Once you have a working understanding of the daimonic or muse-based model of creativity, which holds that creative inspiration can effectively be regarded as an external influence with which you cooperate instead of a personal achievement that you generate through effort, a valuable next step is to get acquainted with the specific inclinations of your own creative daimon/muse/genius. After all, you are personifying your creativity when you take this approach. You’re viewing it as a force with a mind of its own. Taking the attitude that you need to learn its peculiar motives, tastes, style, and preferences is simply the reasonable thing to do.

You would never collaborate with another person on any project without first gauging your respective goals and temperaments. The same reasoning applies directly to the process of artistic creation, except the collaborative relationship in this case is an inner one between you and your creative unconscious. “To maintain the delicate equilibrium between ego and unconscious,” writes Victoria Nelson in On Writer’s Block, “each writer needs to give attention to the unique ‘personality’ of his creative nature.” Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: artistic creativity, creative unconscious, creativity, daimon, demon, genius, julia cameron, morning pages, natalie goldberg, unconscious mind, victoria nelson