Posted in Perspectives, Social Relationships | Posted on 28-04-2010
“The life of Spirit is not the life that shrinks from death and keeps itself untouched by devastation, but rather the life that endures it and maintains itself in it. It wins its truth only when, in utter dismemberment, it finds itself. It is this power, not as something positive, which closes its eyes to the negative, as when we say of something that it is nothing or is false, and then, having done with it, turn away and pass on to something else; on the contrary, Spirit is this power only by looking the negative in the face, and tarrying with it.”
-G.W.F. Hegel in Phenomenology of Spirit
I’ve done a few things tonight: I ate a burrito and chips, discussed common frustrations, purposely didn’t read for a class I needed to read for, and now I’m drinking once-good wine, now–three weeks later–about half vinegar. Probably should have eaten something else, arguably shouldn’t be frustrated with the issue at hand, definitely should have read for class, but I’m not sure about the wine.
Aesthetic Analysis
Sight: Seems fine. No mold. No particles. Great color. Cool bottle.
Touch: Feels like wine. My right index fingertip is now tinted red.
Hearing: Turning off music… Sounds like the ocean.
Smell: Smells like chocolate.
Taste: Hold on… Yup, still kinda tastes like vinegar.
Conclusion: My vinegary wine is pleasing to 4 out of 5 senses. That’s 80%. That’s a B. According to my department’s grading rubric, my wine is “good. No significant mistakes, well-written, but not distinctive in any way.”
This is where I’m kind of conflicted. On the one hand, “good” is good, and it’s certainly good enough for me to be enjoying this glass of vinegary wine. On the other hand, “not distinctive in any way” is not good. I’m not OK with anything of mine being “not distinctive in any way.” And this is especially true of the things I create myself. If what you create has no mark to distinguish it as a product of its creator (you), then you haven’t really created anything have you?
Sure, you’ve made something, but manufacturing a product, an idea, a piece of writing, that doesn’t bare your mark is just an exercise in replication. I distinctly remember, when I was six, riding home in the car after daycare one day, quite upset that someone had accused me of copying another kid on the playground.
I thought, “Why is this kid being mean to me? Everyone just takes pieces of other people’s personalities and adds them to the box with all the pieces they’ve already collected.” This was the first time, that I can remember at least, that I realized that there’s no such thing as “originality,” but there is creativity, and creativity is what we should value.
“[Life] wins its truth only when, in utter dismemberment, it finds itself.”
Even if your creative efforts crash, burn, and explode, at least your efforts are not “not distinctive in any way.” I define creativity as (roughly), “the process of mixing the pieces in your metaphorical box together in such a way that what you create reflects a distinctive image of yourself back to you.” Of course, we often–usually–don’t like this image. Anyone who attempts anything meaningful with their life knows that we fail far more than we succeed. If this is the case, and we refuse to see ourselves in our failures, we might as well not look in the mirror at all, we might as well not be creative, we might as well not drink that wine that only pleases 4 out of the 5 senses.
Just like everyone else, the vast majority of my creative pursuits are miserable failures (if I thought otherwise, I’d just be delusional) but I make them public anyway. Hiding your creative failures from others is disingenuous but hiding them from yourself is harmful.
Again:
“[Life] wins its truth only when, in utter dismemberment, it finds itself.”
Honor those from whom you take the different pieces of yourself by showing the world how you put them all together; no one can rightly ridicule you for eating s*** on a creative project, but I’ll sure as hell call you out if don’t embrace your entire creativity–the successes and the failures–and I expect the same in return. For serious.
Intriguing post, Nathan. Begs the question: Who decides whether my efforts are distinctive? I realize that I’ve kept many of my creative efforts locked in a drawer (or computer) for far too long, and the time has come to put them out into the world. Hopefully they will positively influence people.
My most recent and comprehensive creative effort, of course, is my novel. Now, I’m so proud of it and myself. But as I begin shopping it to literary agents and publishers, I’m aware that many of them will find nothing distinctive in it. Many wouldn’t even give it a B grade! Others, however, will rate it an A or A+ (I’m hopeful, you see).
What I find most important is how I rate it. I hope I find a publisher and that thousands of readers feel blessed by my creation. But whether I ever see my book on Amazon or in Powells, I already feel blessed by not only the novel itself, but by the process of writing it. That’s where primary value lies for me. Not the only value, but primary.
Now, I CHOOSE to view my creations that way. I have to, otherwise I will judge myself according to other people’s perceptions of me and my work. Their judgments may be valuable to me, but I choose to place primary importance upon my self-assessment.
Okay, enough of that for now. Hope you’re well and happy. Have a great day! By the way, I’ll be driving through Eugene next Monday or Tuesday. Wanna hook up for coffee…or wine? Email, text, or Facebook me your availability, would you?
Love,
Tom
I don’t know, as a philosophy student in a world of analytic philosophy, the pull seems to be to establish some kind of test or criteria for determining what counts as “distinctive” etc. But I think that misses the point–as you pointed out, we’re creative, first and foremost, for ourselves, and so long as we can see ourselves in what we create, I think it counts as distinctive. Not a particularly philosophical answer but I’m not sure the question needs one.
I think it’s important to always do the best you can, but when “perfectionism” (whatever that is) gets in the way of creation, that’s a bad thing.
I’ll get in contact with you on facebook and we’ll figure out next week.