Genius

I love Ted Talks (www.ted.com).  Anyone out there know of them?  They get really smart people to give really smart talks about all manner of things and there are a million of them and they are free!

So I was listening to this one (about creativity and whether artists "are" geniuses or "have" geniuses) today and I highly recommend it, especially if you are a person who does any kind of work in the arts. 





I think what Elizabeth Gilbert is talking about here pertains to anyone who does work that involves inspiration and creativity (which, frankly is most fields) but artists in particular are very susceptible to the idea that the creation, or lack thereof, is all on them. That one can achieve transcendence only to have it disappear perhaps never to return.  And the pressure of that need to keep achieving is a killing feeling.  What if we, the creator, aren't the only one in the mix?

I know that the spiritual nay-sayers will pooh pooh the idea of some outside force or entity or daemon rushing through us and gifting us with words, song, movement etc, that all of it is good old fashioned neurology mingled with hard work, but I guess I'm not so sure.  I do not believe in the great father sky god, that's for sure. But I've had enough moments of wonder with writing, or performing watching someone perform where I think transcendence is something....in us but not of us.  Outside of use or surrounding us while at once sparking from deep inside.  Ms. Gilbert's retelling of an interview with poet Ruth Stone, was particularly moving to me.

All I know is, there is the universe seems to be made of music, and we can all hear it once and awhile. What we do with it is up to us.