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Creating with the Sublime |
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Creating with the Sublime |
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You have probably already had the thought that this is way too much work and interrupts the flow of creativity. It feels like trying to keep all this in mind will suck the joy out of creating and make it more of a technical exercise then a living and breathing reflection of you. That is true. In the beginning it will feel exactly like that, but then that will change and you will feel like you are flying again. Do you remember what it was like to learn to speak as a child? Your natural language could not be understood easily, if at all and you spent a great deal of time frustrated. The only way your parents could understand that a certain cry meant that you were hungry, was from the experience of offering you several things and it being food that made you cease crying. You had to learn a common language to be understood and it was not easy. But now, it is second nature. Imagine back to what it took to learn a new physical skill, like jumping rope or riding a bicycle. Until you had the practice, despite having the knowledge, your body did not perform the motions effortlessly and gracefully. No matter how well you understood the mechanics, or could visualize yourself doing it, it took practice to unite the understanding of the mind with the ability of the body. This is no different. The need of the body for fluidity also applies to how the mind works. The left side of your brain (with all its logic and reasoning) needs the right side of the brain (with its emotions and creative imagery) in order to bring to the fore valid judgment and decision-making. Choices made from logic only can fail because they do not include an understanding of history and interpretation. Choices made solely from emotions have no recognition of reality. Combined, you have everything you need to begin weighing your choices and actions to pick the ones that best suit your goals. The mind (emotion and reason) drives the body. The body nourishes the mind and translates thought into action. Everything has to become involved in order for all of your potentials to be present and available. The more aware you are, the more in control of your process you will be. The more you are in control of your process, the easier it will be to create-at-will. The easier it is to create-at-will, the less stressful the act of creating becomes. The less stressful the act of creating is, the more time you will spend discovering what you want to do and the best way to do it. Be patient with yourself as you learn to look at your work and develop it along these guidelines. Allow yourself to have an "awkward phase." At first, it will feel like things are not flowing and the work you produce is stilted and dull. This will pass as you gain the skill of discerning what your work needs to become the best that it can be and become practiced at using that skill. Dignity noun 1. The quality or state of being worthy of esteem or respect. 2. Inherent nobility and worth 3. Poise and self-respect What you create should be treated by you with respect to its dignity. This means that you recognize its potential for a life that exists outside of yourself, and do your best to make sure that it has all that it needs to stand alone. Do not destroy your work. Do not throw it away or treat it as if it is not worth your effort. Do not treat your effort as if it is so unimportant it can be thrown away. Do not treat what you have brought to life like it is worthless. Your work, even if it never reaches a finished state, contains a deep reflection of your being. How you treat it mirrors how you treat and think of yourself. How you treat your work can also reinforce or influence how you treat and think of yourself. Step carefully. You have an inherent nobility and worth. Part of being an Artist, the personal part of it, is exploring your own sense of nobility and worth in a way that exists outside of you. Therefore, your work inherits your own dignity. The dignity of your work demands that once you have given it life and shape that you then become responsive to doing the work and putting the effort into making it the best it can be. Avoid the Trap of False Humility, Learn to be Realistic Do not minimize your work. People commonly mistake minimizing their effort, or being dismissive or insulting of their own creative effort, for humility. It is not. Humility is a recognition of the actual effort and/or reality of something - its presence - without making more of it then it really is. Self-abasement (a form of voluntary self punishment) is not admirable. That practice is generally tied to a manipulative personality that has low self esteem. The person is seeking validation and support from others through guilt. Learn to See Your Work in the Third Person Criticism is the ability to look at work (especially your own) and see not only what is wrong or lacking in a piece, but what works and succeeds. Being able to discuss your work means you also have to be able to talk about what you did well. Without examining what worked, you cannot begin to figure out how to fix what is wrong. Elevated adjective 1. raised to or being at a higher level 2. inflated or lofty; exalted Lofty adjective 1. exalted or noble in character or nature Arrangement noun 1. the act of arranging or being arranged 2. the form in which things are