Author Topic: art, inspiration and emotional blockage  (Read 5777 times)

shadrach

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art, inspiration and emotional blockage
« on: September 22, 2020 »
Hi John,

What would you advise to do in regards trying to create art while being held back by emotional blockages?

Some context: Since childhood I've had the dilemma of being in a science, right-brain oriented, "safe"  career (software) vs. exploring a life in the arts. At the core, I know I'm an artist. Or at least I would very much like to fully express this side of myself. But emotional blockages are holding me back big time. This is somewhat of a family issue: my Dad had talent painting as a kid but was forced, told to enter a career in science because "painting is not really a serious profession". Somehow this repressed drive has been passed on. A couple of years back, through some various practices, some of the emotional blockages started "to thaw" and I began exploring music. It was my only escape, and something that I looked forward to...

Fast forward to last year, I had something of a prolonged traumatic circumstance: lost my clients, lost all interest in the work I was doing, went broke in a foreign country, was numbing myself daily with weed, etc... I hit rock-bottom. I moved in back with my Dad (let's say no one was happy with the arrangement) and... things did not get better. Although I was momentarily free of financial worries, I thought that maybe I could resume or at least finish some songs to at least prove to myself that I could do this - at least as an outlet for self-expression. However I found out that I experienced deep shame whenever I did anything creative in my Dad's presence. So what happened is that although I wanted to express myself... I had to constantly stiffle my singing and creative impulses on a daily basis. Felt like a bird in a cage. This of course did not lead to anything good - I kept self-rejecting, and in due time the physical symptoms manifested as well (I barely sweat and my chest feels numb/cold most of the time).

Today I'm back on my feet, at least financially, but physically and emotionally I still have not recovered from my time at home. I will occasionally get a flare of inspiration - it can be anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour where inspiration and motivation to create is flowing through me - only to hit a dry well for months on end. I cannot finish what I start. If something sounds great today, the next day I am back in a low-energy state where I cannot even listen to what I created. I barely listen to music anymore for enjoyment. It's like the moment I get a spark of creativity, a great darkness blocks every motivation to continue or do anything else.

Should I set an intention to "keep at it" even if I feel zero motivation on the days when I have negative motivation? I know that it's all related to my emotional blockage... but I don't know how to process it. I meditate daily, have done a thing called the Presence Process and lastly stumbled on your book. But it has been almost a year and a half since I started, and I still feel stuck.

Thanks for reading and for any advice you might have.

-S

John Ruskan

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Re: art, inspiration and emotional blockage
« Reply #1 on: September 23, 2020 »
While we acknowledge that 'blockages' to suppressed energetic negativity can also limit positive expression and experience, there's more to it than just that. To think that you can't create art until you become psychologically clear is a disempowering idea. Artists are notorious for emotional instability if not neurosis yet they still create works, and are in fact often motivated by unresolved subconscious issues that find their way into the art and become the power source that makes the art come alive.  

Your first priority might be then to examine your attitude towards art-making. From the point of view of EC work, as well as general psychological enlightenment, the highest purpose of art is to reveal suppressed subconscious contents, both in the artist and the viewer. We invite our inner darkness to come forward and emerge in the art process. We are empowered by the inner darkness. As artists, we possess an extraordinary advantage in inner work that the ordinary person lacks. Art becomes a vital means for us to discover ourselves. Exactly how to do this is what I talk about in my book, EMOTION AND ART, which I would recommend highly.

For example, in the book I talk about how making art is inherently a manic-depressive experience, to which you have alluded. The artistic high is always followed by the depressive low. This is the dualistic nature of the human psyche. If you are not aware of this tendency, you can become trapped in it, running from the low with addictions and compulsions to try to get back to the creative high, or you just get discouraged. The key is to learn how to integrate both sides into a basically productive experience.

Then, there's the notion that one must 'express' something in the art in order to heal or get rid of it. This is another trap for the artist, because it implies that the negative subconscious which is emerging must be expelled instead of integrated. This is my take on why artists don't heal, even if they are producing. The key factor of acceptance is missing. Once the subconscious has emerged, it still must be processed using the EC steps in order to resolve. Simply becoming aware of it is not enough.

With regard to your personal situation, my guess is that your psychic energy is low so that you are unable to channel it into artistic creation. Raising your energy level is then another priority. You've recently been through some traumatic experiences, and these are probably suppressed and constitute an energy drain, so careful processing must be applied to them. The shame you talk about would be a starting point in EC meditative inner processing work. I usually consider shame a first-level emotion, and behind it is the core feeling that you must get to. Go into the shame, and see where it takes you. Let images come up and let them trigger other feelings, and apply the process.

I would caution you about thinking that you have inherited some kind of self-limiting tendency from your father. This would be blameful avoidance of responsibility, and can stop you in your tracks. We attract to ourselves influences including parents who coincide with the darkness and tendencies we bring into this life. They are not the prime cause. Take responsibility for yourself. That said, regressions concerning your father's influence on your inner child could be productive. There very well could be negative associations stored away that interfere with your creative output, but this would be highly personal, and you must discover them for yourself. In a regression, you envision yourself during your meditation at an early age with your father and invite any discordant experience to arise in your mind, and you process those feelings and/or include them in a painting or song you are creating.

To raise your energy and get your physical in shape, the best way I know of is a traditional regular meditative yoga practice, with breathwork, watching your diet and expenditure of sexual energy. Ejaculations are severely energy-draining.

To sum it up, you're really embarking on a life journey. Resolution is not going to come overnight, but if you establish a serious, dedicated inner practice, combined with an enlightened approach to your art, no question that over time you will see results. You can 'keep at it' when not feeling it to a certain extent, but if you don't have the energy, it's not going to work. Perhaps a new view of what art is supposed to do for you will ignite a fire.

https://www.emclear.com/EmotionAndArt.html
« Last Edit: September 24, 2020 by John Ruskan »

shadrach

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Re: art, inspiration and emotional blockage
« Reply #2 on: September 23, 2020 »
Thank you very much Sir!