I was recently listening to a book by Seth Godin who lambasts Bob Dylan’s description of his creative experience. You’d think that someone who reads a lot and thinks a lot would realize that we are all different, and our differences just might extent into our creative experiences. It would seem to me that there are as many variations of the creative experience as there are people. If you consider the diversity of experience, upbringing, heredity and training that contribute to making up the unique individuals that we are, it’s pretty obvious that there just may be major differences in the way we receive, get or develop our creative works.
Sometimes people like to lop off the heads of others to make themselves look taller. Being willing to allow the authenticity of other types or flavors of creative experience may expand one’s mind and heart and, thereby enhance and deepen one’s own creative process. Invalidating what is unfamiliar, strange, weird or dreamy just shows a certain lack of inclusivity in one’s universal mindset. One size won’t fit all. It’s not a bad thing to lack appreciation for diversity, but it is a thoughtless reaction that requires some restraint, contemplation and adjustment. Just as I am lambasting the lambastor, it’s a way of making waves, getting attention but not necessarily presenting one’s brand as superior to another’s.
Caveat: It could be that Godin thought that Dylan’s description made it appear that creativity came out of nowhere, rather than as the result of hours and hours of work over a span of days, weeks, years,… which it may have.
The Muse Be Willing 
Leave a comment