Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Of the daemon
I am not a person particularly given to metaphysical beliefs.
I tend to be cautious in the way I describe the world, and the parts where I allow myself to travel further are, in my perspective, mere mental experiments, or even tricks of the (artistic) trade.
Yet I wish I could simply apply Elizabeth Gilbert's advice and speak out to whatever is out there, negociating with me what comes to my mind.
It's not an easy task. The skepticism rushes in, and I am reminded by myself that, after all, it all remains a metaphor, and although I might be producing things I myself do not expect (that seems to be the rule), I do not know how my heart functions, either, or why I start to sweat or how I fall asleep. The more carefuly I look at myself, the less of what I do can be divided into conscious and unconscious activity. Ergo, I can assume creativity is also somewhere within that quasi-conscious reign that to me should appear no more familiar, or "mine", than yawning.
But, deep down inside, I am also a dreamer. I love to think I'm lucky. I like pretty formulas, and feel very precisely how sometimes things go right. There you have it: here is an opening for metaphysics. If I am so easily tempted to create all these invisible structures, strings and forces, why can't I accept the simple idea that there is someone, something, a daemon, that negociates with me everything I do? Why, for heaven's sake, not accept something that makes your life easier? For the sake of truth? In art?
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7 comments:
ta kobieta jest niesamowita.
I cały jej speech...siedziałam z otwartą za przeproszeniem gombrowiczowską gembą przez całą wypowiedź.
Jeszcze na szczęście nie miałam momentu ujawnienia się daemona w takiej sile aby ludzie dookoła wołali "allah,ole,bóg", mam jednak nadzieję że to mnie czeka i mam nadzieję że tylko przez krótką chwilę,a swoje robić będę dalej.
dzięki za tą "opowieść"
niezwykle znajoma się wydaje...
"Of the Daemon" speaks more to me of Jung's communal Consciousness than of beagles and creatures in the walls. Why not say that feeling of euphoria and knowledge, that feeling of the 'Devine', comes from the combined knowledge and empathy of other human beings?
I've answered the phone and known who's calling before I've heard a voice (even before caller ID). In my opinion, and at the risk of sounding like a new age nutter, we have the ability to communicate far beyond what we are able to realise. Jung makes all these "constructs" viable to me, and why not call it a daemon or a muse, it's all part of the same thing. Me. Us, everybody.
Jung is way too esoteric for my humble rationalistic mind. I'm more inclined to believe in creatures in the walls than in the archetypes as he describes them...
If it makes sense to you, though, all I can say is I'm jealous of the peace of mind it must give.
Poetry comes to me like a daemon and I can recognise it in other poets. I am not trained in the medium and don't write much of it but the next day I wonder where it came from and if I try to change anything the poem glares at me like a rottweiler.
I don't believe in gods or faeries but just enjoy the notion of someone passing along art.
As a writer and husband of an oil painting artist, I see a certain value in the Jungian archetypes and the Hero's Journey. I think a template such as this is a viable starting point both for literary and visual art. Without some sort of recognizable framework you run the risk of your art becoming a meaningless hodgepodge. I think the Dalai Lama put it well when he said That you must first learn the rules in order to know how to break them.
Tim
you posts are awsome
Wow amazing, greetings from bali indonesia.
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