The Creative Act: A Way of Being

by Rick Rubin

Many artists come to realize long after their work is released that it was actually a shockingly vulnerable and cryptic form of public confession. A part of themselves was trying to find resolution or to find a voice.

Though when you follow your instinctual bodily reactions, you’ll often arrive at more profound places than you otherwise would.

Powerful reactions often indicate deeper wells of meaning. And perhaps by exploring them, you’ll be led to the next step on your creative path.

Distilling a work to get it as close to its essence as possible is a useful and informative practice.

In the end, the sum total of the essence of our individual works may serve as a reflection. The closer we get to the true essence of each work, the sooner they will somehow, at some point in time, provide clues as to our own.

We live in a mysterious world full of uncertainties. And we regularly make assumptions to explain them. Coming to terms with the complexity of our human experience allows us to exit our natural state of confusion. To survive.

We are the unreliable narrators of our own experience.

The creator stops being the creator once they finish the work. They then become the viewer. And the viewer can bring as much of their own meaning to a piece as the creator.

We will never know a work’s true meaning. It’s helpful to remember that there are forces at work beyond our comprehension. Let’s make art, and let others make the stories.

We are dealing in a magic realm. Nobody knows why or how it works.

Our definition of self-awareness as artists relates directly to the way we tune in to our inner experience, not the way we are externally perceived.

We extend our reach for a higher consciousness. Releasing attachment to our perceived self and limitations. We are seeking not to define ourselves, but to expand ourselves, to tune in to our limitlessness nature and connection to all that is.

Self-awareness is a transcendence. An abandonment of ego. A letting go.

As artists, we are on a continual quest to get closer to the universe by getting closer to self.

It’s helpful to work as if the project you’re engaged in is bigger than you.

If you are open and stay tuned to what’s happening, the answers will be revealed.

Most often, the hints of inspiration and direction from Source are small. They appear as tiny signals traveling through the void of space, quiet and subtle, like a whisper.

Whatever route the information arrives through, we allow it to come by grace, not effort. The whisper cannot be wrestled into existence, only welcomed with an open state of mind.

One way is through letting go of control. Release all expectations about what the work will be. Approach the process with humility and the unexpected will visit more often.

With your intention set, and the destination unknown, you are free to surrender your conscious mind, dive into the raging stream of creative energy, and watch the unexpected appear, again and again.

You learn to trust yourself—in the universe, with the universe, as a unique channel to a higher wisdom.

Living in discovery is at all times preferable to living through assumptions.

If we are willing to take each step into the unknown with grit and determination, carrying with us all of our collected knowledge, we will ultimately get to where we’re going. This destination may not be one we’ve chosen in advance. It will likely be more interesting.

Sometimes the mistakes are what makes a work great. Humanity breathes in mistakes.

Invite beliefs that are different from the ones you hold and try to see beyond your own filter. Purposely experiment past the boundaries of your taste. Examine approaches you may dismiss as too highbrow or lowbrow. What can we learn from these extremes? What are the unexpected surprises? What closed door might open in your work?

We can only flow with the challenges as they come and keep an open mind, with no baggage, no previous story to live up to. We simply begin from a neutral place, allow the process to unfold, and welcome the winds of change to guide the way.

Many people may seem walled off. But sometimes walls can provide different ways of seeing over and around obstacles.

Do what you can with what you have. Nothing more is needed.

Maybe the best idea is the one you’re going to come up with this evening.

Sometimes, it can be the most ordinary moment that creates an extraordinary piece of art.

When the work has five mistakes, it’s not yet completed. When it has eight mistakes, it might be.

Think to yourself: I’m just here to create.

Art is far more powerful than our plans for it.

Art is above and beyond judgment. It either speaks to you or it doesn’t.

What we say, what we sing, what we paint— we get to choose. We have no responsibility to anything other than the art itself. The art is the final word.

Art is an act of decoding. We receive intelligence from Source, and interpret it through the language of our chosen craft.

Time is where learning occurs. Unlearning as well.

The creator and the creation rely on each other to thrive.

The best work is the work you are excited about.

Sharing art is the price of making it. Exposing your vulnerability is the fee.

work of art is not an end point in itself. It’s a station on a journey. A chapter in our lives. We acknowledge these transitions by documenting each of them.

Whether the work comes easily through play or with difficulty through struggle, the quality of the finished piece is unaffected.

Anything that allows the audience to access how you see the world is accurate, even if the information is wrong.

“Making the simple complicated is commonplace,” Charles Mingus once said. “Making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.”

The reason we’re alive is to express ourselves in the world. And creating art may be the most effective and beautiful method of doing so. Art goes beyond language, beyond lives. It’s a universal way to send messages between each other and through time.

Our inability to comprehend the inner workings of the universe may actually bring us more in tune with its infinitude. The magic is not in the analyzing or the understanding. The magic lives in the wonder of what we do not know.

Even in perceived chaos, there is order and pattern.

The universe never explains why.