page 271 sometimes the words
Helen Carter“Sometimes the words seem to arise from the outside, and other times, the inside. 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.”
— Rick Rubin, The Creative Act, page 271
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Grace. Someone called me graceful once, when I was not expecting it, and I was so touched and taken aback that the resulting immediate deep blush of vulnerability 1. has stuck with me decades later 2. immediately helped me understand why people join cults. I was gifted something I didn’t know I was missing. It filled a hole that had no name.
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Whatever route the information arrives through. The idea for this project came to me while I listened to a podcast about history. Something about it made me want to be in conversation with this book. It was a sideways thought, sort of far away. Peripheral. I wrote it down immediately.
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Seeing music played live is the route that best connects me to the realm of creating. It fills me with that wordless frisson-energy of I too want to add something to the world. It’s way tougher to crack my self open or welcome a whisper every morning on my own. It’s always easier to look on Instagram.
- I stuck tiny vinyl letters that spell E X P A N S I V E on the wall in my house where I make stuff. It’s a reminder but it doesn’t help me experience expansiveness. I have to transmute that to my body. Expansiveness is a carcass-level event.