The Eternally Insurgent Spirit

CRIT
02-01-02022

“They chose the broken universe; they got joy from encountering it and forming it into order.” - The Courage to Create

I’ve banked another creativity book, y’all. Another text to whisper sweet validations into the beaten ears of my 𝓢𝓮𝓷𝓼𝓲𝓽𝓲𝓿𝓮 𝓐𝓻𝓽𝓲𝓼𝓽’𝓼 𝓢𝓸𝓾𝓵.

At this point, I know almost every validation a creativity book is fixing to whisper . . .

“Those we call saints rebelled against an outmoded and inadequate form of God.” - The Courage to Create

. . . but I need my validations presented in fresh, fragrant arrangements from time to time. New bouquets to brighten up the ░▒▓ᴅᴀʀᴋ ʜᴀʟʟꜱ▓▒░ of this 𝓢𝓮𝓷𝓼𝓲𝓽𝓲𝓿𝓮 𝓐𝓻𝓽𝓲𝓼𝓽’𝓼 castle.

As far as bouquets go, Rollo May’s The Courage to Create, was a bit wilted by the end, but at its heart lay a blooming dinner-plate dahlia. A 𝓬𝓻𝓮𝓶𝓮-𝓬𝓻𝓮𝓶𝓮 stunner that must be Eᑎᑕ꩜ᑌᑎTEᖇEᗪ.



“Creativity occurs in an act of encounter and is to be understood with this encounter at its center.” - The Courage to Create

Have you, beautiful reader, been Eᑎᑕ꩜ᑌᑎTEᖇED recently? Felt the back hand caressed of a photo, film, song, or poem? Have you laughed with lunatic catharsis or slipped into the 𝖉𝖎𝖛𝖎𝖓𝖊 fullness of ᑎ꩜W?

Have you 𝔀𝓮𝓹𝓽, dear reader, when last did life’s art 𝔀𝓮𝓮𝓹 you?

If you have, May would say that you’ve been Eᑎᑕ꩜ᑌᑎTEᖇED. The Eᑎᑕ꩜ᑌᑎTEᖇ (according to May) is the force that’s high-fived when one feels ᗰ꩜ᐯEᗪ.

“The unconscious seems to take delight (if I may so express it) in breaking through—and breaking up—exactly what we cling to most rigidly in our conscious thinking.” - The Courage to Create

So, I say, ‘That creation ᗰ꩜ᐯEᗪ me’.



Where?

Where was I ᗰ꩜ᐯEᗪ from, and where was ᗰ꩜ᐯEᗪ too?

May declares volte-face on the logic, pointing out the art that ᗰ꩜ᐯEᔕ does none of the ᗰ꩜ᐯIᑎG. The art, rather, whispered a secret message . . .

افتح يا  سمسم ꩜ᑭEᑎ ᔕEᔕᗩᗰEافتح يا سمس

. . . to the enchanted door of my unconscious . . .

افتح يا  سمسم ꩜ᑭEᑎ ᔕEᔕᗩᗰEافتح يا سمسم

. . . and it opens . . .

افتح يا  سمسم ꩜ᑭEᑎ ᔕEᔕᗩᗰEافتح يا سمسم

. . . out come critters, out come beasts . . .

افتح يا  سمسم ꩜ᑭEᑎ ᔕEᔕᗩᗰEافتح يا سمسم

. . . and they move my pale & stale self . . .



Fuck a government overthrow, that craps in the commode of the amateur. The true subversive overthrows the governing powers of our very psyche. Doesn’t every revolution cascade from that?

Because you've been ᗰ꩜ᐯEᗪ, and I suppose you can move back, but not without a memory of that elicit Eᑎᑕ꩜ᑌᑎTEᖇ. You can go home again, but Y꩜ᑌ can’t go home again.

