creating apart, coming together

musing about creative impulse

musings #1

Photo by serjan midili on Unsplash

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It’s funny how all paths seem to lead to the same place, over and over again. People who have never met converge on their ideas simultaneously, producing works that so closely resemble each other that it can’t be coincidence. We’ve often heard “there are no new ideas,” which is both categorically false and true at once. Imagination is unlimited but finite — a contradiction? Perhaps, in our inherently limited understanding.

Is it that no ideas are truly “new,” or is it that we’re simply accessing imagination from the same limited capacity?

I’ve sat with several concepts like this recently. The urge to create, the urge to share with the whole world, the desire to make something new and unique and worthy of awe… where does this come from? The impulse to create is a universal one. Everything in nature practices creation by reproducing itself, a new configuration of cells, also dividing and replicating. Is this basis of life, of survival, any different from other creative impulses?

When we write, draw, paint, dance, sing, or even just speak — these pieces of ourselves leave us and land with others. We call this expression, expressing oneself. Is it a coincidence that we use the same word to describe the looks that cross our faces to convey how we feel, or the widely-understood phrases we use to convey meaning? Expressions. Something from the self, pushed outward to others.

How often has it happened that, in the ordinary course of a day, you come across something that reminds you of an idea, a thought, or some musing you had? How often have you felt a little (or not so little) pang inside, like someone beat you to the punch? Have you ever wondered where that comes from? Or why it occurs? Perhaps you think, “it could’ve been me,” but what is that thought about, really? What is it that you believe you’re missing now?

Imagination, creation, expression: These are manifestations of Illusion, passed through human ego-Mind. They are ways of tasting our latent limitlessness, but in an inherently limited form. We see art, listen to music, watch a performance, even just look at something we have built (an old building, a handmade ceramic mug, a fresh tray of pastries), and feel a sense of connectedness, wholeness, with other human beings. Why?

That which we have made separate from ourselves, pulled from ourselves, expressed, created, shared — comes that slightest bit closer to coming together again.

Creation is universal.

When we create, we’re simultaneously thrusting ourselves forward as separate and hoping for reunification with others. A push-pull of creative impulse, of Whim, to know oneself — and the inward call towards wholeness, Truth.

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This post is my first “musing.” I use this term to describe things that come from a state of relative flow and presence, not analytical thinking.

I welcome your reactions and thoughts.