You Are A Creator, Whether You Want It Or Not
For me, any creative expression is a way to express what is true for me, in a given moment.
I see reflected in my creations what is true for me. What I photographed in the photo above is not just about the landscape. It is much more about a culmination of what I learned and experienced in life up to that point. In that way, it is a representation of me in one photo that displays my unique view. Nobody else sees it like this.
The beautiful thing is that the viewer can experience his or her own feelings and truth, looking at this photo. I can not and should not force any meaning unto the viewer.
Herein lies also a vulnerability. It is just my point of view (in this case literally), and there is always the risk that nobody ‘gets’ my point.
This risk for me is essential in my creative process. And the creative process is a reflection of life in general. Life in general is always about taking risks for the sake of being yourself.
Without taking risks we become a sort of automaton. Wikipedia defines this as follows:
A automaton is a relatively self-operating machine, or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions.
Automatically following a sequence of operations is what happens a lot in life. Don’t get me wrong, of course, we do a lot of things routinely and automatically, and we have to in order to survive.
I am talking here about recognizing in yourself your true uniqueness and originality. That place where there is just you.
When living from this depth you don’t just follow a sequence of operations. Here you are the original source itself. You become the creator and the creation.
That is huge in and of itself. Let’s take some time to really let these words sink in. What happens then?
I think this is great news, to say the least. It means that you were always a creator even when you don’t think so. And that is also a great creation; to pretend that you are not a creator.
In this way, there really is no difference between art, artists, and life in general. We all create, all the time.
But what happens when we become conscious creators and stop pretending that we are not creators ourselves?
We still don’t live in a world like that. Mostly we live in a world where we are afraid to show ourselves and embrace the original creators we are. We are scared to be ridiculed and laughed at. Therefore, we refuse to embrace our vulnerability and don’t take risks for the sake of staying safe.
By staying safe we also sacrifice a lot. We become automatons who just live their lives as it were a series of sequences, and we look for other people to give us instructions.
It does take a huge amount of courage to stop looking outside yourself for answers and validation—to dare to be sovereign, which is enjoying your own autonomy.
Being an original creator, both as an artist and a human being is still the road less traveled. Let’s dare to walk down that road.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I am really curious what you think. Is there anything you recognize in this story? Do you feel inspired by anything you have read?
Don’t hesitate to let me know. I find it very valuable to hear your personal opinion. If you feel called, feel free to follow me!
