The Desire to Create

By Andrea Alder from Tathaastu issue #6, 2008

The first glimpse of the creative process is the yearning: the desire to create.  We bathe in the yearning, feel that yearning inside ourselves, and express that yearning in every move we make.  Every move then becomes the catalyst for our yearning to grow.  There is a tangible, physical push.

The creative process unfolds in many dimensions, Emotions, realizations, and insights come up.  We ride them, our practice becomes and exploration, in which we follow our thoughts, feelings, and impulses where they lead us.  In the same way that scientist follows where the data takes him, in the same way the White rabbit scurries down the rabbit whole, it is that exploring, that open-ended quality, that moves us into a deeper space.

And then we begin to shape it.  We shape it by dancing with it, swimming with it, by seeing where the current takes us.  We lean to feel the moment, trust the throb of the impulse – without judgment or manipulation.  The more sensitive we become to the “flavor” of each impulse, the more we can differentiate one impulse from another.  Becoming one with the object of our awareness, we open to the point of being vulnerable, and then we let go, and become the witness to the shape, the creation itself. 

This is by far one of the best articles I have read that describes the artist in the creative process.  I’m sure any artist would agree.  The complete creative process is in fact the creative process.