I used to think that hard work was the root of great work. That force was necessary to create work worth sharing. I have come to a different conclusion.
I realized that when I am aligned with my authentic/natural being, work flows effortlessly. I realized that when I force, I am not in complete alignment. Forced work pales in comparison to work created naturally.
We are diverted and perverted and as far from our soul as it gets. Every soul has a unique fragrance and a unique gift to bring to the world. Self-discovery lies at the root of uncovering the soul and its inherent gift. Most are not aware of their dilemma.
When perverted and twisted into an image, everything takes effort and great force. When shedding layers of falsehood, the right work eventually finds and nurtures us. The more in alignment, the less effort the creation takes. Through the work, we uncover our part, and by carefully sailing towards soul alignment (natural being—no effort—authentic self-expression), we eventually arrive at our part. And our part is unique to us. That part is direct experience of the soul in complete self-expression (total vulnerability); hence is created effortlessly like a flower emits its fragrance.
In total vulnerability (without images/ direct experience of soul), I speak the truth confidently, my songs carry themselves, and I disappear into the words. The work meditates on me as much as I meditate on the work. I disappear into the act, and that is Yoga. That is devotional work. The result of that selfless act is potent work.
Potent in the sense that it was not created by an image but by direct experience. Bathing in meditation, I create work, and that work comes alive. That potent work draws the right hearts naturally. Neither the creation nor the distribution of the work takes effort.
A potent song eventually finds its audience. Think ‘Sound Of Silence’, by Simon And Garfunkel. The song was a flop until it slowly caught on. A potent song takes you from the busy world, and your neurotic mind right to the core of you. It shocks to silence. A song composed in deep meditation captures sanity and directly relays sanity to the listener. Such a song is alive and lives on its own. Such a song in time will find its audience. Such songs appear effortlessly and the artist feels he has not touched the work, simply brought it to the world.
To create in such fierce freedom the young artist has a long path ahead of him. He has to face himself with each creation. Each creation is a purge of the past and a step towards greater creation. The past keeps the artist from creating freely. Past restrictions of authentic/ natural self-expression keep the artist from creating freely. Today’s restrictions are purged by making art and surrendering emotional blocks to God. Layers of, ‘What will others think of me?’, ‘What is deemed okay to share and within acceptable parameters?’, ‘Who am I to create taste and stand for something?’ and all further robotic expressions of self are to be surrendered and faced. Artists are sitting in boxes of their own making. A sad thing really.
Break the box! Art is not created in a box but in total free fall. Forget the rules and your education and make art with your soul. Face every emotion in the way of pure authentic self-expression. It will be easier to create in meditation with each shedding of a layer of past. In time you’ll witness that the you in meditation is the true you, as the you in pain melts in the face of God. Your spiritual practice of surrendering your ego to God is making art. Making art is scary and sharing art? Even more so. It is the fastest path I know of to carve an artist into an angel. Long hard looks in the mirror in darkness with only God to lead. You know the path, you’ve walked it. Keep walking and don’t stop.
The part of me that forces, wants to grasp, understand, dissect, rationalize, have control, and take credit - I surrender to God. What takes over when I release the layer of petrified control-seeking is a deeper part of me. My ego fights and creates problems and complexity and yet when I sit in my soul the words form naturally. Quite a paradox to surrender and leap into the unknown and not intellectually understand and be in control. It is scary but that fear I surrender also. Staring at a blank Google doc my ego has no control, knows not what to do, feels stuck, and cries for firm ground. Then I close my eyes and meditate and surrender all force to find myself in the flow of life and after my session, a wonderful podcast episode typed itself through my very hands. How incompetent the little ego compared to my soul sailing in wild freedom. That is my honest experience of creation. I believe that what you are most suited to do you have no idea how you do, for it simply happens through you. And that is what you should do. You should sing your song and no one else's. And on the way to that creation surrender yourself (who you think yourself to be; force; agitation) to your soul and God. That is my philosophy of creation. Your soul has inexhaustible access to creative energy. Dramas cloud the light. Creation sneaks up on you, plays you a fool, and makes you die to yourself with every creation. I am born again with every writing session. I remember who I am with every song written, with every podcast episode typed and read.
And now my hero (Paul Simon) and his moment of complete alignment:
‘ The experience of writing it was unique. I was in my late 20s and I wrote it in a night. The music and lyrics came completely naturally. It was like a gift. Because I hadn’t experienced one with that intensity before I didn’t think anything of it other than, “That’s unusually good for me.” It was better than I usually write. Even in terms of the chord structure, I was using chords that I didn’t usually use, diminished chords and the length of the melody is 14 notes. That’s kind of a long phrase.
At the time I didn’t think it was about a spiritual experience. It would have been something I recognized later but I didn’t know it then. To write something that effortlessly and that quickly is a very unusual kind of inspiration. It’s happened to me a few times in my writing career and “Bridge Over Troubled Water” is one of the notable examples of that. It was definitely one of those experiences that separated itself from the rest of my writing.
Then the odd thing that happened was I gave it to Artie (Garfunkel) to sing and transferred it over to (session pianist) Larry Knechtel to play. So in a strange way I felt disconnected from that song for a long, long time ...decades. I hardly sang on the record; I sing a little bit of harmony on the last verse and I didn’t play guitar on it. I’ve reconnected with the song and have sung it many times now in different forms, piano versions. I played it with just me and an acoustic guitar. I’ve sung it with other people. I sang it with Artie where we swapped verses on the Simon & Garfunkel tour. I sang it with Luther Vandross and Jennifer Holliday once as a trio. I’ve sung it all over the place. But I still feel in some ways as if I almost didn’t write it. It was one of those songs that people describe it as coming through you. ‘
And a little riddle from Bob Dylan:
‘ It's like a ghost is writing a song like that, it gives you the song and it goes away. You don't know what it means. Except that the ghost picked me to write the song. ‘
I am thinking of creating a community where members walk the spiritual path of art side by side; creating art as a spiritual discipline with like-minded artists. I would love such a space to be but a member and share my journey with you, and witness yours unfold all the same. A space where we can support each other. Please let me know if you would be interested in such a space! I’d be honored to host it and be a part of it.
I’ll link my ‘God And Art’ book series below if you would like to dive deeper into my perspective on the spiritual path of art.
Listen to this week's podcast episode HERE.
I’ll link my ‘God And Art’ book series below if you would like to dive deeper into my perspective on the spiritual path of art.
Listen to this week's podcast episode HERE.