The Creative Act,
A Way of Being,
By Rick Rubin.
Self-Awareness As children,
Few of us are taught to understand and prioritize our feelings.
For the most part,
The educational system doesn't ask us to access our sensitivity,
But to be obedient,
To do what is expected.
Our natural independent spirit is tamed.
Every thought is constrained.
There is a set of rules and expectations put upon us that is not about exploring who we are or what we're capable of.
This system is not here for our benefit.
It holds us back as individuals to support its own continued existence.
This is particularly undermining to independent thinking and free expression.
As artists,
Our mission is not to fit in or conform to popular thinking.
Our purpose is to value and develop our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
To be self-aware is to have the ability to tune into what we think,
How we feel,
And how much we feel it without interference,
To notice how we notice the outside world.
A well-tuned ability to expand and refine our self-awareness is the key to making revelatory works.
Sometimes there are many versions of pretty good.
How do we know when we arrive at greatness?
Self-awareness allows us to listen to what's going on in the body and notice the energetic changes that either pull us forward or push us away.
Sometimes they are subtle,
Other times intense.
Our definition of self-awareness as artists relates directly to the way we tune in to our inner experience,
Not the way we are externally perceived.
The more we identify with our self as it exists through the eyes of others,
The more disconnected we become and the less energy we have to draw from.
We extend our reach for a higher consciousness,
Releasing attachment to our perceived self and limitations.
We are seeking not to define ourselves,
But to expand ourselves,
To tune into our limitless nature in connection to all that is.
Self-awareness is transcendence,
An abandonment of ego,
A letting go.
This notion may seem elusive because in the same breath it includes tuning into the self and surrendering the self.
But these are not as contradictory as they may seem.
As artists,
We are on a continual quest to get closer to the universe by getting closer to self,
Moving ever nearer to the point where we can no longer tell where one begins and the other ends.
We are on a distant,
Metaphysical journey from the here to the now.
The Creative Act,
A Way of Being,
By Rick Rubin
