In Preparation for Something Sacred

First things first: We find solitude in a comfortable work space; we might apply concentrative meditation techniques to calm & focus thinking into that critical point of fixity; we permit a shell of silence to descend. Yet is this enough to enhance opportunity for the creativity yearned to express? Are artists required to move outside the obvious to achieve excellence?

We sense the glow of a sacred muse. When inspiration is active & focused, what can writers eager to maximize a heightened state of awareness do? How might we better facilitate this delicate transference? The golden zones of clean, effective creative performance are not as common as we might have once believe at the advent of discovering writing's nuances. Sensible folk take advantage of opportunity yet as writers, are we capable of influencing what is so consciously vague in understanding?

Can self-imposed expectation limit the depth of communication between imagination, flourishing in fascinating content & the more mechanical, conscious part of the mind? Tasked with recording glorious mental activity, is this expectation, plus the frustration which arises from having notions confounded, is this rational part of the writing process creating obstacles to the functional joy we might experience in a purer stream of craft? Would it help if we approached this exchange in a more complete state of surrender?

The infinity of imaginative possibility requires a state of trust, perfected harmony, warmth & deep gratitude.

When we consciously employ techniques which factor the sacred, we enter a new form of common sense. By interacting with a logic different from the mode of thinking demanded to master daily affairs, the bondage of time & peculiarities of place become plastic. If capable of the required concentration, we might arrange the details of these conditions.

We ask imagination what could never be expressed to those we love in friendship or family. Writers demand instant change, a spontaneous adaption to conceptions formulated through former disclose; we make imagination explain itself. Creativity can only operate in what is understood. To interpret this back in clear, lucid writing, we ask for worlds.

{Artwork by Antonio Mora}

The Luxury of Silence

Silence is not necessarily the absence of noise. It is something more expansive, an awareness; a breadth. Writers peer within busy, over-stimulated minds & require this stillness so must call for it at will, when time presents that blessed window of opportunity to quiet down the insistences of an outside world.

In silence we become alert; we become watchful & ready.

In a world built by walls of controlled quietude, there rests a freedom to explore. In the silence of imagination, we forget ourselves. We are no longer forced to imagine the multiplicities of our own lives. We permit our minds to expand & watch—intent on learning what might manifest once an opportunity has been accorded. We breathe deeper; we prepare to be transported.

In the space accorded by silence, we still distraction & finally permit imaginative thought to find it’s own rhythm. Like the waves of a sea, the writing focus arrives & we experience the power of recording imagination. These waves of transposed thought deliver images; they bring considerations, vignettes, expressions & an occasional treasure in the form of perfect phrasing—material dredged from the higher recesses of mind. In silence we again marvel at how effective the mind functions, once lent the necessary conditions.

All creativity requires is trust & surrender.

{Images by Cecil Beaton}