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The Muse, the Ego, and the Shadow

The Muse - Part II - she'll bring out the best and the worst you can be

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The Muse, The Ego, and The Shadow

Creativity, true creativity, is an odd combination of our three selves. And this is, to be clear, my own understanding of the internal life of an artist as I have experienced it.

Perhaps these “three selves” are universals that Freud called the id, ego and superego. Or, perhaps, they are the same thing that Jung called the shadow, the ego, and the anima (or animus if you are a female).

Meditators and spiritualists might call them the subconscious, the conscious and the superconscious.

The greeks perhaps would refer to them as Eros,Ego eimi, and Logos.

I'll call them The Shadow, The Conscious Self and The Muse. Only when all three are fully integrated in harmony does one become what I’ve been calling their True Self.

There is a suppressed darkness in many of us, especially in the creatives: The Shadow Side.

And this shadow side, this amalgamation of repressed emotions and energies is necessary because it can hear the Muse better than your conscious self can. The Muse works with the shadow to be heard. However it works, if you are a true creative, you can’t repress The Shadow without dire consequences. The primal energy of creation comes from The Shadow and that energy must be let out.

The shadow is not only darkness (though, like all creativity, is born in the inner darkness of our mind). It is a collection of swirling energies, feelings and desires, and it longs to express itself, and believe me, express itself it will, whether "you" are ready for it or not.

Then there is The Conscious Self, our everyday, rational, logical mind, our ego, the "self" that lets us navigate the world safely, that adheres to rules, that upholds its responsibilities.

And, as discussed above, there is the divine, The Muse, that seemingly higher power and intuition that we tap into when in a flow state of creating, in a relaxed experience of nature, or in a mystical state during meditation.

Art requires all three.

As I mentioned, the Shadow requires expression. It prefers to express itself through art and creativity, but, denied that chance, it will express itself in other ways and you will find yourself wondering why did I do that? Why was I in a bad mood? Why did I start that fight?

This energy is only “dark” when it has been suppressed without a creative outlet for too long. Never forget that Hitler first wanted to be a painter. He only rolled the Nazi war machine over the world after that plan failed. Darkness indeed.

When channeled properly, by allowing your meditative and contemplative sides the space and time to dream up ideas, you allow the "darkness" to express itself instead through writing, through art, through dance– through creativity – and it will be perfectly content because that is, in fact, its preferred mode of expression.

But, when your Shadow has been suppressed, starting an argument feeds the darkness like dopamine feeds your brain. It temporarily satisfies The Shadow while also leaving it hungry for more.

“If I sabotage my artist, I can well expect an eating binge, a sex binge, a temper binge.” – Julia Cameron.

If you don’t let your Shadow express itself through creativity, it will force itself out in destructive ways.

You’ll do or say something to a loved one that you wish you hadn’t. You’ll fly off the handle at something silly. You’ll become worried or anxious. You’ll slip back into substance abuse perhaps, if that is a demon of yours.

The Shadow will burn down your world in a demonic tantrum if you ignore it. “She’ll carelessly cut you and laugh while you’re bleeding,” said Billy Joel.

“Creativity is oxygen for our souls. Cutting off our creativity makes us savage.” – Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way

A demon, you see, is nothing more than a frustrated creative child.

King Minos’ minotaur was a monster of Minos’ own making – let your minotaur out of the labyrinth and into the divine sunlight of creativity.

When you allow the shadow its freedom, such as when writing a short story, painting a work of art, or playing your guitar, it will provide you with powerful creative energy.

Creative activities let these powerful energies out. Creation provides true, deep soul satiation. And, while creating, your Shadow will happily play with the inspiration from The Muse and the two of them will collaborate to create something uniquely divine filtered through the most interesting parts of your psyche that turn your creative play into true art – unique art that only you can create.

Interestingly, these three inner forces mirror the concept of the Holy Trinity – the father being the subconscious who wills his expression into the world, through creation if possible, and through destruction if ignored (destroying all in a flood of anger), the holy spirit being the divine superconscious force that we must tap into to truly create, and the Christ being our own logical conscious ego, the "human" thing we must sacrifice to tap into the mystical inspiration of the other two. Made in His image indeed.

The image of the angel and the demon whispering conflicting thoughts into your ears is incorrect: In reality, the angel and the demon want the same thing. They want you to channel their ideas. They want you to achieve the state of "genius," at least temporarily, to birth something that only you can birth. And if you don't give birth to it, woe to the world when the divine abandons you and the darkness overtakes you. Creativity is a jealous and vengeful God.

"For an artist, withdrawal [into creative solitude] is necessary. Without it, the artist in us feels vexed, angry, out of sorts. If such deprivation continues, our artist becomes sullen, depressed, hostile. We eventually became like cornered animals, snarling at our family and friends to leave us alone and stop making unreasonable demands" Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way

Next week we’ll take a closer look at the importance of reflection in your creative process, that is, giving yourself post creation reflective time that invites the Muse to provide further insights and improvements through inspiration and synchronicities that can take a good work to great. See you then!

Sum ergo creo!

Clintavo

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