Creativity and Life

In reading The Zen of Creativity: Cultivating Your Artistic Life, by John Daido Loori, for my Zen Buddhism course, I’ve come across some interesting ideas that I think not only relate to creativity, but also to life in general.

Loori writes that expectation precludes the opportunity for discovery (93). By having a goal set for any work (a poem, novel, painting, photo, et cetera) one immediately creates a confined, restricted outlook with which to embrace and use their creative faculties.

I couldn’t help but think of the late Joe Strummer saying something similar in the documentary Let’s Rock Again. He said, to summarize, that he never goes into something with expectations, that way he's never disappointed. I think that's true. I also find a correlation with this and writer’s block.

In a recent class of my poetry workshop, our instructor was discussing one poet’s thought on this subject (unfortunately, the name of this poet escapes me). This poet felt writer's block was “bullshit.” Many writers would adamently converge in opposition to such an idea, citing personal experience as evidence to disavow it.

However, as my instructor pointed out, there is truth to it.

We make our own writer’s block. Writer’s block comes about when we try to be perfect as we write. Instead, one should freely admit and accept that first drafts are often rife with total crap, plain and simple. When one accepts that their first attempts are by no means infallible, the pressures and barriers of creativity can be liberated.

In my own experience, I find this to be the case. Only when I want a poem or essay to be perfect do I encounter resistance. Lorrie wrties, “When we try to reach a goal, we become fixated on it and we miss the process. Process and goal are the same reality. Each step clearly contains the goal” (93-4).

I tend to think that life works in a similar ways. Only when one tries to force and/or manipulate perfection, does it becomes lost. Just as one cannot script creativity, similarly one cannot script life. You merely react to it. Recent experiences in my life have affirmed this. Just let life flow without the subjugation of a goal, and never expect perfection.

It takes the wonder out of things. And also the fun.