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Investing meaning in our art
- an interview with Eric Maisel by Douglas Eby  "Creators have trouble maintaining meaning.
Creating is one of the ways they endeavor to maintain meaning. "In the act of creation, they lay a veneer of meaning over meaninglessness and sometimes produce work that helps others maintain meaning. "This is why creating is such a crucial activity in the life of a creator: It is one of the ways, and often the most important way, that she manages to make life feel meaningful. Not creating is depressing because she is not making meaning when she is not creating." In
this interview, he addresses some questions about topics in the book. Q:
You note in the book that "Most creators feel miserable if few or none
of their creative efforts succeed."
Many screenwriters never see their hard work produced as a movie, and many actors never get to perform to the level they aspire and train to reach. How do you counsel artists like these to make meaning, when they seem to depend so much on public awareness and acceptance of their creative work?
We
have the following options. We reinvest meaning in our art and reinvest
meaning in our marketing efforts and make a new go at doing excellent
work and also at becoming an excellent advocate for our work, in the
hope that this time recognition and success will follow. That
is, we try again, only harder and smarter. In
addition, we invest meaning elsewhere, in other meaning avenues and
other meaning containers, and especially in intimate relationships (Van
Gogh was happy for one year, when he was in such an intimate
relationship). There
are no other existential answers: we try again (perhaps differently and
hopefully with a better payoff) and/or we try something new. Q:
The kinds of anxiety we call stage fright, or fear of the blank canvas
(or blank page) -- can these also be related to meaning issues? In what
ways, and how do you counsel an artist facing that stage or blank page?
Similarly,
the places where we make large investments of meaning, for instance in
our performances, paintings, or books, are places of great anxiety,
because there is more than our ego on the line, there is our very sense
of the meaningfulness of our life. If the
world is not interested in our paintings, for instance, we will be
hard-pressed to maintain meaning there; so, when we come to the blank
canvas, we can already be a little (or a lot) frightened that a
negative reaction to this as-yet-unborn painting will precipitate a
meaning crisis. There
is a remarkable dance that is necessary to perform in order to deal
with this precise dynamic: we must invest meaning in our effort while
at the same time detaching (or divesting meaning) from the outcome. That
is, we say to ourselves, “I will show up—that is what I demand of
myself”—and at the same time we say, “I have no way to control the
creative process, so I have no way to guarantee an excellent outcome
here; all I can do is try.” We
make the meaning investment in the effort, not in the outcome; and in
that way we reduce our experience of anxiety. Q:
Artist Caroline Bertorelli is quoted in the book: "I get depressed
quite regularly and often. It used to distress and frustrate me that I
have such a tendency. But as I grow older, I see my depression as a
valuable time for introspection and deep thinking about life."
Do you find that others are able to experience depression or anxiety as something with positive meaning and value? Eric Maisel:
Many artists try. I believe that it serves us best to learn how to
reduce or eliminate both depression and anxiety from our lives, as I do
not hold them as useful in any way. I
think that pain is overrated. That
isn’t to say that the following might not happen: you work honorably
and well on a creative project, you finish it, you are depleted and no
new project wants to come forward, and after a certain amount of time
the blues strike, since you aren’t making sufficient meaning and don’t
feel quite up to making new meaning. This
sort of depression can creep up on any working artist. The depression
is not useful in and of itself but it is a clear signal that the time
has come to see if new meaning can be made. It is
the time to get back on the horse and back into the studio. Maybe there
is nothing there yet and maybe you will experience days or weeks of
nothing particularly generative happening. Be
that as it may, the depression was not a gift; it was merely the
warning sign that a meaning crisis was brewing or had erupted—and that
action, even if futile at first, was now required. Q:
You write of the "special relationship to addiction and addictive
tendencies" of creative people, because the "pressure to make meaning
minute-in and minute-out can send anyone scurrying away in full
retreat, away from the struggle and toward alcohol, drugs, sex or some
other powerful meaning substitute."
 In my article "Gifted, Talented,
Addicted" I speculate that a number of people with exceptional
creative abilities have used drugs and alcohol as self-medication to
ease the pain of their sensitivity, or as a way to enhance thinking and
creativity.(Beethoven reportedly drank wine about as often as he wrote music, and was reportedly an alcoholic or at least a problem-drinker.) Can there be some positive, meaning-enhancement uses for what you list as meaning substitutes?
That
isn’t to say that it might not have tremendous blandishments and
rewards, activating our pleasure center this way or numbing our pain
that way. But,
especially over time, the dangers are profoundly great, as witnessed by
the number of creative and performing artists ruined by addiction. A
drink is not a problem; turning to drink as a way to deal with meaning
challenges is a problem. Shopping
for a tie is not a problem; turning to acquisition as a way to deal
with meaning challenges is a problem. To the
extent that a creative person uses anything or does anything as a way
to avoid the challenge of making sufficient meaning, that is a
problem—maybe not the first time he does it, maybe not the second time,
but certainly when it becomes habitual and a place of dependency. ~ ~ ~ Book -
The
Van Gogh Blues: The Creative Person's Path Through Depression. Related
podcasts by Eric Maisel: Your
Purpose-Centered Life. Related
video interview on the page Depression and
Creativity. Interview
by Janet Grace Riehl: Eric Maisel's
"Van Gogh Blues" Explores Connection and Meaning-making as Treatments
for Depression. Also read interview On his
book "Ten Zen Seconds" Image
at top
from book: African
Canvas: The Art of West African Women, by Margaret Courtney-Clarke. ~ ~ ~  Eric
Maisel, Ph.D. holds Master's
degrees in Creative Writing and Counseling, and a Doctorate in
Counseling Psychology. He is a
California licensed marriage and family
therapist, a creativity
coach and trainer of
creativity coaches, and teaches through lectures, workshops, and
teleseminars. Dr. Maisel is widely regarded as America's foremost creativity coach and has taught thousands of creative and performing artists how to incorporate Ten Zen Second mindfulness techniques into their creativity practice. See his site EricMaisel.com for ebooks and more information on his work. Eric Maisel, Ph.D., is the author of more than thirty
books - some titles at right > Also
see more articles
by Eric Maisel.
 Related
Talent Development Resources pages:anxiety.. ... anxiety / fear / courage articles ..... anxiety relief : products / programs..... anxiety relief : books Bipolar disorder Depression
and Creativity ... depression : teen/young adult 2. articles books..... depression articles........ depression relief : products / programs...... depression : books Hypomania mental health...[front page]...... mental health : teen/young adult ~ ~ ~ |
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