Children of Process
What is the origin of the creative process? This is an age-old question. What makes this girl pick up a violin and that boy pick up a paint brush? The truth is that only this girl or that boy can answer that question. It is my belief that every person is innately creative. Our species has flourished due to creativity. The human race isn’t the strongest nor the fastest of all the animals. But we succeeded through our ability to imagine and to create.
I’ve often struggled with the creative process. There are many roadblocks on the path that connects the imaginative spark and the tactile product of completion. Through these challenges, though, I have been able to develop a process through which I can confront the blockage and then overcome it. This isn’t always easy. Many times the best answer is to step away, go to another part of the puzzle and then return with a new set of eyes.
Technology has given us new tools by which to create. The digital age is a revolution in production techniques, providing faster and faster methods by which to stream line the connection between thought and reality. Where once a film editor had to carefully cut and paste reels of analogue film, now digital software allows the focus to be more on the actual alignment of scenes rather than the physical process of cutting up tape. But technology is about the external process; the internal process of the creator remains the same. Is there any way to stream line the internal process? There is a way to find out.
I find that when I’m struggling with the placement of a word or the rhythm of a sentence and my mind becomes entangled in syntax by stepping back I can view the problem without the burden of being to attached to the end result. While it is my passion that drives the process, it is my ability to let go of this emotional fuel that ultimately allows me to hit my target. The mind is a powerful tool in the act of creation, but it can blur the ability to make right decisions in achieving the final product. This is why it is easier to have a final opinion on the creative act when it is viewed after the passing of time. The disconnect from that initial creative urge allows for vision.
I had a wonderful teacher who once told me that if I ever got too bogged down that I should take a deep breath, exhale, then try again. It seems easy enough, but to reach this awareness can often be difficult. Too often, the mind runs over a problem again and again until the purpose of the project is lost under the burden of the thought process, instead of the creative process. It’s interesting that in this age of quantum leaps in technology that we are still facing the same age-old questions within our selves. Perhaps it’s time to step back and examine the internal process a little more. Ultimately, it will only give rise to the release of the creative urge that rests within us all.
