Learning to trust the creative process
And telling my ego to take a [temporary] hike!
I will someday learn to trust the creative process. That might mean that I might come to trust that there is a creative force which my ego cannot control but which stands at the ready to swoop in and work with me if I manage to quiet my ego enough to let it happen. Because the ego is the thing that fears. Ram Dass suggested in an interview in the New York Times Magazine that it is only the ego that fears death, the soul lives forever. Likewise, the ego wants the fruits of creativity, it wants to take credit after the book is published, the performance is over, the film is wrapped, but to take a step back and let another entity possess one long enough to actually create… well, that is not at all something the ego likes to do. but to be creative, one must let go of control. One must let go of control on a regular basis. One must practice letting go of control. Just like spiritual growth requires the regular practice of asking the ego to step aside, creativity needs room to work. And our egos always take up too much room. But here is a promise to the ego: if you step aside on a regular basis to allow the spirit some space, you’ll get to take some of the credit for allowing something beautiful and transcendent to happen.
This article was originally published at joncarllewis.com on Tuesday, September 17, 2019.
