|  Reclaiming the instinctive creativity we all knew as
children comes when we 'switch off' that intrusive mind
noise, says Maitreya, a monk of the Ishaya Ascension.
There is only one difference between
every budding artist and Michelangelo, between every
struggling songwriter and Mozart, and between every
aspiring Wallaby and Michael Lynagh - and it's not that
the three aforementioned achievers were gifted with
the genes to excel. Thank goodness, for there is very
little you can do about your genetic makeup. Yet there
is unlimited potential for your own creativity to express
itself if you just know where to put your awareness.
Every human being is able to create miraculous, inspiring
and truly wonderful expressions of whatever art form they
practice, whether it be ice carving or oil painting. The
only thing that stands in the way of expressing true creativity
all of the time is focusing on the incessant chatter of
the mind. It is only thinking that stems the unlimited
flow of talent pouring from everyone on this planet. This
last statement may sound a little strange - after all
surely the "greats" were blessed with genetic
superiority, a heap of financial support and, most of
all, a huge chunk of luck that lined up to create legends
out of extraordinary men and women. Well, it may appear
that way, but if you ask many of the most successful creators
they will probably admit that "they" were not
actually there when they produced their best works or
scored their most prolific tries. In fact, most of the
great creators will happily admit their most groundbreaking
discoveries and works came from an experience that was
far beyond "them", an experience of silence
where there is no "you" or "them",
silence that just is.
Inside everyone is a place of profound peace, endless
joy, gentle one pointed focus and universal clarity that
lies just below the surface worries and fears of the mind.
This place can be called Source, the Divine, Satori or,
to some, God. The name is irrelevant, the experience is
everything, and, believe it or not, living the Peace that
Passeth Understanding is your natural state. Everyone
was born to create, to live a life of splendid celebration
and express their unique divine essence in a million vibrant
ways, and the secret to allowing this to unfold effortlessly
is to reconnect with the silence that lies within you.
This experience is not a concept, it is not an idea, it
is not even a very clever trick of the mind; it is an
ever present, utterly solid and increasingly wonderful
place of perfection. It is always there, and the only
reason that everyone does not experience it all of the
time is that most people have turned their active attention
away from it to focus on thinking.
Thinking is the predominant habit of humanity at the moment,
and it occurs when anyone's attention is taken from Source
to the thoughts that move randomly through the mind. Whenever
you are thinking, you are turning your back on your natural
state, and immediately your experience of life is marred
by judgements, self doubt and feelings of inadequacy.
Whenever you turn your attention to the Divine, these
illusions all dissolve and you are free again to create
and live life to its fullest.
The mind or the ego that so many people speak about is
merely a collection of thoughts that run through your
awareness, and when you are watching the mind, rather
than thinking, this experience of perfection automatically
presents itself.
The Source is well documented, particularly in spiritual
circles. But acknowledging it as a concept or even catching
a glimpse of it from time to time as you find yourself
falling into this experience is one thing, whereas actively
resting in it is everything. By consciously focusing on
the truth of everything, the experience of Nirvana starts
to develop. The emptiness of the void becomes increasingly
full and incredible, until one day the mind is seen for
what it is, an elaborate illusion. Whenever you are not
immersing yourself in this place of quiet inner silence
you are thinking, and when you are thinking you are blocking
the creative flow of the universe. There is nothing wrong
with thinking, but perhaps the reason each of us was born
onto this incredible planet was to live from a place beyond
thought, and to express your own divine creativity from
there.
A friend of mine once got a very agitated call from an
American inventor friend of his. The inventor was a multi
billionaire, with over 150 patented inventions on the
market. He had just come up with what he thought was his
magnus opus, the invention that would top all of his previous
discoveries, and yet he was dismayed. My friend asked
him how he could be so downhearted when he had just come
up with such a great idea. The inventor answered that
he had just realised all of his greatest creations had
nothing to do with him. He had realised they had all emerged
from the source of quiet within him at times when, by
grace, he had stopped thinking about what to invent. He
realised he could take no credit for any of them, and
his ego was feeling a little unappreciated!
The beauty of true creativity is that your mind never
has anything to do with it. The expansive movement from
an experience of silence, often called Soma or the Holy
Spirit, is the most natural expression of life and allows
all sorts of wonderful works of art or inventions to manifest.
Fortunately for many creators, the art of creation and
connecting with the experience of Source are synonymous.
The two are so wonderfully interlinked that many artists
love painting because they experience the Divine when
they are at their easels, and their best works arise from
that experience.
If you have ever started to work on anything with a pure
passion that comes from this space of non thought (some
call it the heart), it flows easily and naturally. If,
at some point, you have then started to listen to the
voices in your head, you will have experienced how stifling
this can be. As soon as the artist starts to think, the
conscious connection with Source is broken, and the creativity
that is being nourished dries up as the mind gets involved.
Your best, most wonderful, moments will have been when
you were not thinking. The times when your intuition and
expression of love were at their most heightened will
all have been accompanied by an experience of deep completeness
and a distance from the mind. The mind is not some horrible
demon, it is not some powerful construct that holds people
in fear and suffering; it is just a collection of thoughts,
many of which are unpleasant, that most of us have learnt
to focus on out of habit.
Abraham Maslow, the world famous psychologist, called
these "peak" experiences. He actually documented
the synchronicity that arises in the left and right hemispheres
of the brain, the normalising of blood pressure and the
beneficial hormones produced by the body when the mind
is at rest. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to recognise
that life and the body function more harmoniously when
an inner peace is being experienced, and yet so many people
still choose to ignore this place. For some, it is just
that they don't believe it is possible to live a continual
celebration of creativity, expanding more and more into
a perfect expression of the Divine. For others, the appeal
of thinking, no matter how painful, has become such a
habit they don't even believe it is possible to live any
other way. Yet more and more people are interested in
reuniting with Source, and exploring at least the possibility
of being permanently at peace. The most wonderful thing
about this experience is that it is closer than your next
breath.
If you are a budding artist, or a sportsman, or anyone
whose heart's desire is create more in this incredible
world, then don't listen to the doubts or the insecurities
of the mind. They are just voices in your head that keep
you in separation from your true nature. That is all.
By shifting your focus onto the peace within, you become
a vessel to express whatever wants to flow through you.
By reconnecting with Source you are able to achieve great
things, to help humanity, to make art that lights up other
people's lives and to live your own life to its fullest.
If you are someone who was very creative as a child (and
I guarantee that covers everyone reading this article),
then being aware you can dive into the seat of all creation
is an incredible thing to realise. Knowing about the riches
that exist within makes living in mediocrity less appealing!
The next step is taking a deep breath and actually doing
it. Fortune favours the brave and there is more out there
for everyone. Good luck.
www.ishaya.org
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