| How
important is your creativity to you? The relationship between the girl
and the lover is not some cheap dalliance, and one version has the girl
saying: Seal me in your heart with permanent betrothal.
The seal on the hand may also imply a wedding ring, an outward symbol
of an inward commitment. Professional creative excellence, a la Einstein,
Mozart and Beethoven, evidently requires the total commitment of a marriage.
The
Commitment of Marriage
We saw in the very first verses of the "Song" that our creative
partnership is typified by the traditional marriage, and it is significant
that Roland Murphy comments that these verses constitute the "climatic
point in the Song . . . the desire of the lovers for abiding union."
The lesson, I believe, is that we must make a serious, binding, marital
commitment to our creative subconscious mind.
Odd as this notion of a creative betrothal may sound, I was interested
recently to find an ad for a book by Jan Phillips, who has apparently
discovered this very principle, entitled "Marry Your Muse —
Making a Lasting Commitment to Your Creativity".
Compatibility
In a successful marriage, the partners learn more about each other and
establish patterns of compatible living and working – but in un-successful
marriages, one or both may be too habit-bound and inflexible, and unwilling
to learn and adapt.
The implication for our creative partnership would seem to be that by
making a lasting, persevering commitment, we will become more adept at
applying the principles Solomon identifies, and our creative capability
will gradually grow accordingly.
Professional
Daily Commitment
The fact that we can enter into such a on-going and creative relationship
is evidenced by the prolific output of many of the great creators. It
would seem to be no accident that, generally speaking, the author who
writes one book often writes several, the composer who writes one piece
of music often writes dozens, and the businessman who conceives of one
money-making scheme is able to dream up many more.
Total
Commitment
In “The Core of True Genius”, Edward Matchett stresses the
creative person’s responsibility and willingness to carry a project
to completion, even if it requires several years. Such total commitment
to creative duty, typified by that of a mother to the child she is carrying,
is illustrated by biographical insights such as these:
An
Artist
"Matisse was confined to his bed for three quarters of the day but
that did not dampen his enthusiasm for the project. He had paper fixed
to the ceiling over his bed, and at night, since he did not sleep much,
he would draw on it with a piece of charcoal attached to the end of a
long bamboo stick, sketching out the portrait of St. Dominic and other
elements of the decoration." (Francois Gilot in “Life With
Picasso”)
An
Inventor
"A short length of thread bent in the form of a hairpin was laid
in a nickel mould, securely clamped, and placed in a muffle furnace, where
it remained for five hours . . . The mould was then opened and the carbonised
thread carefully taken out, when it instantly broke . . . Thus commenced
the battle for a perfect [electric lamp] filament.
At last they succeeded in taking from the mould one perfect, unbroken
filament, but when they attempted to attach it to the conducting wire
it parted again. It was not until the night of the third day . . . during
which no sleep or rest had been taken . . . that success came to them
and the filament was placed in the lamp, the air exhausted, and current
turned on. A beautiful soft light met their eyes, and they knew that the
secret of the incandescent electric lamp was solved." (Francis Jones
— “Thomas Alva Edison, an Intimate Record”)
A
Writer
"Back in New York, he wove those rhymes into a children’s book
‘And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street’ . . . Twenty
publishers rejected his manuscript. They said the story was silly, the
rhymes nonsensical. Finally, in 1937 an editor agreed to take a chance,
and Dr Seuss, the children’s author was born" ( Peter Bernstein,
writing in Readers Digest). |