A curtain raiser

A little about me ... those 'hot topics' ... and the creative process

Many of us Westerners have been raised within Bible revering families, myself included; I remember someone saying to me - using a verse from the New Testament book of Matthew - ‘don’t hide your light under a bushel’. It’s stuck in my memory somehow - maybe because ‘bushel’ is an unusual word. Recently, however, I’ve become a bit pissed-off with myself to be honest, because I’ve accepted that I have a ‘light’, as all of us have, and for too long I have kept it hidden under my ‘bushel’, as many of us do. The main reason for hiding our light, is fear. Us adults can sometimes be hypocritical old buggers. I know if I was advising any young ‘creative’, I’d say … ‘go for it’ or ‘let it all hang out’ … or some such teacherly advice. I try to rationalise my fear at times, by saying that I make judgements about what to share, and who to share with, according to whether or not I think someone is likely to be receptive, ready or open to hear my perspective. I’ve decided that’s condescending and arrogant – as well as BullShit. While it’s honest at one level, at core it is simply fear; fear of ridicule, disapproval, not being acceptable etc. I know this is common, but it’s no excuse; at least, I don’t want it to be my excuse any longer.

As I begin sharing ‘my truth’ I know that some readers will quickly understand my hesitation about sharing – some stuff is ‘challenging’, some readers may use another less diplomatic adjective. But … you know what, I no longer care! I know that what I write is in tune with thousands of others, perhaps not you, and that’s okay.

As you might have noted, I have used the word ‘truth’, which is somewhat dangerous these days; we are living in the era of ‘alternative facts’ are we not! Whether or not we consider a perspective as ‘knowledge’ (ie. truth, fact) or ‘belief’ is important. I will not use or imply either of these two terms (concepts) lightly. Certain things hang around in our belief box for years, but they may ease (or even jump) into the knowledge box over time. That’s exciting when it happens, particularly when a light comes on, and it jumps.

Introducing myself

I had partially mapped out a way of introducing myself to my readers, when an excerpt from a book by American psychoanalyst and poet Nuar Alsadir (Animal Joy) caught my attention. During a summer stay in the UK she related a conversation with some graduates at the University of Oxford. She writes (when she first met the group) – ‘I blurted a series of questions: How long have you been here? What are you working on?’ Part of the response she got was ‘Here in Europe [unlike the US] when we try to get to know someone, we don’t ask questions. We enter into conversation and get to know a person by the way they think’. Whether or not it was true, Nuar said that idea captivated her, and raised the question – ‘what does it mean to know someone?’ It’s a perfectly reasonable (and interesting) question. This little story caused me to pause, and to conclude that when anyone writes about themselves – in a CV for example – it contributes something towards ‘knowing about’ the writer but little toward ‘knowing’ them per se. I hope what I write contributes (eventually) toward readers ‘knowing’ me – to some extent. That being said, my Substack bio contributes very little toward ‘knowing about’ me, for what it’s worth the following two paragraphs add a little more.

My career has revolved around 3 poles – Education, Music, and Therapy. Formally I have a qualifications in all these areas (Masters in Education, Degree in Music, Diploma in Counselling and Hypnotherapy, and Graduate Diploma in Family Therapy). Most of my paid work has been in Secondary Education – Music, Mathematics, Drama, Languages, and Student Wellbeing. Since leaving work in schools I have worked as a counsellor and therapist, and also as a musician. Since ‘retiring’ (a bit of a misnomer) I have involved myself in the community and have begun to write more extensively – personal projects and for newspapers.

Several times, in casual conversations about the things that interest me, I’ve heard myself say ‘I’m fascinated how and why we are as we are’. It’s true, I am! For some period of time – probably 6 or 7 years – I’ve been absorbed by topics that are full of controversy, initially on account of being critical of the way in which Secondary Education handles, mishandles, or avoids the topics. There are three that have absorbed much of my attention, I’ve called them ‘hot topics’, they are Sex/Sexuality, Religion/Spirituality, and Politics. These are controversial for different reasons, and tricky for educational institutions to cover adequately, they are also three of the key topics that play a major part in my fascination as to – ‘why we are as we are’.

In contrast, on another tack, the Arts (in particular music) have been a wellspring of light and creativity for me. In my ‘life-view’ they are on a pedestal of their own. They have the potential to help us rise above ourselves - whatever that means. They often tell stories, convey messages, or ask questions indirectly - but often most powerfully.

Before diving into the meat of this blog/post, or any other, I feel the need to reflect on the nature of creativity itself. A bit dry and philosophic for you? If so, suck it up, and listen up .. or not. The beauty of blog-reading is that you can stop reading at any time. The right to choose is sacred!

On the subject of creativity (and inspiration) I’ll tell this short family story. My childhood was characterised by very puritanical Protestantism, and I recall many conversations with my very dear and devout father. I had got to a stage where I was beginning to shed some of the dogma that remained an aspect of his Christian faith. He believed that the Bible was ‘the inspired Word of God’; I can still hear myself saying – “No Dad, as you read the Bible you can possibly ‘hear’ the word of God, and feel inspired, but that’s it … blah di blah..!” I might have also added that you can get inspiration from all sorts of texts. That little story is my prelude to discussion about writing, creativity and inspiration. Inspiration can come from anywhere!

What is the ‘pipeline’ of creation? What is the nature of inspiration? How deep will I go here? At this point, in post/blog number 2, I don’t want to indulge in too much verbosity; I will delve deeper on another day. I would simply share the following perspective – an analogy. It might give a few clues as to where I am coming from:-

· The lake/ocean/source; a deep or higher aspect of ourselves creates, invents, or conceives.

· The pipeline; our brain receives the thought, idea, or concept.

· The faucet; our mind perceives (the signals from the brain) and communicates … action.

I appreciate that this is a model that needs to be ‘unpacked’. In essence it is suggesting that we, as creators, need to relax and let our juices flow, inspiration will happen. There is no need to be proud, nor humble, we are all conduits, and ‘mistakes’ are fine, not only are they part of the learning process, albeit disguised, they can evoke inspired ‘amendments’ from our readers, critics or assessors. Perfection or infallibility are oxymorons in Art.