arranged 3. a thing composed of various ordered parts Arrange verb 1. To put into a specific order or relation Elevated Arrangement There is more to an "elevated arrangement" then just learning the various techniques and skills of presentation in your art (ie: the golden triangle, rule of fours, hyperbata, asyndeton and more). You can master the skills of your craft without every mastering the ability to construct an elevated arrangement. It is more than technique, it is what gives life to the body that you have created. An elevated arrangement is one that is made from skill and craft, but utilized with talent and genius to create a work that appears to be effortless. At no time should the audience be aware of the effort you have expended in producing a piece. In listening or reading a poem, it should cease to be thought of as a poem because it so completely engages the audience that phrasing and choices in structure become fluid. In viewing a painting, it becomes almost a moving picture because it engages both the memory of the viewer and their dreams. Begin with Your Own Achieving this type of arrangement comes only from a willingness to look at your work, as it progresses, through different eyes. Begin with your own. If you are writing, change the font and color, utilize the right side of your brain and make it a part of the editing process. The same goes with people who work with any kind of imagery. Look at your drawing in a mirror. Photograph it with a cell phone. Change the color of the picture - anything you can think of to re-engage the immediacy of the right brain to allow it to make its wonderful connections. Your left brain will then order the skills you need to correct your work. For musicians, use the computer to transpose the pitch, speed or instrument that your piece is played on. Let yourself hear it differently. Seek Fluidity Fluidity in movement is the penultimate expression of being, for the physical works simultaneously and in harmony with the emotions and logical action. A common mistake for new writers is in not being able to see the craft and work put into something and to then assume it was a perfect first draft from a "moment of inspiration," and to form the expectation that this is how their work should come into being. For example, most of what we have read that is considered stream of consciousness writing has been edited and rewritten several times. It feels immediate because it has achieved an elevated arrangement and you are unaware of the craft behind the words. The same is true for abstract paintings. They may have been created in a matter of hours, but they had a process that prepared them for the execution and were not spontaneous and perfect creations. The more you learn about the craft of your art, the more you will be able to see past others' elevated arrangements and learn from what it took for them to create something that seems so effortless and perfect. The more you know, the more you will be able to get all of the parts of your piece to flow. Use critique groups. A word of caution though, do not use only one. Make sure that you always have a wealth of input as you progress in your work. Find people who can critique well. They do not have to do the same type of work as you, and neither do you need to like each others work to critique well. What you are seeking is someone who treats your effort with respect and dignity. In the end, you are the best judge of when a piece has become Sublime. In your Wise Mind you will recognize the completeness of your effort in the piece. This does not mean (ever) that it is the best thing that you will ever do; but that it represents the totality of your ability and presence in the moment. The Next Step The next step is to revisit your complete works and allow them to teach you. Remember to critique your work from your Wise Mind and not solely your emotional mind or your logical mind. If you think something worked or did not work, make sure that you can adequately explain why to yourself (this will help you know if you are in Wise Mind), you reasons should come from a balance of both logic and emotions. Allow your own piece to converse with you and exist in relationship to you - just as it does to any stranger on the street, because you have created a life that holds a part of your own, but exists beyond you. Take notes. You will be surprised what something you have made can teach the one who made it. Here is something for you to read at your leisure. This was written in 400 bc by a man named Longinus. It is called "On the Sublime" and is where these rules have come from, and the inspiration for this course. This is a free ebook version. There is a current print version available that is an excellent translation (making it much easier to read), and comes bundled with Aristotle's Poetics and Demetrius' classic, On Style. You can order the book here, or just get the information and see if your library has it. "On the Sublime" is a very short book, and it is written for writers. However, if you are a visual or sound artist you should read it too, all you have to do is imagine outward from the writing examples to relate what is written to image, color and sound. There is a version for the free Mobipocket ebook reader (which you can use on the PC and many cell phones) or you can select a plain text version for Mac and Linux. On the Sublime by Longinus (make sure you select the version you need in the download box on the right side of the page before clicking on "download") |