands a leap. If you do not practice, it is not that you will fall short, although you may, it is more likely that you won’t see the opportunity to jump….or fly….or fall.