Everyone is a creator, says Rick Rubin

I've done a lot of creating in my life. But I've never thought of myself as an artist. Artists create paintings, music, sculptures, pottery, all that stuff that most people, including me, think are art'y.

Rick Rubin is leading me to expand that limited point of view. Recently I encountered Rubin when I was watching some episodes of 60 Minutes that I'd recorded and hadn't gotten around to viewing. The segment on Rubin was fascinating.

Here's a guy who claims to know nothing about music, yet is a highly successful record producer. (These days maybe it's more accurate to say recordings producer.) The Wikipedia page for Rubin says that he has meditated since he was 14.

The 60 Minutes episode was the first time I've ever seen an interview start with the interviewee requesting it begin with a bit of meditation. There's a short video on You Tube of about a third of the 60 Minutes piece that captures the essence of what Rubin is all about. Basically, he's into feeling. (I couldn't embed the video in this post, as it needs to be watched on You Tube.)

Wanting to know more about Rubin's outlook on life, I bought his book, The Creative Act: A Way of Being. I'm enjoying it. The many chapters are pleasingly short and written in an engaging style. Here's the first chapter where Rubin talks about creativity and art.

Those who do not engage in the traditional arts might be wary of calling themselves artists. They might perceive creativity as something extraordinary or beyond their capabilities. A calling for the special few who are born with these gifts.

Fortunately, this is not the case.

Creativity is not a rare ability. It is not difficult to access. Creativity is a fundamental aspect of being human. It's our birthright. And it's for all of us.

Creativity doesn't exclusively relate to making art. We all engage in this act on a daily basis.

To create is to bring something into existence that wasn't there before. It could be a conversation, the solution to a problem, a note to a friend, the rearrangement of furniture in a room, a new route home to avoid a traffic jam.

What you make doesn't have to be witnessed, recorded, sold, or encased in glass for it to be a work of art. Through the ordinary state of being, we're already creators in the most profound way, creating our experience of reality and composing the world we perceive. 

In each moment, we are immersed in a field of undifferentiated matter from which our senses gather bits of information. The outside universe we perceive doesn't exist as such. Through a series of electrical and chemical reactions, we generate a reality internally. 

We create forests and oceans, warmth and cold. We read words, hear voices, and form interpretations. Then, in an instant, we produce a response. All of this in a world of our own creation.

Regardless of whether or not we're formally making art, we are all living as artists. We perceive, filter, and collect data, then curate an experience for ourselves and others based on this information set. Whether we do this consciously or unconsciously, by the mere fact of being alive, we are active participants in the ongoing process of creation.

To live as an artist is a way of being in the world. A way of perceiving. A practice of paying attention. Refining our sensitivity to tune in to the more subtle notes. Looking for what draws us in and what pushes us away. Noticing what feeling tones arise and where they lead.

Attuned choice by attuned choice, your entire life is a form of self-expression. You exist as a creative being in a creative universe. A singular work of art.

Here's an excerpt from his "Tuning In" chapter that describes more about how Rubin views creativity.

We are all translators for messages the universe is sending. The best artists tend to be the ones with the most sensitive antennae to draw in the energy resonating at a particular moment. Many great artists first develop sensitive antennae not to create art but to protect themselves. They have to protect themselves because everything hurts more. They feel everything more deeply.

Often art arrives in movements. Bauhaus architecture, abstract expressionism, French New Wave cinema, Beat poetry, punk rock to name a few from recent history. These moments appear like a wave; some artists are able to read the culture and position themselves to ride that swell. Others might see the wave and choose to swim against the current.

We are all antennae for creative thought. Some transmissions come on strong, others are more faint. If your antenna isn't sensitively tuned, you're likely to lose the data in the noise. Particularly since the signals coming through are often more subtle than the content we collect through sensory awareness. They are energetic more than tactile, intuitively perceived more than consciously recorded.

Most of the time, we are gathering data from the world through the five senses. With the information that's being transmitted on higher frequencies, we are channeling energetic material that can't be physically grasped. It defies logic, in the same way that an electron can be in two places at once. This elusive energy is of great worth, though so few people are open enough to hold it.

How do we pick up on a signal that can neither be heard nor be defined? The answer is not to look for it. Nor do we attempt to predict or analyze our way into it. Instead, we create an open space that allows it. A space so free of the normal overpacked condition of our minds that it functions as a vacuum. Drawing down the ideas that the universe is making available.

This freedom is not as difficult to achieve as one might think. We all start with it. As children, we experience much less interference between receiving ideas and internalizing them.

We accept new information with delight instead of making comparisons to what we already believe; we live in the moment rather than worrying about future consequences; we are spontaneous more than analytical; we are curious, not jaded. Even the most ordinary experiences in life are met with a sense of awe. Deep sadness and intense excitement can come within moments of each other. There's no facade and no attachment to a story.

Artists who are able to continually create great works throughout their lives often manage to preserve these child-like qualities. Practicing a way of being that allows you to see the world through uncorrupted, innocent eyes can free you to act in concert with the universe's timetable.

Comments

[Ron E.]

Only just got around to reading this on Rick Ruben re creativity. The main reason I like to comment here is that many of Brian’s blogs provide the opportunity to express thoughts on what interests me and I see such flow of thoughts as a form of creativity.

I like the way Ruben describes ‘living in the moment and about artists and creativity: - “Artists who are able to continually create great works throughout their lives often manage to preserve these child-like qualities. Practicing a way of being that allows you to see the world through uncorrupted, innocent eyes can free you to act in concert with the universe's timetable.”

Often the virtue of ‘being like little children’ and ‘seeing through the eyes of a child’ reflects this aptitude. Much of Buddhist practice is about seeing before ‘signs’, that is, seeing before thought and conceptualisation obscures ‘what is’.

Joan Toliffson’s latest posting echoes this perspective: -

Just being alive is enough. —Shunryu Suzuki

"Being just this here-now-aware-presence, this present experiencing, is utterly simple, uncomplicated and easy. It requires no effort, no practice, no years of study. It is effortlessly, unavoidably, always already happening. Hearing, seeing, breathing, touching, tasting, awaring, being—simply this—the sounds of traffic, the ever-changing sensations in the body, the taste of tea—the utter simplicity of what is before we think about it—this is obvious, uncomplicated, absolutely easy, impossible to doubt. You can doubt what it is or why it is, but not that it is."

[um]

@ Ron E.

That "creativity", ..these waves of uncomplicated words, that arise without effort, practice, years of study ...that are as simple as hearing, seeing breathing etc etc ..can be at times also a "problem" in the public domain ...as ...others witnesses these waves as cumming from this or that person, they hold that person for that reason responsible while that person is also a witness and not the maker

[Ron E.]

um. Only a problem when too much thought is running amok. Keep it simple.

[October]

Issue of Creator and God is as present as it ever was or will be.

nice post

[Jimmy]

Rumi on looking within (aka consciousness is everything)

Everything in the universe is within you. Ask all from yourself.
Do not feel lonely, the entire universe is inside you.
You wander from room to room hunting for the diamond necklace that is already around your neck!
Whatever you want, ask it of yourself. Whatever you’re looking for can only be found inside of you.
Why are you so enchanted by this world when a mine of gold lies within you?
Don’t look for the remedy for your troubles outside yourself. You are the medicine. You are the cure for your own sorrow.
Remember, the entrance door to the sanctuary is inside you.
The inspiration you seek is already within you. Be silent and listen.
Don’t go off sightseeing. The real journey is right here. The great excursion starts from exactly where you are. You are the world. You have everything you need. You are the secret. You are the wide opened.