Opus Day 2: Live Creatively

[Barque]

“An opus is the lifelong process of getting life together and becoming a real person, and it is no coincidence that the word is also used for a musical composition or an artist’s total production. You are also a work of art – alchemists usually referred to the opus as the Work, but they also called it the Art. You are the artistic designer of your own life, and it is the most important work you will ever do. You will produce things that will make you proud -- happy children, a good home, a well-functioning society, and maybe even some decent art. You will become a unique person. Nothing is more beautiful or more valuable. But if that potential goes unrealized, you may despair about life in general.

C.G. Jung once wrote that creativity is an instinct, not an optional gift granted to a lucky few. If you don’t find a way to be creative in life, that instinct goes repressed and frustrated. You feel its loss as a deflation, the spirit leaking out of your sense of self. You feel empty, disengaged, and unfulfilled.”

Today’s Work: Moore points to our responsibility to design our own lives. A feature of this responsibility is an attempt to increase expressions of our creative instinct. Today, consciously open your creativity to its fullest expression in all matters.

Share your responses with Barque readers, by replying to this discussion.

[Ian]

The creative expression that has been most important to me and given me the most pleasure is writing (reflecting, fiction, philosophy), but on many days that pleasure is invaded by my attempts to achieve something with it - like when my stories become vehicles for ideas, or my reflections on life lead to philosophical conclusions - I become analytical, which is a sort of creativity, but I suspect it is of the spirit rather than of the soul. I strain to achieve when writing and suspect this strain is present in most things I do - wouldn't it be wonderful to approach life creatively instead? I guess I've known this for a while, but it is easier said than done!

[Julianne]

I think what I've been learning recently is that the life and the art are one. For a long time I've wanted projects I've been working on to be completed, and haven't allowed myself to accept things as they are today. I like to think about people who produced things at later stages in their lives, because I always feel I'm 'behind.' I have to keep reminding myself to stay with what's happening and do what needs to be done in this moment. Finding the balance between focusing on the future result and keeping my eyes on my work as it is now is the challenge. And yes, we are transformed by the work we do, by the projects we choose.

[Ann]

This is such a great quote, it reminds me to step back from the grind of every day life, the chores, the traffic, the endless details and to do list and try to see the bigger picture. Underneath all of the details something is being created. It's an unexpected gift of getting older that I am starting to be able to see the greater shape of my life. For all my fumbling around, I am proud of how I've lived. I turned out way better than I ever expected to. :)

Ann

[Jonathan Arnold]

Hi All,

I can really relate to this need to not feel rushed and "behind". The grind of daily life stifles me unless I can step back from it for a while. I can do that when I can learn what things need to be rushed and what things I can give to another time without feeling guilty. I want to be able to think creatively in that project of stepping back from the grind. I feel that only after I can do that successfully can I look at the bigger picture of my life and use creativity to create for myself a life that I enjoy living and find meaning in.

Jonathan

[Julianne]

In reply to Ken's posting, I'd like to say first of all that I have never known how to create a traditional family--although I cherish my friends and the few scattered family members that I do have. The late Bulgarian philosopher Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov said, 'Love without waiting to be loved.' This idea continues to help me in difficult moments, and I continue to reach out even when I feel foolish and fear rejection. Because the alternative, to remain closed and cut off, is no longer an option.

[Ian]

That is a beautiful idea, Julianne. I wonder if it can be applied to creativity as well as to love: perhaps the striving that infiltrates our creativity is driven by a need to be loved, yet if we live by these words, then we can create without also needing.

And it seems to strike the right note with regards to responsibility: it is up to us to love and create; if we wait to be loved, we give that responsibility away.