I’m going to talk a little about certain demands that we might make on our work. I could also talk about this same idea by pointing to the fact that we all have certain conditioning present that limits where it’s possible for us to explore creatively. This can show up within the creative space as certain imperatives, certain things we’re always drawn to, certain ways we always do things. We may also notice certain internal thought processes that have a kind of self-critical tone, which really shut off certain directions of exploration.
I wanna be really careful talking about this because I think I did a terrible job presenting this part of the course last time. It’s really important for me to say that from where I sit, there’s not too many wrong reasons to make art. Just like there’s no wrong reason to meditate, good will most likely come from it, however you begin. As long as your process continues to feel nourishing and right, there’s nothing wrong, and maybe lots of things that are right coming from that endeavor. It’s not inherently bad to want to like our work, or to hope it is appreciated or useful. So when we look at what conditioning might be present that limits our process, and what demands we’re making of our work that are unhelpful, we’re doing that in the service of releasing what does not feel to be serving us. What does not serve our process; what is not authentic. We want to let go of what is dead versus what is an alive exploration. So different ways we can talk about it, but that’s what I’m pointing to, yeah? We’re like trying to cut off what is unnecessary, unhelpful, or not alive. What lacks depth, aliveness, or a sense of sacredness.
Now, I’m going to say some different things we could think of as demands one could make of one’s work. Some of them may be relevant to you. Some of them you may later discover are hanging out in your psyche and in your process in an unhelpful way, but for now they aren’t visible. What is an unhelpful demand will be different for different people. That’s really important to say. Again it’s what is blocking your process that we are concerned with, and that will be specific to you. What brings contraction, disconnection, and deadness to your process might be something that enlivens someone else’s.
So as an example, one of the demands I made on my work historically was that it be likable, generally likable, to most people most of the time. I do hope you love your own work and your own process. I hope you are touched by your work. But that’s different than what I am pointing to now. I had a demand that my work always be inoffensive, generally palatable, and pleasing to everyone. This demand had cut off whole areas of exploration for me. The dark, the crude, the poorly drawn, the scary, the icky, and the overly vulnerable. Whole large areas of potential exploration were walled off for me because of my fear of making art that was displeasing.
Many people, myself included, have come to a place of reckoning where they realize they are doing so much in their lives just to be liked, just to be generally approved of. And that kind of ongoing, habitual, top-level imperative makes it very hard to live authentically, truthfully, and in a really intimate, connected way. So we may find similar things coming forth as demands we make of our work that cause it to ring hollow—to be pleasing yet utterly lifeless. So, in and of itself, wanting people to like your work is not necessarily bad. But if we’re holding that as a kind of top-level demand for our work, it’s not helpful. It’s a constraint that prevents genuine, authentic, intimate exploration.
Unless you have a totally free creative process, there’s probably some conditioning rattling around in there, some kinds of demands you’re making. Just to say, I don’t personally feel like we should seek to have a totally pure and completely free creative process. But we should feel like it’s good enough. That we can be authentic and alive within our creative process, in a full way. We should feel like we can trust it.
Do we demand that our art be beautiful? Or appear to be made by someone skilled? I definitely had that demand of my own work, yet I never made that same demand of other people’s work. If someone else’s work touched me, or opened something for me, that was more than enough. Does my work need to be deep or important? Again, wonderful qualities for art to bring. But when you place these kinds of judgments on the work while you are working or before you have started, you have cut off the exploration using only the capacities of the mind to judge and prejudge.
So in the context of creative process work, if you are called to draw a puppy, draw a puppy. If you are feeling interested or excited to explore themes that feel simple, or sweet, or overdone, then you should just let yourself start. Let the spirit of a kind of sacred humility be part of the process, and trust what is happening as long as it feels alive to explore in that direction. We cannot see the whole of what needs to come through before it has even started. The creative process is an interaction; it is a process. It is a dialogue between what you already know, what your heart wishes to serve, and what has yet to be made manifest. You cannot judge or think it into happening.
It can be helpful, at times, to just write out your own sense of what you’re asking of your own creative work. What are you seeking to engender, and what do you want from it. And just see what’s consciously present. I can pretty much guarantee for everyone that there will be a mix of deep, essential aspirations and then some junk that you’ve picked up along the way that isn’t serving you. Some things, as you write them out, may be obviously unhelpful just in the writing. “Whose demand is that? I don’t even care about that.” Some may be noticed as the kind of demand that closes things down only later; we’ll sense it’s around within our process at a later time, maybe as we’re working. And some things will forever remain untouched by any questioning because they are truly yours to keep. With this kind of exploration, I really feel if something is yours, if it’s essential to you, that it will remain even if you question it very energetically. What is authentic to you, what serves your process will always withstand any questioning or exploration.