The Lonely Road to Creativity
Fearlessly Facing Obstacles With the Sword and Shield of Childlike Wonder
“Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind.”
Thomas Jefferson
When reaching for new heights, those around us have two choices on how to respond:
(1) Encouragement
(2) Discouragement (or perhaps just an utter lack of interest)
Why should we be held hostage to someone else’s biases or lack of perspective? I’ve found that whether their intentions be good or bad, that those closest to us can do the most damage to our growth.
Society inhabits a hive mind mentality, and any straying from the herd are pointed out, ostracized, and marched to the gallows. For that spark of creativity in your eye has been identified by the masses as the evil eye, and there’s only one way to deal with witchcraft. It’s time to burn.
Our brain craves dopamine. The high the addict gets from heroin, you get from likes on Instagram, or the pooch gets from the scooby snack delivered after a well displayed movement of its limbs at the appeasement of the human; it’s all relative. It’s all cause and effect. Here’s your treat, lending motivation to rinse and repeat. This is quite primitive, and so are we. I incessantly try to overcome this evolutionary mental slavery.
Only those who burn with desire escape these mental manacles. It is only those who care more about the goal, self-fulfillment, and living the only life they can bare to look back on without regret, that can tolerate the heckling from those around them. When motivation weakens, it is only drive permeating from our very core that can provide salvation.
It is only once you’ve challenged beliefs, and break the mold, that you can create real change. Only when this change becomes obvious enough for a toddler to see, will the perspective of others change with it, causing them to lend their fashionably late support. Only through this crucible does the label disruptor become a thing recognized by others as valuable.
“Our cocoons have the power to influence us — unless they are challenged. It doesn’t matter where your cocoon came from or what it looks like. Until you break out of it, you’ll have a hard time fulfilling your potential. People who do break out either are forced out by the things they experience or fight their way out.”
Larry Weidel
This fight comes for us all. Throughout the ages, men and women alike, whose only crime was the heretical belief that tradition, or the agreed upon norms of their tribe could be better, have fallen victim to the most heinous repercussions.
When breaking free from the traditions of your tribe, expect no red carpet. There’s nothing special about your situation that should free you from this historic, well oiled machine of intolerance.
Although some are fortunate enough to be raised under caring and nurturing conditions, this is far from a given. Even those born into environments of privilege, might have parents that wish to live their second go at life through their child; forcing upon them biases born from their narrow experience of the world.
Perspective is one of my most cherished attributes, and until my last breath, I intend to nurture it.
I think on the obstacles put before Elon Musk by those very people he looked up to, and realize there’s nothing special about me. I look into history further, and realize there’s nothing special about him either.
From the times of antiquity, stretching from Socrates, Hypatia, Giordano Bruno, Galileo, Darwin, and Einstein to the present; either by king, clerical rule, hysterical mob, or one's own peers, change is always dealt with harshly.
“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”
Albert Einstein
This intolerance isn’t born into us. Criminally over the course of time, we have our childlike wonder torn from us. Think on the child that ask those annoying yet truly scientific questions such as, “Why is the sky blue? Why is grass green? Why? Why? Why?” Over years, through life’s gauntlet, this curiosity is beaten into submission.
Carl Sagan laid great stress on keeping your childlike enthusiasm. He pointed out the great wonder for science and the unknown that elementary school children display, and the cynicism ingrained into high school students. He could only surmise that some great crime was being done to us somewhere in-between. In 1926, in a letter to his infant son, Lincoln Steffens wrote, “Keep your baby eyes (which are the eyes of genius) on what we don’t know.”
Too often life’s trials rob us of who we truly are. Mob rules have overtaken our intuitive guidance. Perhaps this is ingrained in us through evolution. It is the stray antelope that the lion finds most appealing. Better to stay in the bosom of the flock.
Sadly, do to the comings and goings of our life, most have their intuition surgically removed. If by happenstance you’re lucky enough to find it again, it's easy to feel it’s just too late. For by the time of this great reflection, we may be too jaded, scared, or set in our ways to sustain this clarity — back to default settings.
“When one’s expectations are reduced to zero, one really appreciates everything one does have.”
Stephen Hawking
I was lost for years, forlorn, utterly adrift. The reasons too many to count. The blame, just not useful. It was only through incredible pains, and my hitting absolute rock bottom, that I was forced to look deep, and ask myself the most uncomfortably disturbing questions. These questions lead to answers.
“One thought alone is like a seed dropped into the ground that germinates the mind and awakens your true potential.”
Tony Fahkry
I acquired an insatiable appetite for reading. I went from buying books for decoration, to going through two a week.
My mind was bursting. I starved my brain for years and now it was salivating. Dinner was served.
“Accessing your intuitive guidance really does require you to enter the ‘wilderness’ of that quiet place within you where no one else can follow. Your intuition is the very still voice arising from the authentic self.”
Dennis Merritt
You must be ruthless when it comes to the protection of this quiet place, the quiet mind. You must find this howling wilderness of the mind and submit yourself completely. Only after unconditional surrender to the void can we find our truest self. Those who venture into this abyss emerge forever changed. No longer recognizing themselves — aliens within their own skin.
It is only after finding ourselves again that we can muster the courage to fight for our most cherished freedom. This is the freedom to without fear, face life with the sword and shield of our childlike wonder. Hold your ambitions close. The world yearns to rob you of them.
