The Creative Daemon: Becoming a Vessel for the Muses

What are the prerequisites for creativity? Can anyone partake in creativity? Of course! Everyone is imbued with the spirit to create regardless of who you are or where you might come from. After all, this is what ties us to the force that is responsible for creation and differentiates us from the other creatures that roam the earth; it’s why the Bible says that humans were created in God’s image. In other words, by partaking in creation, we partake in some kind of dance with God, some kind of activity where we allow the creative energy of divinity to be actualized through us. In the words of Richard Taylor:

“Even the least creative among us are usually capable of something original, however innocuous it might be. But what is sad is the kind of happiness that is within the reach only of human beings should be attained by so few of them. And what is sadder still is that those who have no clear idea of what happiness is, or worse, themselves lack the resources to capture it, do not care. It is in some ways, almost as if they had not ever been born.”

But oftentimes, perhaps due to comparison in aesthetics of our creation to others, we might feel like our creation isn’t a “proper creation” or feel like it falls short. These differences in aesthetics are defined by mostly one’s upbringing, history and their consumption of other creations. But what is it that defines “proper creation”? If there is such a thing, who is the judge? This is essentially the idea that fueled recent contemporary art movements. At the end, creation isn’t necessarily about the work that will be perceived in the standards of the “greats” or “experts”;  it merely refers to  the expression of the muses that are embedded within us. These muses  want to be expressed in play with no restriction, no judgment, no persecution. It is Picasso who said:

“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.”

Now, this might possibly lead to the famous philosophical topic of what is beauty or what could be considered art  but that is an unproductive question or atleast to the kind of inquiry we’re doing here. Because no one has a place to say for what can be considered art or creation– sure one can set a standard in accordance with certain rules or ideas they might have about what can be considered beautiful. In the end though, those rules are subjective and arbitrary. What we know for sure is that, the one who partakes in the activity of creation and creates what they desire in whichever way they want is exercising their gift of co-creating in reality and by extension exercising their soul; and for the soul the lines between “good” and “bad” creation is blurred since what the soul desires most of all is to come into being in whatever form.

It is a courageous task to exercise this gift that we have been granted. Regardless of which muses have made their abode in your spirit, one must act and create according to  their given passion. One can even argue that it is your duty, and not doing so would be the same as trapping your spirit in a cell and refusing its plea to come out. This is why we feel like a childlike freedom  again when we partake in a creative act — when time stops and you’re in a state akin to playing. This serves as a reminder that this game we call life should be treated as nothing less than a cosmic play that we all have been granted the privilege to  partake in.