Creative Beastmode Activated
The Creative Act + shoegaze classics
I didn’t think I’d be enough of a convert to mention it here, but Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act: A Way of Being had an immediate impact on me.
Haters may eye roll. Like you, I had my doubts. But constant references to nature, the universe, and the theme of all of us being one resonated with me throughout. It’s inspiring, even if you’re not directly a creative. Here’s a pull quote from an early chapter called “The Unseen,” the one that hooked me, as it tied creativity to spirituality and expressed ideas I’ve felt before:
The act of creation is an attempt to enter a mysterious realm. A longing to transcend. What we create allows us to share glimpses of an inner landscape, one that is beyond our understanding. Art is our portal to the unseen world.
Without the spiritual component, the artist works with a crucial disadvantage. The spiritual world provides a sense of wonder and degree of open-mindedness not always found within the confines of science. The world of reason can be narrow and filled with dead ends, while a spiritual viewpoint is limitless and invites fantastic possibilities. The unseen world is boundless.
I went in without an agenda, but here I am, folx. I AM CREATIVELY BACK. Zhuzh’ed up and better than ever. I struck gold on a new project, the seeds of which started years ago, but took shape in savable doc format at the end of February. I don’t know what it’s for. It’s not for this Substack or for my zine. Not knowing adds to the excitement and high of having a project that’s bigger than me.
Writing these stories feels like the correct thing to do. The stories want to be out there. They’re reckless and wild characters. I get up in the middle of eating to jot ideas, sentences, scenes down on my white board, in the Notes app, on legal size paper, or in two journals. I hope I can maintain this inspired feeling for a while longer. How much can it expand? It’s already grown far beyond the initial imagined formats.
In order to sustain and enhance productivity, I’ve recently found classic shoegaze helpful. I don’t listen to much of it otherwise, so it’s not an overly familiar distraction. It’s capable of being in the room and not in the room at the same time. Mood but not vibe shift. Even if you need to lower the volume to focus in, you still get enough out of it, because it’s shoegaze, and shoegaze is always kinda loud. Just enough!