The Cult of Personality

In our day, the cult of personality reigns, supporting the Romantic view that creativity means high emotion, outrageous behavior, non-conforming values and art as theater. In the turning cycle of fashion and belief, we might anticipate that following our era, a new day of Classical values will return. When the Classicists hold sway, order, symmetry, grandeur, nobility, and wit are reflected in art. When the Romanticists prevail, chaos, randomness, grittiness, social leveling, and facetiousness reappear. The Classicists replace the cult of personality with the elevation of impersonal standards, ideals, and historical models. Both Romantic and Classic artists seek to produce enduring works of art (unless part of their aesthetic is allegiance to the fleeting). Both Romantic and Classic artists strive to manifest their unique vision in a form that other people can experience.

In our day, artists with a Classical temperament are the odd men (and women) out. They may not be heard in the cacophony of the cult of personality. Creative Spirit Center offers opportunities to artists who are Romantic in temperament, but also to the Classicists among us. If you are an artist, be you quiet or be you loud, you can find a hearing (and a seeing and a tasting and a smelling and a feeling, if need be) here.

We open our doors to diversity, a diversity that goes beneath the surface of appearance, lip service, or convenience. We are open to experiencing the diverse temperaments of the artists among us. Come and share your sensibility -- Romanticists, Classicists, post-modernists, post-post-modernists -- we are waiting for you.

Frustrated Expectations

There are those who espouse "the philosophy of wee expectations." I remember that the first time I heard the phrase I was tickled by its juxtaposition of sublime and ridiculous terms. On reflection, I wonder whether there are not both sublime and ridiculous aspects of this lens through which one may view life. The carefully reasoned position of the disciples of this philosophy is that the less one expects, the less likely one is to be disappointed.

There is something to be said for limiting the possibility of disappointment. We all know the chagrin, the gnashing of teeth, the short fuse, the temptation to say things we will regret, that can accompany the experience of being let down. When the agent of disappointment is a friend, family member, or colleague, the underlying sense that we are unable to escape from the likely repetition of disappointment makes the experience bite sharply. It may be sublime to protect ourselves from being repetitively inconvenienced, taken for granted, hurt, or betrayed by other people. What is hard to believe sometimes is how much of our disappointment arises from wholly unconscious action on the part of others. For most people, malice is rarely involved -- just the normal, everyday lack of awareness that human beings bring to the party.

So it is more than a bit ridiculous to try to limit the possibility that we will be disappointed by other people, unless we are going to limit our engagement with the human race. Some of the wise meet this challenge with humor (the jesters); others with resignation (the saints); others with self-discipline (the masterful); and a fortunate few with the ability to overlook the faults of others (the enlightened souls).

It's still early enough in the year to think about resolutions for self-improvement. I wonder whether I can limit the amount of disappointment that I create for other people by becoming more aware of the present moment, and promising no more than I can deliver. The philosophy of wee expectations seems to me to be the refuge of the timid and the disappointed. The belief that all things are possible all the time flaunts the claims of reason. Right now, I value the middle range, free of both black disappointment and ungrounded, giddy flight. Wee expectations? I'm braver than that. No limitation? I'm too old for that. I believe in creating relationships, products, and processes that are better today than yesterday and planning to make them better tomorrow.

The Place of Most Potential

Dewitt Jones, National Geographic photographer, has created a short film called "Everyday Creativity." If you have the opportunity to view this film, invest the 20 minutes required for a guaranteed renewal of inspiration -- about life as well as about creativity.

Among the many wise suggestions Jones makes in his narration is the recommendation that to get the best results from our creative endeavors we should place ourselves in "the place of most potential." Those words have resounded in my awareness for the past 24 hours, since my last viewing of "Everyday Creativity." I am luxuriating in reflections about what the phrase means to me -- where it directs me, who it sends me to meet, when it guides me into action.

The place of most potential can be within or without. It can be a physical location, a relationship, a dream, an organ of the body, a creative work, an unknown adventure, a child we befriend, a new friendship, or even a meal.

There is a link between this advice and the recommendation of Joseph Campbell, the American writer, teacher, and orator, to "follow your bliss." The place of most potential for most of us is a place that makes us happy -- a place where we are free from the constraints, self-consciousness, self-doubt, and lack of authenticity that mar our efforts to realize our ideals of conduct, creativity, justice, or harmony.

For millennia, the wise have suggested to seekers that they "be present" -- that they focus on the present time, place and surroundings, rather than the past or the future. The place of most potential is always the present. It is only the present that we can change, that we can redirect into the form or the energetic quality that we desire. The past is gone. Recriminating with myself that in a meeting yesterday I interrupted people from a surfeit of enthusiasm will not change that experience, for me or for others. Wondering at 2 a.m. how I will complete my "to-do" list for the next 48 hours will not get the tasks completed. Only by opening my awareness to this instant can I reach into the vast potential of the universe to realize in this moment the treasure of beauty, love, or surprise that awaits me.

Thanks, Dewitt Jones! Your words are unforgettable. May you arrive at the place of most potential with every breath.

"This Is My Story"

Next week, Creative Spirit Center unveils its first ever members' and instructors' open exhibit. We are throwing the doors open wide for this show, inviting submission of all 2-D and 3-D art, video installations, and multimedia projects that tell a story. In addition to the members' and instructors' works, the exhibit will include an encore presentation of entries in the Chippewa Nature Center's 2nd Annual Celebrate Nature through Art contest.

This Is My Story, the exhibit's theme, is the counterpoint to Creative Spirit Center's Winter/Spring 08 theme of "Share Your Story," which itself is a facet of our year-long theme, Reconnect!

Recently, I have heard many references to the benefits of telling stories about one's life and experience. Sharing these stories builds community, enriches family life, and enables individuals to re-examine themselves in light of the stories that they tell.

Ruth Reichl, editor of Gourmet magazine and former restaurant critic of The New York Times, explicitly alerts readers of her memoirs Tender at the Bone and Comfort Me with Apples that she embellishes the story of her life. She admits that in order to make a better story she alters events, combines several individuals into one character, and even changes outcomes. She also mentions the benefits of telling the truth, though she initially felt uncomfortable revealing certain details of her decisions and inner process. Reichl thus takes the liberty of changing the facts but she also proclaims the value of opening intimate details of one's life story to the observation of others. Although at first I puzzled over her approach, on reflection I like her inconsistency. I'll grant this author her appropriation of all options for telling about her life. Instead of consistency, I'll take an engaging story.

So, "Share Your Story" in the way that works for you. Tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; or make up a passel of lies; or take small liberties with the facts; or shape an allegory with beautiful images. The funny thing is, if it's your story, it will all end up being absolutely true.