Manic Mondays # 4::Carving Order into the Chaos

I have adopted a flexible routine. It keeps me grounded. It enables me to focus on following the inspiration to creative production. I have decided, also, to reject negative energy, in favour of positive light. I do not need to get the last word. I have come to see that I am not my mind. I am soulful, I am spirit. I am light. I found a fabulous website last night called The Happiness Project. It led me to devise my own person commandments. And my own framework for happiness.

I remain committed to myself, in continuing my own Project 365. I have come to see that one must commit to oneself on a spiritual, personal level, before one can contribute in any meaningful way to others, to society at large. This realization makes me feel alive inside, and stable/grounded on the outside. I do choose ~ it does start with me.

Inspiration and its Source

Inspiration ~ breathed upon. As in, words, lines or curves breathed onto the page, screen or canvas. The expression breathed upon has divine connotations. It conjures up the imagery of the divine being breathing the creative source into the heart, mind and soul of the inspired one. This implies, then, aura of openness. In order to receive breath, one must relax and open oneself to the experience. Think about the fact that we do have awareness of the fact that our lungs expand approximately 12 times per minute. What happens at those rare, unfortunate moments when we do have such awareness? The Eisenberg principle takes effect ~ manifested as A-N-X-I-E-T-Y, a force which blinds us to the simple and sublime.

Inspiration seems much like a grace ~ unsought (though desired), uncontrolled, and irresistible. The artist's performance involves her body and mind, yet it remains a cherished gift. Inspiration exists prior to consciousness and outside of the realm of skill. It defies comprehension. It embodies the sort of poetic madness that comes from having glimpsed at the empyrean and the ninth sphere of paradise. Inspiration provokes a compulsion to create. Through creation, the artist reaches revelation. The struggle becomes striking a balance between divine impulse and the artist's own human consciousness. Art ~ defined as the product of inspired creation ~ promotes conscious revelation. Does this increase self-awareness? Does it enhance the well-being of one's inner self?

At the core of inspiration lies madness and irrationality, as sourced by genius. What is genius? I think it's an innate ability to channel the frightening beauty of the divine winds. A quick foray into the etymology of the word tells us that, in Ancient Rome, genius described the guiding or guardian spirit of an ancestor who guarded his descendants. Genius ~ guiding spirit. Kant saw genius as 'the ability to independently arrive at and understand concepts that would normally have to be taught by another person.' Focus lies upon the concept of originality ~ a talent for producing ideas which can be described as non-imitative.

Do you know, dear Reader, what are the three characteristics shared by geniuses?

1. Systematic and orderly approaches to problem solving.
2. Sense of wonder, ability to look at things in a fresh, almost childlike way. Keeping an open mind and a flexible attitude on all subjects.
3. Ability to concentrate with greater depth and intensity than the average person.

So ... genius lies within the grasp of us all. Neither excellence achieved at skill performance nor some culturally-biased quantification of intellectual strength embodies the true spirit of genius. Genius refers to the way in which one sees and processes one's surroundings; it requires self tolerance and patience. And of course ... some good, old-fashioned perspiration.

pier giorgio di cicco ~ creative spirit

... if one does not stir the waters too much, one can see to the bottom of the river ...

While channel flipping Saturday afternoon, I came across a televised version of a speech which Pier Giorgio Di Cicco gave at the recent ideaCITY conference in Toronto. The way he spoke, the words he chose, and the lyrical manner in which he wove his thoughts together really struck me, drew me in. And so, I watched, and listened. And recorded every fibre of what he said that I possibly could, with my fingers and this keyboard. His sentiments seemed worthy of a blog post. And, I thought, perhaps you'd all like a break from the heaviness of recent posts. This stuff seems somewhat a lighter fare. Though, deep and meaningful, in its own way.

The word choices, the meaning conveyed ~ these belong to Di Cicco ~ I have only added words for flow purposes whenever absolutely necessary. And, I could not help my compulsion to transform the passive into the active tense whenever possible to do so without butchering the message. The ideas belong to Di Cicco, not me, I just thought the message he conveyed worth sharing. So ... read on.

FYI ~ Di Cicco is a published poet ~ you can see some of his work here. He has also published several books.

Aristotle gave us the language of dualism ~ a finite, columnar paradigm from which humans have had wrestle themselves, ever since. Human endeavour does not move from the rear ~ we're not propelled by event and causality, but called by what we're meant to be ... called by something that lies in our very teliology. We feel drawn to each other ~ we desire recognition. The global citizen awaits for a world design that inspires with implicit care. Humans want recognition, not identity. People want things to rejoice in, not things to be proud of.

We must transcend pride in any form, including idealogical wars and labels. We must transcend the branding. We cannot lever, commodify, or strategize creativity. When we treat creativity like a social capital we only succeed in diminishing it, and this erodes the element of trust. Today, a conspiracy against trust pervades societal thinking. Creativity cannot exist without trust. When we stifle creativity, we stifle primal forces that motivate humans. Creativity must be inspired, not rallied ... not branded, out of oneself.

Fracturing of agendas and ideologies cause humans to withdraw from one another. Human nature is currently being revised out of frustration, in light of confusion, out of our inability to recognize others and their sacrifices. We must read the bohemian index ~ the sullenness on people's faces! One notices the sullenness on people's faces ~ an index that must be read ~ as a real financial index. The tides of sullenness have changed, based upon the freedom of people to create, to encounter, to recognize each other. We must know how to read the psychology of the human heart. We must all learn to read deep primal desires of the human spirit. Its often not in what people do, or say even, its more visceral and primal than that. The human spirit desires delight and creativity, and these meet in moments of wonder, making for trust and mutuality.

Creativity involves recruitment of the most pedantic into the surrender of their skepticism. It's a spirituality that gets people affirming the same wonder, the same source, with shared gratitude ~ free from the caveats of stereotype and historical woundedness. It involves imagination ... seeking the grander scheme of things. The sacredness of creativity lies in its power to introduces us to a higher version of ourselves.

Today's large cities burgeon with diversity of spirit. This diversity poses the next great challenge for large cities. Citizens of a city need bonding. Creativity serves as the common spirituality of a diverse people by uniting their collective primal energies. We must begin to build cities around the elements that bring the civic heart to a place of wonder. We must learn the art of random ~ to invite spontaneity, which, in turn, will nurture creativity.

EDIT: Its the 9/11 eve as I write this edit. I'm adding this as edit, because I want to leave this post current for now ~ its positive and beautiful and inspiring. But, I did not want September 11, 2007 to pass without an acknowledgement. It leaves a sour taste in my mouth ~ but not for reasons you may think. Nonetheless, I will refrain from diminishing the memory of the dead. And just say I remembered.