I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved
that you tell him I am sick with love.
What is your beloved more than another beloved
O fairest among women? What is your beloved more
than another beloved, that you adjure us?

My beloved is all radiant and ruddy, distinguished among ten thousand
His head is the finest gold; his locks are wavy, black as a raven
His eyes are like doves beside springs of water, bathed in milk, fitly set.
His cheeks are like beds of spices, yielding fragrance
His lips are like lilies, distilling liquid myrrh.
His arms are rounded gold, set with jewels

His loins a shaft of ivory, encrusted with sapphires.
His legs are alabaster columns, set upon bases of gold
His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars
His whispers are most sweet, and he is altogether desirable

This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.
Whither has your beloved gone, O fairest among women?
Whither has your beloved turned, that we may seek help you find him?
My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices
to pasture his flock in the gardens, and to gather lilies
I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine
He pastures his flock among the lilies

Song of Solomon 5:8-6:3

Here Solomon used vivid imagery to depict the genius of the creative mind, our powerful subconscious consultant, as an idealized, perfect but pleasant and approachable God-like being, a lover who is special, and greater than all others. I suspect that the extensive length of this section is a clue to its importance.

Here, then, is Anthony Robbin’s “giant within” – a creative power also familiar to Edward Matchett, who stressed the importance of the True Self, Self with a large S.

The Creative Mind is Your Friend
The lover is depicted as a friend, ready and willing to help and guide us, his whispering of sweet things to the girl, typifying the manner in which our creative mind imparts insights. It will not shout and demand our attention and try to force its insights on us – and only if we create the right conditions and pay careful attention will we hear those whispers.

Practice, not Theory
When the friends of the girl express their interest in helping find the lover, the girl tells them that he will be found working in the garden -- and I suspect that the lesson is that we shall not find our creative love by some kind of theoretical study or exercise, but by getting ourselves involved in creative work of some kind, in which situation all the principles Solomon identifies will acquire significance.

Keep On Consulting the Creative Subconscious
It is worth repeating that all the techniques Solomon described should be used in close conjunction with the creative subconscious, constantly requesting its help, making it the project manager, so to speak. Even if you are writing music, a song, or poem — keep asking your subconscious consultant, in a prayerful and thankful attitude, to help you get it right, to help you see what comes next, how to improve a particular line or verse, and so on. Keep playing, rehearsing, reviewing, modifying and polishing what has already been produced.

Keep getting the conscious self out of the way — keep on stopping, relaxing, and asking for help, then waiting patiently for the sweet whispers of insight you need to achieve your purpose.

Even when you have apparently completed the work, keep asking the creative mind to show you anything that still needs to be added, deleted, changed, and improved – then listen for a response.

Remember Your Female Role
The description given here of the lover, typifying the subconscious creative mind, is obviously very similar to the three descriptions given earlier of the girl, the key differences concerning gender.

The crucial difference in the anatomies of the two obviously has to do with their intended functions, as already discussed, and their gender roles, so that the male subconscious mind is equipped not only to communicate with the female conscious mind, but to metaphorically penetrate it and impregnate it with inspirations which then develop in some kind of mental womb.

The Shaft of Ivory
This creative virility of the subconscious is inferred by the phrase: His loins a shaft of ivory, encrusted with sapphires.

I leave readers to deduce the significance of the fact that the sapphires that adorn this shaft are blue, like bulging veins near the surface of the skin! – save to say that I do not believe, as some prudish scholars would have us believe, that the girl is describing a pattern of blood vessels in the skin of the lover’s abdomen, but rather an organ whose aroused function well illustrates the creative process of inspiration.