Yes, I, too, watch TV. Sometimes binge-watch. And one TV series I watched was Billions. During one of the episodes an artist was paid by a billionaire to paint under contract. The artist, a formerly free-spirited and creative mind, found himself drawing not a picture, but a blank. He had painter’s block, the equivalent of writer’s block. Neither is an uncommon experience. The creative force is one that requires constant renewal. A new Muse has to show up in the brain to inspire. There are parallels, also. Those who meditate, spiritual leaders, and philosophers also experience occasional creative dryness. Maybe you have. Are there tricks to restore creativity? Sure. You can probably find some on YouTube, in self-help sections at the bookstore, or in seminars. Try this one:
Go metaphor, archetype, or stereotype fishing. Find a poem, an epic, a discipline, or foreign culture to examine for its metaphors and images. Take a metaphor that is new to you, though common to others, and apply it to a) your local society, b) your philosophical or moral system, or c) your observations of your own and others’ intensity of feeling or apathy. Now, I’m not guaranteeing the process will lead to a creative burst, but doing nothing but pining about such dryness does little to irrigate the parched brain. Read through this to see whether it opens any floodgate:
If you live in the United States, you have a shared metaphorical system that distinguishes among “Northern Life,” “Southern Life,” “Southwestern Life,” “New England Life,” and among others, “Upper Mid-western Life.” You might call such designations stereotypes, but you know that almost everyone generally understands the terms and their associated images and that they have become part of the American cultural metaphor. So, how is this going to help you release those creative waters?
As I noted in another essay, during a field trip to North Carolina with geology students, a colleague of mine saw an elementary school group dangerously close to a cliff. Because he had fallen from a rocky precipice, injuring himself enough to be hospitalized, he shouted angrily, “Who’s in charge here.” Chaperones of the group, chatting as they walked slowly, were unaware of the dangers the children faced; but instead of trying to rectify the situation and protect the children, they defensively asked, “Where are you from?” When he said, “Pennsylvania,” their response was a disdainful, “Yankees.” Wrapped in the metaphor of Civil War mentality of their ancestral culture, they did nothing to prevent the children from continuing their chaotic play near the precipice. They were more determined to follow the dictates of their past than to act to save the children of their present. Now, you might say, “That’s not me,” but consider the universality of such thinking that prevents clear thinking about reality as it is. Take as an example the Mapuche of Chile and their thinking that runs parallel to American thinking. Mapuche is “people of the land.” Those who consider themselves members of the larger group distinguish among the Picunche (north), Huilliche (south), Puenche (east), and Lafkenche (ocean, because such people live along the coast). Although all groups in those “zones” are identified as “Mapuche,” any non-Mapuche group, that is, some group of foreign origin—not necessarily from afar—doesn’t fall into the category of “che” (people), but rather into the category of “winka” (outsider). Consider, then, the extended metaphor of this thinking. For Mapuche, all indigenous populations are “Mapuche,” and all “non-Mapuche” are winka. Winka are “colonizers.” No doubt the North Carolinians who said “Yankees” saw my colleague as “Winka.” *
As I said, I can’t guarantee that what I just wrote will get you thinking. But the specific tale isn’t the point here; it’s not necessarily going to flood the irrigation ditch with water for your new crop of creativity. But the methodology might. Start looking actively for metaphors, stereotypes, and cultural thinking or behavior that are unfamiliar to you. Look at them closely, and then apply them to your own thinking or behavior or to the thinking and behavior of those around you and members of your national or regional culture.
In a sense, I guess I’m asking you to become a winka, that outsider who sees things differently from those enmeshed by stereotype, metaphor, or cultural patterns.
*Faron, Louis C. “Symbolic Values and the Integration of Society among the Mapuche of Chile,” in John Middleton, ED. Myth and Cosmos: Readings in Mythhology and Symbolism. Garden City, NY. 1967. Pp. 180-184.
Go metaphor, archetype, or stereotype fishing. Find a poem, an epic, a discipline, or foreign culture to examine for its metaphors and images. Take a metaphor that is new to you, though common to others, and apply it to a) your local society, b) your philosophical or moral system, or c) your observations of your own and others’ intensity of feeling or apathy. Now, I’m not guaranteeing the process will lead to a creative burst, but doing nothing but pining about such dryness does little to irrigate the parched brain. Read through this to see whether it opens any floodgate:
If you live in the United States, you have a shared metaphorical system that distinguishes among “Northern Life,” “Southern Life,” “Southwestern Life,” “New England Life,” and among others, “Upper Mid-western Life.” You might call such designations stereotypes, but you know that almost everyone generally understands the terms and their associated images and that they have become part of the American cultural metaphor. So, how is this going to help you release those creative waters?
As I noted in another essay, during a field trip to North Carolina with geology students, a colleague of mine saw an elementary school group dangerously close to a cliff. Because he had fallen from a rocky precipice, injuring himself enough to be hospitalized, he shouted angrily, “Who’s in charge here.” Chaperones of the group, chatting as they walked slowly, were unaware of the dangers the children faced; but instead of trying to rectify the situation and protect the children, they defensively asked, “Where are you from?” When he said, “Pennsylvania,” their response was a disdainful, “Yankees.” Wrapped in the metaphor of Civil War mentality of their ancestral culture, they did nothing to prevent the children from continuing their chaotic play near the precipice. They were more determined to follow the dictates of their past than to act to save the children of their present. Now, you might say, “That’s not me,” but consider the universality of such thinking that prevents clear thinking about reality as it is. Take as an example the Mapuche of Chile and their thinking that runs parallel to American thinking. Mapuche is “people of the land.” Those who consider themselves members of the larger group distinguish among the Picunche (north), Huilliche (south), Puenche (east), and Lafkenche (ocean, because such people live along the coast). Although all groups in those “zones” are identified as “Mapuche,” any non-Mapuche group, that is, some group of foreign origin—not necessarily from afar—doesn’t fall into the category of “che” (people), but rather into the category of “winka” (outsider). Consider, then, the extended metaphor of this thinking. For Mapuche, all indigenous populations are “Mapuche,” and all “non-Mapuche” are winka. Winka are “colonizers.” No doubt the North Carolinians who said “Yankees” saw my colleague as “Winka.” *
As I said, I can’t guarantee that what I just wrote will get you thinking. But the specific tale isn’t the point here; it’s not necessarily going to flood the irrigation ditch with water for your new crop of creativity. But the methodology might. Start looking actively for metaphors, stereotypes, and cultural thinking or behavior that are unfamiliar to you. Look at them closely, and then apply them to your own thinking or behavior or to the thinking and behavior of those around you and members of your national or regional culture.
In a sense, I guess I’m asking you to become a winka, that outsider who sees things differently from those enmeshed by stereotype, metaphor, or cultural patterns.
*Faron, Louis C. “Symbolic Values and the Integration of Society among the Mapuche of Chile,” in John Middleton, ED. Myth and Cosmos: Readings in Mythhology and Symbolism. Garden City, NY. 1967. Pp. 180-184.
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