In the modern classic, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote, “Control of consciousness determines the quality of life.”
Indeed, if one finds oneself reacting to external stimuli to such a degree that internal motivations, values, and intentions are shoved to the side, it is hard to imagine that one can control one’s actions or fate.
One becomes a mere pawn for others to use as they please.
And yet, who can say that they really control consciousness? Sometimes it’s garbage in, garbage out.
There are other times when one simply cannot create or share because inspiration is low at the moment. However, there are times when one has more than enough to share but too little energy to do so.
Perhaps this is recency bias but this may be the most creative and productive moment in history, and it will be outdone next month, next week, and tomorrow.
This begs the question: is there too much content? And as someone who has been creating and editing content for about a decade, am I a part of the problem? Is it time to shut the hell up, get a “real job,” and stop clogging up the algorithm with stuff I subjectively think is valuable?
I think there’s a lot of crap online these days.
I get lured in with clickbait and molested with half-truths and half-baked ideas. And the sad truth is, someone could easily say the same thing about what I do, despite my attempts to be thorough.
As Cicero said, “Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book.” Well, that’s comforting.
It’s also ironic because there is no proof Cicero ever said this. The earliest this quote was attributed to the great Roman orator was 2001.
My favourite rendition of this quote is (supposedly) from Naram-Sin of Akkad:
“We have fallen upon evil times, the world has waxed old and wicked. Politics are very corrupt. Children are no longer respectful to their elders. Each man wants to make himself conspicuous and write a book.”
Herein lies the ambivalence of creation: will my creation be anything of value? Because if the content of consciousness is crap, how can we ever direct ourselves to value gold and not create crap-derived crap?
The Two-fold Function
One of the most common pieces of advice one can possibly receive from those who are successful in their craft is to simply do what you love.
Of course, there are those who do things just to make money, but the point still stands. They’re doing whatever it takes to get money, the thing that they love — for better or for worse.
As a result of doing what you love, the function of the creation is secondary to the fulfilment of pleasure. Because I get to say whatever I want and do whatever I want, I feel good.
Therefore, the negative consequences of one’s words, art, or content are an inconvenience that one would rather not think about. It takes very little motivation to go on a rant about something, and there’s a lot of incentive to do so because rants get a lot of views.
The irony keeps pouring in though, because another common piece of advice from successful creators is to not watch the view count. That’ll demoralise and demotivate you the most, preventing you from persisting in the craft.
From my observation, when one is so passionate that they develop an audience solely due to the pleasure-seeking of creation, they will be devoured by their inability to be responsible for the things that they create, leading to their cancellation.
Each man may want to make himself conspicuous, but to do so to the extent that you ruin your life seems counterproductive to me.
Therefore, creation has a two-fold function. It should elicit pleasure but there are some labour pains that come with the process.
I swear I didn’t intend for this to sound like sex and childbirth, but this is how one can at least attempt to ensure that one’s creation is something of value.
There is pleasure in the creating and/or the finished product, but there are checks and balances necessary to ensure that the audience is edified.
After all, if I took my time to read, watch, or listen to something, I’d hope the creator cared about me receiving what they intended to send.
Many creators of the past believed that one must bleed for their creation, stimulating the notion of a blood sacrifice on an altar to one’s god. It’s a romantic notion but this same idea can lead to insanity, or worse, incomplete work.
But as far as the two-fold function goes, I think it holds weight. You need to find some pleasure in making the thing or the end product. Otherwise, it’s just torture.
I wouldn’t consider such an act creative or constructive, but destructive.
In addition, there is the analytical process of checks and balances to ensure audiences receive value. This can be fact-checking, consideration of the medium, research, proper audio/visual/copy editing, and even marketing.
And yet, one question remains, how can we control consciousness in order to create quality stuff?
Discomfort
I’ve had a problem being creative lately, but it’s not for a lack of ideas. I have too many.
But I’ve paced my living room until my feet hurt and laid in bed thinking until my back was sore trying to figure out what to do.
Then it hit me. Just sit up and write about the discomfort (read: ambivalence) of creating.
Now the words are writing themselves and some of the quotes found themselves from prior reading and from the explore tab on Instagram.
The serendipity of synchronicity when creating never gets old. It’s how I know I’m plugged into something bigger than me. I’m the vessel through which an idea, energy, or entity seeks to communicate.
Rick Rubin seems to agree with me and adds:
“If you have an idea you’re excited about and you don’t bring it to life, it’s not uncommon for the idea to find its voice through another maker. This isn’t because the other artist stole your idea, but because the idea’s time has come.”
But how does inspiration or creativity or God or whatever decide who to give the idea to?
Everyone gets ideas but only those who act on the impulse get more ideas to build upon the ideas they’ve already received. If you don’t, eventually you become one of those persons who believes that you just don’t get inspired.
You won’t always feel like doing things, but if you go to the fountain of inspiration with the intention to create, you will soon learn that it is either a time for rest or patience, or you will be given your assignment.
Creativity is a factor of every and all ventures, disciplines, and interests. If there was no creativity there would be no innovation and no technology.
Therefore, we don’t need to control consciousness in and of itself. Besides, that’s pretty hard. What is easier and possible is to feed ourselves what we value, which we do by default.
In terms of feeding ourselves crap versus gold, that’s for us to decide. Ultimately, no one can tell you that Liszt is better than Limp Bizkit. Or rather, they can tell you, but you don’t have to accept it.
Your values will determine what you pay attention to, and it is these things that direct consciousness.
Csikszentmihalyi adds another nugget of wisdom:
“If you are interested in something, you will focus on it, and if you focus attention on anything, it is likely that you will become interested in it. Many of the things we find interesting are not so by nature, but because we took the trouble of paying attention to them.”
Therefore, if control of consciousness determines the quality of life, it also determines one’s quality of art and their ability to create.
If what you’re reading, watching and listening to doesn’t feel good, and you find that it is negatively affecting your creativity, stop paying attention to it and find something more edifying.
It may be difficult initially but you’ll be thankful in the long run.
It’s inevitable that there will be things you value and things you don’t. I might think what you made is crap (and vice versa) but that’s why it’s important to remember the two-fold function in creation: there is a dedication that takes work but you should enjoy the process and/or the outcome.
That way it doesn’t matter if people don’t like it. You might really care if people do, but again, it is the idea’s time for expression. If you don’t do it, someone else will.
So if you think you’ll be envious if someone else gives birth to the idea, if the discomfort of work is less than the envy of someone else carrying the idea to fruition, why not just do it?
…
Creativity is fun but there’s a responsibility that comes along with it. Sometimes the fun isn’t as fun as it used to be. Sometimes responsibility is taxing on the body and mind.
But it is because you care about things that you simply cannot help but to create, to add what is of value and perhaps to even subtract that which is superfluous or even damaging.
If you don’t, you may end up regretting it when you see “your” idea with someone else’s name attached. That could’ve been you.
Nevertheless, as humans continue to live, they will continue to find things of interest. They will get ideas and if they act on them, they could do something interesting that makes even more people interested.
So I guess you not only create your own fans or supporters, you help to create interest for the discipline, business, sport, and artform in the hearts and minds of others.
That’s kinda cool.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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From The Good Men Project on Medium
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