Troubles and creation go together.
Apparently that's not universal, as I have read of some great artists who were completely unable to work unless everything in their lives was just so. However, I think it is more often the case that art flowers in adversity. I have been considering two related but opposed aspects of that.
One occurred to me while looking around a crafts superstore yesterday after picking up a picture frame. It's a while since I did any painting, and I find my fingers itching to get going, a feeling aggravated by discussions with a new friend who draws. That drive has been subdued for a few years, down to the level of a vague inclination, which is not enough to spark the actual act of creation, yet it now returns in force. I can only conclude that changes and difficulties, mental and emotional struggles, all build up something that needs an outlet.
My question is: what do other people do about that?
Photography is something I do when things are going well, as it's more of a process of capturing slices of reality than pure creation, but in times of problems, there are other ways of releasing what's inside. I write prose, as anyone reading this can see (and I wish I knew what people saw in my writing), and have been known to dabble in poetry, and, as I have just been saying, there is painting. Furniture-making is more considered, but can also be a release, as can intellectual forms of creativity such as computer coding. I have a range of options from the utterly free (silk dyes) to the restrictive and immersive (coding), all of which work in their own ways.
Seeing the large queues at the crafts place yesterday, others must feel similarly, yet I don't know many people who create on a regular basis. What, then, is the more general outlet? If someone can't make their emotions concrete by external means, do they just fester, or do they have other ways of getting through? Or does it just mean that they hang on to the good times at whatever cost, and fall to pieces when things are bad? What other activities can work in the same way?
My other question comes from seeing the range of works of art that have resulted from people's personal agony. Can the art justify - to any extent - their suffering? It feels almost selfish to enjoy and marvel at some things, and think that if the person had led a happy life we wouldn't have the art, and would be poorer for the gap.
This follows on in many ways from my thoughts about needing dark times in ones life to give relief to the happy times, which is an opinion I stand by, but is a more complex way of looking at the same subject.
In case anyone thinks I'm about to produce some great works of art - don't hold your breath. What I'm talking about is personal, and the process is more important than the result. All my previous artworks have been given away, because they've done their job by the time they're finished.
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Creativity and its release from the bondage of humdrum seems so highly individual and varied to me. One facet which often seems to be a factor is the precedence of action over contemplation. That is, to "just do it" rather than thinking about doing it. Which, I suppose, might require a little cleaning of trivia from the mind's slate. A long solitary walk usually helps me (<;
Question: How much creativity of the sort you talk about is allowed inside EB? Answer to your question about what other people do; I,m not a particularly creative person, but I do writing, photography and furniture making at various times. I suspect that I get a lot more pleasure from other peoples' creativity than from my own.
Perhaps I should make clear that I am not holding up creativity as a univeral cure-all, because obviously it isn't.
What I am wondering is what people do when troubled if they don't create. There must be other coping methods, and I'm interested to know what they are.
Among the brethen, creativity is neither frowned on or encouraged in my experience. It's held to be a bit childish but harmless, and something to be left behind when someone is mature enough to claim that spiritual things are their sole interest.
The EB used to preach something similar. They said that the apostle Paul wrote his best epistles from prison. (How much is really known, I am unsure. I attended a Catholic mass recently where the officiating priest was a University lecturer in biblical studies. He said it had been proven that Paul did not write Hebrews.)
It's a long time since I picked up a bible, but I always thought that Timothy wrote to the Hebrews from Italy.
Which makes me ask something else.
Why are some epistles written from "Paul" and others are from "Paul the Apostle".
I have fallen into the trap of commenting on comments myself, but I can't pass this one up.
Authorship of Hebrews is discussed in the Wiki page.
Interesting question....
Over the past few months whenever I've been troubled I find several different behaviours happening.
Depression and impulsive/ compulsive behaviour eg. eating alot, drinking alcohol (I was a teetotaller in EB's - except the Supper of course, walking for an hour until I'm exhausted, reading books for hours on end).
Creative expression eg doodling with pencil & paper, photography.
Fix it behaviour which basically means writing out what's bothering me & working out what I'm going to do about it. This can also take the form of writing down things I'd like to do in the future, such as visit my Aunt in Aberdeen. Another part of this is using music to try and raise my mood. Any uplifting tunes can bring relief.
Which reminds me of the Buddhist saying 'All of life is suffering' which I take to mean that if something's troubling me, well that's part of life & accept it, then life is so much easier because I'm no longer fighting it. 'Going with the flow' experiencing all my feelings in their entirety and channelling them in the direction I want to.
Thanks for your insights into life - they've helped me get perspective on some things.
Coping methods - why didn't my mother tell me that the pen was mightier than food. I might have written a book instead of reading diet ones! I can't imagine I would have the ability to create when troubled. Good dance music always helps me. ;-)
Some of the most creative artists, composers, poets and writers were struggling with emotional conflicts when they produced their greatest works. Beethoven was going deaf; Mozart was going bankrupt; Van Gogh was going mad; Dali and Gaudi were mad already; and a great many others suffered from bipolar disorder (see http://www.patienthealthinternational.com/features/3118.aspx ). I don’t know whether their work was therapeutic for them, but their work is certainly therapeutic for me.
Maybe I am atypical, but when I am feeling sad about something, then solemn music or a Shakespearean tragedy or an emotionally fraught painting makes me feel better, whereas jolly jaunty music or light comedy is unbearable.
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