“It may be that reason works best in the state of ecstasy.” - The Courage to Create

If I were to agree, then I must be a very reasonable person. Because my name is 𝓢𝓮𝓷𝓼𝓲𝓽𝓲𝓿𝓮 𝓐𝓻𝓽𝓲𝓼𝓽, and my 𝓢𝓸𝓾𝓵 is an Eᑎᑕ꩜ᑌᑎTEᖇᕼ꩜ᒪIᑕ.



After a white-knuckle day of mainlining artistic creations, I make my puritan go at temperance. I hang the hat of ecstasy on the hook and lean back into my lazy-boy-distracts. Fire up the screens and saturate my awareness in the streams of milquetoast content. How am I to ever lay down if I am constantly being ᗰ꩜ᐯEᗪ?

But, too soon, my toe starts tapping. I feel a tremor in my third eye . . .

‘I can do this,’ I say.

But I can’t do this.

Because, beautiful reader (I could 𝓴𝓲𝓼𝓼 you right now you’re so beautiful!), I am an Eᑎᑕ꩜ᑌᑎTEᖇᕼ꩜ᒪIᑕ, and this 𝓢𝓮𝓷𝓼𝓲𝓽𝓲𝓿𝓮 𝓐𝓻𝓽𝓲𝓼𝓽 is fiending.

“The fact that talent is plentiful but passion is lacking seems to me to be a fundamental facet of the problem of creativity . . . our ways of approaching creativity by evading the encounter played directly into this trend.” - The Courage to Create

Playing directly into 🅃-🅁-🄴-🄽-🄳.

When an artist toss talent at the 🅃-🅁-🄴-🄽-🄳 — tools their creation to plug-and-play with the apparatus of the day — I mean, how many Ruth Bader Ginsberg books do we need!? — is there anything — she’s important, sure, but can a publisher please support new bio piece!? — there to — I knew a man in Laos who collected unexploded cluster bombs, which are yellow and look just like a piece of fruit or a toy, which makes kids pick them up and blow off an arm,  which means that the civilian casualty count of the Vietnam War continues to rise even 48 years after it supposedly ended! —  Eᑎᑕ꩜ᑌᑎTEᖇ?

What does a water expect to Eᑎᑕ꩜ᑌᑎTEᖇ when it is poured into a ocean of similar content?

Better to pour it over the controls and watch them F̴̧̡̺͇̾̏̃̽͠͝ͅ R̵͉̚ Ȋ̵̼͘ T̸̨̧͈̟͕̩̐̈́͒͋̂̔̒̍ Ẕ̷̙̋̎ &-̷̘̞̟̮̩͖͇͇̹͙̈́̊̀͐̐͂̋S̵̉P̵̢̲̰̺̬̗̺̟̰̃͒̑̉̄̌͛͝ Ä̵̘̼̦́͒̀̉̒̈͐͝ R̸̻̬̝̻̹̳̞͋̏̅́͒̈́͜ K̷̨̨̲̭̝͈̤̅́̔́͘, while the authorities cry . . .

’Stop them, somebody stop them!’

— or, if I lack the courage for that, splash my art over my own placid face like ice water —

’Pull yourself together man! You MUST Eᑎᑕ꩜ᑌᑎTEᖇ!’

“Creative people, as I see them, are distinguished by the fact that they can live with anxiety, even though a high price may be paid in terms of insecurity, sensitivity, and defenselessness for the gift of the “divine madness.”  - The Courage to Create

DᎥᏉᎥᏁᏋ ᎷᏗᎴᏁᏋᏕᏕ, you say?

A last congratulatory stroke across this 𝓢𝓮𝓷𝓼𝓲𝓽𝓲𝓿𝓮 𝓐𝓻𝓽𝓲𝓼𝓽’𝓼 ass. How romantic and rad, to create on the edge of sanity. But May, now-a-daze most everyone lives with in the midst of madness and anxiety. Sometimes, those seem like the only things that are abundant.

But, I’m cynical again.

If anything grants my madness the complement of divinity, I suppose it’s my choice of ᑕ꩜ᑭE.

My art.

My drug.

My higher power.

The Eᑎᑕ꩜ᑌᑎTEᖇ.