Stagnation will destroy your creativity

Every creative endeavor is part of creating the future. The sands of time will swallow and forget every creative endeavor.

Whenever we start a creative project, we feel uneasy because it might turn out useless or obsolete.

This is the sacrifice of art. The gift of artistry is like a shell that holds the remarkable activity and focus of the creation process.

As Miles Davis said,

"It’s not about standing still and becoming safe. If anybody wants to keep creating, they have to be about change."

The fact is that no matter how perfect the result, It begins to decay as soon as we finish making it.

One of my favorite stories is about a king who was obsessed with legacy and built incredible buildings and commissioned amazing works of art but was not content.

He wanted something that would last for 10,000 years and after that 10,000 more.

He gathered the most learned of his court and said, “make me something that will last to the end of time.” After six months of intense debate and discussion, they finally created a small plaque reading:

This too shall pass.

It is the glory of creativity and art that the intensity of the moment of creation is lost as soon as it is created.

On a personal level this can seem pointless. Why create anything?

But this is not our experience!

Most of us will never achieve the feat of having a hit song, being featured in a museum, or writing a book of lasting cultural significance. We still create and work on artistic hobbies, not because of the outcome but because we are driven from inside to do so.

History shows us that cultures bloom and flourish and leave us with beauty and creations that we marvel at and then they fade.

It is this beautiful transition from fulfillment to new beginning that is essential to the experience of being human.

My wife is going through the final days before giving birth to our first child.

As I preparing for this moment, I reflect on the lesser known image of the double spiral. The idea is present in Celtic and Maori cultures. Life develops a beautiful form which must be broken down for the next expression. Each expression sacrifices itself for greater perfection.