Deep Creativity summary

Jennifer is primarily a writer, but she also indulges her creativity through photography. And when she does so, nothing inspires her more than the natural world.

Simply bringing a camera with her transforms her experience of the world around her. She starts to notice colors, shapes, light, and all the wonders of nature.

Dennis gets up every day at 4:00 a.m. He lights a candle and a stick of incense, and proceeds to read, write, and think.

In the small hours, he feels a deep sense of clarity and inspiration. Simply put, the muse comes to him.

Deborah once had a client with terminal brain cancer. Eventually, it became too difficult for him to come to her office, so she visited him at home.

As she approached his house for the first time, Deborah saw something astonishing. He had transformed the wheelchair ramp outside his home into a vibrant artwork, covered with painted images. And he had done the same on the walls inside the house, too.

We may find ourselves inspired by anything – from suffering, to nature, or to love. But what is that creative urge that we feel? What is it that compels us to pick up a pen, a paintbrush, or a camera? Where does that force come from?

Deborah calls it the creative impulse, and she believes fostering a relationship with it is key to our artistic practice.

Not every creative person earns much money from what they do – the authors included. Although they are all published writers, they have other work too. Sometimes, creative work isn’t enough to pay the bills. However, the need to create shouldn’t be a financial one. It’s spiritual. One might even call it sacred.

“Sacred” is a broad term, Jennifer argues. It’s not about a specific religion, although it can be. Everyone has access to a realm of sacred understanding, and it’s all around us. Even an everyday task can be sacred, and can be what Jennifer calls everyday reverence. This can encompass everything from cooking to sleeping, or even sex and silence.

Deep creativity isn’t just for professional poets and painters. There’s an artist in everyone, and you don’t have to be Dante or Picasso to create art that matters. It might be the process of making art, rather than the end product, that is truly important for you.

Then again, it’s also possible for art to resonate so deeply with other people that it inspires yet more creativity. When Jennifer learned the term ekphrasis, it resonated deeply with her – put simply, it means a work of art inspired by another work of art. And such works of art are all around us.