Many people are put off by The Artist’s Way’s Title, “A Spiritual Path to Creativity.” I attempted to give the book to two of my Writing interns while working at a Digital Marketing agency last year. The spiritual prose deterred both of them.
But what is spirituality?
Julia Cameron likes to call God: good orderly direction.
It’s safe to say that we could all use a little bit of that in our lives.
Can the Artist’s Way Change Our Vision of Spiritually?
The Artist’s Way is full of amazing quotes, some of which you will find trickled throughout this wildest moon.
My favorite is one you might have heard before:
Since you are like no other being ever created since the beginning of time, you are incomparable.
Brenda Ueland Tweet
Now, if all of us are so different, why would we ever all see religion or life through the same lens?
It doesn’t matter what you believe in. The Artist’s Way can teach you to release your past through the right side of the brain and help not only yourself but those around you heal.
Standard Does not Exist.
We live in a world of instant gratification based on societal standards, but there is a unique standard that exists within you and defines how your abilities can help the world which surrounds us.
What is this idea that the education system in the nation has created?
Be standard, but be better than standard.
Meaning follow the same path of everyone else around you, but if you get As rather than Cs we will reward you for being standard.
Have we all gone crazy?
If we keep believing this than our world will never progress.
Creativity is essential, curiosity and tapping into our inner child means tapping into the potential of not just the left side of our brain but the right side as well.
And what happens when we begin to use the entire brain?
Amazing Things Happen When we Tap into Creativity
Just take a look at Darwin, the Father of Modern Biology.
Charles Darwin was never interested in learning through books, failed at his studies, and found himself spending hours in nature observing birds.
Darwin enrolled in medical school, dropped out, and was even told he was a disgrace by his family who had no faith in this deadbeat nature wanderer. He struggled terribly to finish his Bachelor of Arts in May of 1831 and afterward found himself lost in nature and exploring the English countryside.
He followed his intuition and coincidentally ended up getting an unpaid job as a naturalist on the HMS Beagle collecting mineral, and life specimens on a several year journeys around the globe.
Darwin’s ability to look past his parents’ wishes, to struggle through education, and to talk hold of the synchronicity which landed him on the HMS Beagle led him to become one of the biggest names in the history of modern biology.
Darwin, like many other masters, entered a phase of what Robert Green likes to call Apprenticeship.
An exploratory phase where one can get lost in their own ambitions and find a unique solution or discovery based on one’s own ideas and endeavors. You must go against the societal flow. Darwin’s father forbade him from going on the HMS Beagle, and if he had listened, we would have lost one of the most influential biologists in human history.
Darwin’s ability to follow his curiosity, along with his need to doodle everything in nature, led to some of the most significant discoveries in the world.
He used both the analytic and creative side of the brain to change science as we know it today.
What if we could all tap into this potential?
Well, Darwin wasn’t superhuman.
Creativity is Spirituality
Following our gut and our curiosity leads us to our greatest good, and when we follow our highest purpose, we can begin to better the world. This is Julia Cameron’s belief system.
Whatever you believe in, follow the voice from your younger years, and dig into your curiosity. If you don’t know how to do this, read the Artist’s way, it is a 12-week course that helps you unlock your inner artist and achieve your dreams- whatever they may be.
You don’t have to believe that God is a Woman, or that God is affiliated with any particular sect, you just have to learn to tear down the beliefs systems that were ingrained in you from a young age, and have faith that you can do what you love!
Doing what you love can help everyone around you. So run forwards into the light, and try something new, it may be great for not just you, but for the world.
Sources:
Greene, Robert. Mastery. New York: Penguin Books, 2013.
Cameron, Julia. The Artist’s Way: a Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Perigee, 2002.