The Creative Soul

Dreamers and Daemons

“I, too, live in this ordinary world. I was born into it. Indeed, most of my education was intended to make me feel comfortable within it. Why the enterprise failed is another story. Such failures happen, and then, like all things are turned to the world's benefit, for the world has need of dreamers as well as shoemakers.”

Mary Oliver (Upstream, p.26)

I went to an art festival yesterday. Downtown, on streets and in shops, artists spread their wares for the eyes of the curious. It was hot, and by late morning there were long lines at the snow cone and Popsicle vendors; food trucks were doing a brisk business in lemonade and soft drinks. I moved among the tents of jewelry, colored glass, oddly painted canvases and ones with a simple splotch of color in the middle. Reinvented clothing, crocheted wraps, and environmental protest photographs lined streets normally bustling with working stiffs trying to grab a cup of java on their way to the daily grind. One booth, featuring paintings of women who looked like your worst nightmare, made me wonder what sort of dreams the artist entertains. My conclusion: there is no explaining the creative process or what drives it. One simply supplies the hands, and tries to get out of the way.

In Mary Oliver's collection of essays, Upstream, she describes quite well this particular form of madness which demands strict adherence of those afflicted. It requires solitude, and indifference to time of day and the normal goings on in the world. Hunger and thirst are ignored, as interruptions are the bane of existence. Creative people are at the mercy of the daemon that drives them. A friend of mine has found that her most creative time of day is between two and five in the morning. She struggles with trying to mold herself to the eight to five schedule of the rest of the world. Oliver says, “...creative work requires loyalty as complete as the loyalty of water to the force of gravity.” One approaches with discipline, commitment, and humility, and then waits for the daemon to take the reins and run with it.

The world has need of dreamers and artists, just as it needs bricklayers, and fire fighters and utility linemen. The worst thing a creative person can do is to deny the urge; to never give it time or energy. It devastates the spirit, and denies the world. It's not necessary to shoot for stardom. It's only necessary to be true to the call.

                                                            In the Spirit,

                                                                Jane