Alex_G
Enlightner of the Senses
We live in modern times, following the renaissance, the enlightenment, human beings have been put at the centre of everything. The meritocratic system is based on individual responsibility, and each person owns their successes, but also their failures.
This can put a lot of strain on the psyche of the individual, and i think this is especially the case in creative people, such as writers for example. Its no surprise that the 20th century has seen a grim death count for many creative minds, often by their own hand.
Norman Mailer, an American novelist, essayist, play writer was quoted as having said 'every one of my books killed me a little more'.
There seems to be a big associating between creativity and suffering, artistry and anguish. How one views their work, their successes. To wake up one day and think that your greatest work is behind you, is the sort of thing that will lead you to drink gin at 9 o'clock in the morning!
I think to help tackle this we should look back to ancient Greece and Rome. The perspective was different then, and in Rome they used to think that people were not 'a genius' but rather 'had' a genius, a rogue mystical helper giving them that little push and guidance to create great things.
The Amerian poet Ruth Stone said that whilst living in rural Virginia, she used to feel a poem coming, like a thunderous train of air, barrelling over the landscape towards her, and she had to rush to pen an paper so that as this great beast passed through her body she could capture it. Often she would be too late and the air would continue on, searching for another poet.
I think there is potentially great value in a psychic construct, an externalisation of responsibility as it were. I think it will help the anguish and struggle so many endure, loosening responsibility, and also avoiding things such as narcissism. If you imagine that you have a Genius helping you out on your work, a little elusive and magical creature, not unlike Dobby the house elf, who will come to you and give you those inspirational ideas that you dont know exactly where they came from.
So in the spirit of this i though it would be fun for everyone on here to create for themselves a Genius of their own.
It can be any mystical being or creature, with appearances and characteristics of your choosing. Dont forget to name your Genius too.
And then in future when your working on whatever creative outlet you have, you can take some comfort in his presence. And if your struggling one day, then you can take pride in the fact that you turned up to work, as stubborn and passionate as human beings are, even though your genius decided not to show! You held up your end of the bargain as it were!
Alex
This can put a lot of strain on the psyche of the individual, and i think this is especially the case in creative people, such as writers for example. Its no surprise that the 20th century has seen a grim death count for many creative minds, often by their own hand.
Norman Mailer, an American novelist, essayist, play writer was quoted as having said 'every one of my books killed me a little more'.
There seems to be a big associating between creativity and suffering, artistry and anguish. How one views their work, their successes. To wake up one day and think that your greatest work is behind you, is the sort of thing that will lead you to drink gin at 9 o'clock in the morning!
I think to help tackle this we should look back to ancient Greece and Rome. The perspective was different then, and in Rome they used to think that people were not 'a genius' but rather 'had' a genius, a rogue mystical helper giving them that little push and guidance to create great things.
The Amerian poet Ruth Stone said that whilst living in rural Virginia, she used to feel a poem coming, like a thunderous train of air, barrelling over the landscape towards her, and she had to rush to pen an paper so that as this great beast passed through her body she could capture it. Often she would be too late and the air would continue on, searching for another poet.
I think there is potentially great value in a psychic construct, an externalisation of responsibility as it were. I think it will help the anguish and struggle so many endure, loosening responsibility, and also avoiding things such as narcissism. If you imagine that you have a Genius helping you out on your work, a little elusive and magical creature, not unlike Dobby the house elf, who will come to you and give you those inspirational ideas that you dont know exactly where they came from.
So in the spirit of this i though it would be fun for everyone on here to create for themselves a Genius of their own.
It can be any mystical being or creature, with appearances and characteristics of your choosing. Dont forget to name your Genius too.
And then in future when your working on whatever creative outlet you have, you can take some comfort in his presence. And if your struggling one day, then you can take pride in the fact that you turned up to work, as stubborn and passionate as human beings are, even though your genius decided not to show! You held up your end of the bargain as it were!
Alex