A lot of things rang true with what I have come to believe about creativity and my own process. My number one creative mantra lately has been "All creative acts have value." Knitting, baking, drawing, dancing, doing yoga, making up silly songs to the cats... they all are equal in getting juice flowing, removing blocks, and revealing new things to incorporate in my art/dance/yoga. Another thing I found really interesting is that he stresses the importance of allowing your internal muse and internal editor to run parallel to each other. When the editor crosses the muses path, you can get blocked by negative inner dialogue, etc. BINGO. It's given me something to think about while I work out challenges in my dance, particularly.

This is one I will read again, after the first reading has settled for a bit.

Gregory Bateson is a big part of this book. I'm tickled pink about it, since I did not know that until I opened the book.

"A poetic embrace for the role that muse plays...beyond art. A refreshing balance to reductionist efforts to simply map our way into uncovering the mystery of creativity.

People interested in "the five steps to improving your creativity" will find this book highly unsatisfying. People who are intimately familiar with the angst of bringing the new into the world will recognize the undercurrents of brilliance and frustration that coexist with any true new undertaking or inspirational voyage.

Message with a broader relevance? Inspiration, creativity and discovery are made richer with complexity of experience and perspectives. The tension comes from trying to reduce the complexity to a pure, simple explanation that is so much greater than the sum of its parts.

Such an important book for us creatives (and we're all creative!) because it encourages us to return to the natural state of free play. Even gaining technique is part of free play. I've been listening to more classical Indian music, marveling at the ease with which they improvise. It's been about a year since we've started singing the complex Graduals and Alleluias instead of the simple psalm tones. The melismatic chants have a similar quality to Indian classical music and unfortunately we're nowhere close to singing with ease. We can follow notes and there can be expressive moments but nowhere close to how the monks sound, heavenly. I spoke to one of the Benedictine monks of Norcia several years ago when they visited our parish and he said it takes about a decade to chant well. And they pray/sing seven times a day. They probably achieve their 10,000 hrs in 5 yrs. Time for more play and practice. As the choreographer and dancer Garth Fagan said, "Discipline is Freedom." Indeed. It is through discipline and mastery of the arts that one can truly express what's in the heart.