PLAN ‑ Methods of procedure, outline, working sketch, blueprint detailing a concrete program of what to do and how to proceed.
CONCEALMENT OF PERFECTION ‑ This requires one to accept that she will fail many times before creating something worthwhile. That he will be rejected. That she may appear an untalented fool to those looking on. That this could go on for years…a lifetime eve. This requires a willingness to put oneself “out there” in spite of the judgments that people inevitably make. And perhaps hardest of all, one must cultivate an ability to accept criticism even from those less enlightened than oneself and to incorporate it gracefully and productively.
IMPLEMENTATION / ENDPRODUCT ‑ Finally, the satisfaction of a job completed and well done…though always there is room for improvement.
Based on this model of creative process, artistic blocks are best understood not as a lack of material for inspiration, but an inability to limit ego at some critical point in the creative process.
Confused Beginnings
Sounds great in theory, but it doesn’t fit reality. How is it possible that so many artists succeed in their trade with egos obviously intact, if not grossly inflated? First, because the cosmic current of creative flux can be tapped at a less than ultimate level. It is easily short circuited here and one seeking ego gratification can divert the flow to satisfy her own self-serving purposes. Will the creative act derive from the artist’s Higher self or arise from an impulse of ego—“A wolf in sheep’s clothing” so to speak. As stated previously, this is fixed at the level of purpose. To the extent that a person sincerely intends to use the creative process as a means of dissolving ego and drawing closer in service, then such will be its effect. But if one does not begin from an initial state of ego nullification as expressed through his intention, then he creates “something from something,” not “something from nothing” (creation ex nihilo) and the more superficial levels of self are preserved in the process.[14]
Still, it cannot be coincidence that artists are notoriously temperamental and more characterized by ego than any other profession. This is the exact opposite of what the thesis predicts. However it is the exception which proves the rule. If a person does not relate to his creative expression within a spiritual context, then loss of ego, on any level, becomes very threatening. Yet, the creative process absolutely demands this, whether one likes it or not. It is possible, however, to compensate—to fortify oneself with an armor of ego and thereby secure a safe, enclosed space for creative work. Then he can perform the necessary ritual of ego dismantling behind closed doors—behind triple locked steel doors. This overdevelopment of the outer layers of ego compensates for the vulnerability and insecurity intrinsic to the creative process and the net result is an egotistically appearing person.
Why Beginnings?
Why did the Infinite One disturb his peaceful equilibrium by introducing a space of cosmic drama and creative flux? Why is the human soul driven by a creative spirit? Why does it delight in a Beethoven symphony or swoon by a Michaelangelo? Is there a net gain in all this? Is anything truly accomplished by creative expression? Does something of it endure eternally? A seemingly innocent question, but tricky when asked of the Creator, for to answer affirmatively would seem to imply some previous lack within the Holy Infinite One. And yet, if not somehow so, then religion collapses into existentialism, only with slightly broadened horizons. Existentialism finds no enduring effect or meaning beyond what one creates within her individual lifetime. Religion would be saying the same thing, only drawing its boundaries at the seven millenniums of this cosmic interlude of creation. Either way there is left an unmistakable taste of despair, meaninglessness and absurdity on the tongue.
Judaism teaches that in the time‑to‑come, souls will be resurrected into eternal bodies, a clear statement that when all dissolves back into the Infinite Light,[15] these “eternal bodies” will endure as the permanent residue of the Creative act—bodies that can somehow withstand and maintain their integrity within that original state of all penetrating, infinitely potent and undifferentiated Light. But what could this possibly mean?
To say that something persists is to imply that within the Creator Himself there is some dynamic, permanently transformative process going on. Of course there are levels of Divinity which transcend this all together and are not touched by even the possibility of change. And of course nothing is ever superadded onto the infinite sum total of the Creator. Consequently, there are two truths about G‑d which must be preserved in any theological discussion. These are His infinitude and His perfection. Yet perfect, as commonly applied, describes a static state. There is an endpoint, called perfect, which one does not go beyond, but this becomes a limit which then violates the principle of infinitude. On the other hand, infinite perfection describes a constant state of perfecting but this violates the definition of perfect which allows for no further improvement for one has already reached the penultimate state. This is an irresolvable paradox where both contradictory realities are simultaneously true. Like the wave‑particle duality of light, it must be accepted on its own terms. Both are true but at any given moment we deal with one or the other perspective.[16]
If one accepts, even for the moment, the notion of perfecting the Perfect, then what does it entail? Applying the principle of correspondence, only this time from below to above, we can study our own subjective experience as participators in the cosmic creative process and gather material that addresses the question. The history of civilization is characterized by expanding awareness . . . bringing consciousness to bear on the entirety of the phenomenal world. Science, psychology, the arts, and even religion are penetrating into every nook and cranny of reality and subjecting all to the light of understanding. It is not enough that something is, or that it works. Rather we must know why and how. There is no peace until every stone is turned.
And what does understanding accomplish? What changes when something is known? It alters the relationship between subject and object by dissolving the existential chasm between them. As man acquires information about the physical world, he gains mastery over it, in which case it becomes an extension of him. He can now use it more efficiently to serve his will which, if he is a religious man, means to serve G‑d’s will. The object moves from a state of passive, external existence to active service. Its potentiality is unlocked and realized to the ultimate degree.
This seems to be the effect of the creative process both on the human and cosmic scale. By accepting upon oneself the discipline of modesty and self constraint inherent in the creative process, one presses out from within himself the fragrance and the essence of one’s innermost potentiality. For a human being this is her Divine soul—the point of G‑dliness at the center of every life. One’s only access to this priceless treasure is self limitation, whether voluntary or imposed (which becomes one way of understanding the purpose of suffering). That which existed as a hidden potentiality now finds concrete expression in the world. Nothing is added, only unfolded.
For G‑d as well, it seems that by actualizing certain potential states there is accomplished a kind of perfecting, but one which does not imply a previous state of lack. For example, to actualize that part of Him that is a wise and benevolent master, He created a kingdom. To actualize that part of Him that is a loving, generous provider, He created a world of receivers. To reveal his essential oneness, he created a seemingly separate consciousness that could transcend itself to the point of recognizing and experiencing that there is nothing but G‑d, in spite of all appearances to the contrary. To actualize His All Presence, he brought the Light of His Superconsciousness into the most subterranean depths of His Being.[17] Thus through the discipline of self limitation that underlies the creative process, G‑d presses from within Him (so to speak) the outer expression of His own inner potentialities. The “eternal bodies”—those most abstract essences of all that we become—must then be the memory traces (so to speak) of the experience of actualized potential as they persist within the Mind of G‑d.
