1/30/25 - TED Talk - Creative Life Reflection

 1/30/25

Inquiry Questions:

What is creative life? Does it come from within? & Where do thoughts run off to?

Creative Life Concepts: Being struck with great ideas, losing ideas, handling yourself, dealing with personal struggles, who or what is your art for and whether or not it says anything directly about you.

In Elizabeth Gilbert's TED Talk, she touches on numerous notions and ideas that delve into the creative life, how it works, how to operate, while still managing yourself. She immediately opens by discussing her fear of success, having written a bestseller herself, questioning "Will I ever reach a level of notoriety again? Did my success cripple the rest of my endeavors?" She then details the mystique of wanting to surround one's life within the creative lifestyle and how one chooses to make such an endeavor, further detailing the complexity of explaining these aspirations to other people, knowing that it is not a common endeavor that is viewed as productive by society.

But there is an optimism though, knowing that this is you, and knowing that you have a gateway to get thoughts out of the interior of your mind and onto a piece of paper, or a canvas, manifesting all of these different emotions deemed too complicated for everyday discussion. One of my favorite points in Gilbert's TED Talk is when she mentions the Romans and Greeks' belief on what the source of creativity was- not something directly from man, but rather, divine spirits that come to assist humans for unknowable reasons. This notion really resonates with me, as I also believe that my creativity is a figment of something that is not of this world, as it physically does not exist, yet my thoughts are frequently consumed by characters and themes that entertain me, yet also yearn to be expressed or written down. 

Being a Roman Catholic, I have always admired the idea of non-tangible, unseen spirits residing alongside the human race throughout its pursuits. Considering how easily influenced the human race is, it is not too crazy to observe the influence of other-worldly spirits when studying history, whether it be through the seemingly inconceivable symphonies of the deaf Beethoven, the brave ventures taken by some men to pursue their freedom, or the sickly, more demented sides of man that causes harm to others. 

Where this connects with me, is that I've felt some of my more passionate projects coming from a truthful, emotional source that is to serve no other purpose than to spread joy and entertain. Not to cause harm or appease an evil force, but to praise the creation and existence of man himself, glorifying the God I believe in and giving thanks, as I firmly believe that the human experience is a blessing worth being thankful for. 

I have been told numerous times by family that I have been blessed with talent, and if an unseen spirit is to be held accountable for these joyful pastimes that spark ambition for myself, then I have no reason than to be anything other than grateful for the company. I only want to bring joy to people as other works have brought me, and a little spirit aiding me along the way is worthy of compensation. Come to think of it, perhaps they need a raise...

Another aspect of the creative life that Gilbert touches upon is the sudden spawn of ideas, whether their timing appear as convenient or not. She shares her story of when she met poet Ruth Stone, who detailed her experiences of having to stop her farm work whenever an idea would come "barreling" over the horizon and chase after her like a powerful gust of wind, running to her pen and paper before the idea could rush through her. Sometimes she would fail, and the idea would move on to someone else to catch.

Gilbert also describes a similar instance of musician Tom Waits, who could sense a melody taunting him as he was speeding down the Los Angeles freeway, with no pen, no paper, nor any tape recorder in sight. She describes his response to this wave of inspiration as "completely novel" and quotes him, saying: "Excuse me, can you not see that I am driving? Do I look like I can write down a song right now? If you really want to exist, come at a more opportune moment when I can take care of you. Otherwise, go bother somebody else today. Go bother Leonard Cohen."

These instances are truly relatable for any artist whose work is not visual, as I have had a few of these moments regarding word choices and phrases in writing, or sometimes melodies for songs. The realm of dreams is probably the most keen place for these sorts of "spirits" to tease my mind, playing a certain melody in my brain that would easily be forgotten upon waking up, or an entire narrative or obscure setting that demands itself to be documented in novel-like writing. I believe the reason I try to document sudden melodies as hard as I attempt to is because of Paul McCartney's story with the song "Yesterday."

"The melody was in this dream." McCartney is recorded to have said, "I couldn't get it out of my head and the first thing I did out of bed was immediately run to the piano. I asked the guys if they had known the melody, and they didn't... I asked Brian, he had no idea, then I finally went to George Martin, our producer, and he couldn't place it either... So I eventually came to realize that it was my own."

The song has famously become one of the most covered songs in the past half-century of its existence, and is often hailed as one of the greatest songs ever written. McCartney, according to Ruth Stone's ideology, had "caught" the idea within the fleeting moments of waking from a dream.

It is moments like these whenever I gain an idea, get struck by one, lose one by not acting quickly enough, that I am a true believer that creativity comes from an outside source. I have lost several melodies, as a lot of them don't even seem to follow a specific key and have unfortunately faced my negligence. But I never lose hope. Sometimes ideas may flow to the next person and it's entirely fine, but if I think a certain chord has been jammed with high-gain in my head, I will tend to act on it as quickly as possible in order to claim my ownership.

Overall, there is something truly magical about being a creative and having a genius. And as previously stated, I am beyond grateful to have been given such a blessing, as I truly, truly hope that I may use it right and bring joy to not just to myself and others, but to the almighty Father who truly loves me and has given me a purpose. Gilbert has done excellent work in order to voice these thoughts and praise others for their insight, and I am truly honored to have heard her words.