The Act of Creation: A Journey Through the Artististic Process

Creativity is a process; most creators will acknowledge this small detail, but it is the process in which the creator can discover just how much of a creator s/he truly is. Within Rollo May's book The Courage to Create, he explores the phenomenon of creativity and the courage it takes to create. As a naturally creative person, a majority of what May wrote struck a cord with me. "It is easier in our society to be naked physically than to be naked psychologically or spiritually-easier to share our body than to share our fantasies, hopes, fears, and aspirations, which are felt to be more personal and the sharing of which is experienced as making us more vulnerable" (May 18). May makes a great point: we are apt to share our physicality over our creativity, as it is easier for a creator to separate from his body, rather than separate from his psychology.

Creation, in the essence of creating works of art and fiction, are not without a price. Creation can be quite draining on one hand, while reinvigorating on the other. It would seem that the act of creation is a constant and vicious cycle of give and take. The artist finds themselves pouring bits of them onto a page, creating a world that others can live in, but receiving very little in return. This juxtaposition creates an imbalance within the artist. The act of creation drives the artist, funds them carry on and create more. But the act of giving it away depletes the artist of a sense of self, leaving the artist in a constant ebb and flow of who they are and where their place is in this world.

However, I think the issue is that a creation is so organically intertwined with the psychology of the creator that the courage it takes to hand a work over for judgment means we ourselves are being judged. I find it delicious that a majority of completely genius creative people have been driven mad with the fervor of creation. "Creativity is certainly associated with serious psychological problems in our particular culture-Van Gogh went psychotic, Gauguin seems to have been schizoid, Poe was alcoholic, and Virginia Woolf was seriously depressed" (May 38). I find that I am on the right track then, as I have such fear that if I ever become truly happy, I would never be able to write again. To me, creativity is rooted within my melancholy. Without it, I do not think I could exist, yet, I hold it out for everyone to judge. It's sadomasochistic neurosis at its best.

May, Rollo. The Courage to Create. New York: Norton Publishing, 1994.