this lady wrote that the artists, musicians, authors, and scientists and “creative geniuses” she studied all had a solemn bent towards melancholia. some experienced severe mental illness, or had a prevalent history of mental illness within their family sphere. people like Kurt Vonnegut, Sylvia Plath, James Joyce, etc. It’s called, “Secrets of The Creative Brain,” by neuroscientist Nancy Andreasen.

i wanted to expand this idea. an informal study, i suppose… to see how many creative people in my sphere relate.

the article is long, but fascinating. read it if you want, or don’t. just let me know:

as a creative person, is there an unconscious, or habitual, urge towards sadness? is there an ache that illuminates you to root it out through creating something? can you easily get lost in projects, because you get lost in life (emotions, moments, ideas, yourself)? these questions are leading, yes. but offer me some feedback. affirmative or not.

what is the nature of you? what are the emotional habits? where does your mind and heart turn toward to the most? light? happiness? hunger? grief?

—

& does this relate to the Artist Archetype? Caroline Myss writes that we are born with sacred contracts, archetypes which Carl Jung studied and paved the way for more research to follow. Myss writes, “I suddenly got it—that within each of us is a fundamental contract that simply has authority in our life. And this contract has a code; it has an authority that extends before we were born. We are in dialogue with this contract at all times, and it is in our best interest to uncover what this contract is and to discover the partnership that we have with these archetypal voices or soul patterns that make up our contract. It is in our best interest to bring our unconscious into consciousness.”

—

Jungian-inspired analysis of The Artist:

8. The Creator
Motto: If you can imagine it, it can be done
Core desire: to create things of enduring value
Goal: to realize a vision
Greatest fear: mediocre vision or execution
Strategy: develop artistic control and skill
Task: to create culture, express own vision
Weakness: perfectionism, bad solutions
Talent: creativity and imagination
The Creator is also known as: The artist, inventor, innovator, musician, writer or dreamer.

 

—

Superstitions as a Sickness, as a Light:

I’ve seen the “bad time” every day this week. face your darkness, she says. the bad time is a she. the bad time is me.

the energy of 11:22 = 1 + 1 + 2 + 2 = 6.

there it is, my birth backwards. 6 – 2 – 2.

the other end of me. my sea-saw. spectrum of light and its absence.

6, in numerology, is vision. it relates to Virgo, the 6th house. perfectionism. nit-picking. but the ability to see something, see the potential, what it’s missing, what is already there, how it can become whole and full, if it isn’t already. the “darkness” in me is the “lack” i experience. the darkness in me is the struggle with wanting things to be different, or a certain way. the struggle in me is not accepting this part of my mind. of leaving it separate, in the dark, to struggle on its own.

the beauty is in the visualization. the lesson is in acceptance. the strength is between those two, see what is [here, now] as already perfect, while keeping open to a bigger picture.

—

like the artist archetype analysis (which I found after writing this portion, after being seized by “the bad time”), yes—avoid mediocre expression. avoid it, but don’t deny yourself expression because you fear yours is that. give yourself over to it, to all of it, and decide that it doesn’t have to be mediocre. decide that it doesn’t, but accept that it could be, and that you are no failure either way. the lesson is to keep on. to not be stifled. to develop, to persist in free possibility.

—Visualization Exercise:

dream bigger: imagine yourself receptive to a line so outstanding, so giving, luscious and ripe… imagine this line, this string of words, or if music is your thing, a string of melody, imagine yourself receptive to the most beautiful sounding, the most unique, the most true and inspiring state of wisdom.

imagine yourself able to transcribe what you hear, see, experience in your mind. imagine yourself fully creating something outstanding. what does it feel like? beam in that feeling. get so fucking cozy in that feeling, that you think it’s happening now. imagine that that feeling is an apple, and you are taking a big juicy bite. it’s so juicy, you can’t believe it, it’s so juicy, you want more. it’s so juicy, you want to tell people about it. it’s so juicy, so poetic on your tongue, that you know exactly how to describe it. that you want to give someone else the experience, that feeling, that sweet hydration, that fuel.

—

responses, o ye creatives?