Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Frustration and desire

It seems to me that every truly remarkable advancement, every truly creative act, is born, not just of desire, but of the combination of desire and frustration.  The child learns to vocalize because he's hungry, or wet, and that situation is not automatically resolving itself.  She stands and begins to walk because she wants to get somewhere and crawling isn't fast enough.

The inventor creates something new because she's dealing with a problem which can't be solved by familiar means.  The artist's strokes of genius arise because something within him desires to be seen, or known, or heard and habitual patterns can't seem to express that effectively.

So it is, in fact, the intensification of the conflict between frustration and desire, and the anguish that tension triggers, that somehow ignites the creative spark that impels us into something new. 

Welcome, then, those situations and limitations which look like insurmountable blocks: they may be just what your heart needs to bring some new wonderment into the world...

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