We Are All Artists: What Are You Creating To Heal the World Around You?
“This is precisely the time
When Artists go to work.
There is no time for despair,
no place for self-pity, no need for silence,
no room for fear.
We speak,
We write,
We do language.
That is how civilizations heal.”
–Toni Morrison
If you've been following me, you have heard me say time and again that something is being worked out through the climax of division and regression.
Regression always precedes a jump in Consciousness raising and progress, but that doesn't make it any easier to suffer through the process.
Real people get hurt. Real people have aleady died because of the regression and many more will become victims of violence for no reason other than they've been scapegoated by people who are not able to self-reflect or others who are exploiting and profiting from misinforming millions of people.
The consciousness raising does eventually happen, I promise. Get yourself away from mainstream media and find sources that do not scare you but instead inform you with data, trends, the growing acts of humanity that are occurring at the local level and abroad. Take time to be in stillness, to hear your deeper source of Wisdom, which is connected to the transcendent. Journal your own thoughts and connect your own dots and come to your own conclusions.
One direct result of the regression over the past decade has been a growing counter movement of individuals engaging in deeper self-reflection. They are exploring their own wounds, which often are triggered by those who are less conscious. By exploring these personal wounds, coming into deeper relationship with the Self, which allows you to have empathy and honor the wounds of others.
Another benefit is you will be able to think more clearly and see what you couldn't see before when you were under the influence of overwhelming emotions. Instead, you can decide on “correct action,” as some spiritual leaders call it.
We can't see it quite yet, but it's coming, the outcome of all of the individual and small collective self-reflection. The personal insights coalesce with millions of others to usher in new ideas, just ideas, on how to live as humans in a way that benefits more humans, not just the wealthy few.
Every way you look at the division, it reveals that what most needs to be healed is the split between the archetypal feminine and masculine. The one-sided masculine nature of our systems (profits over humans and the planet, for example) has run its course and become toxic.
The angry (anger can be a creative emotion when channeled properly) feminine that was unleashed in the eighties (resulting in the Violence Against Women Act and criminalizing domestic rape) has evolved.
We all have a wounded masculine and feminine, and our task is to reconcile those inner parts of us, which will change the world around us.
What's Your Role?
We all have a role. We all are artists who create every time we communicate.
We communicate every moment we’re awake.
Through Words.
When we stand up to someone who belittles someone else or when we educate others about history instead of commenting about ignorance.
Through Writing.
Poets know they are a vessel for the transcendent to communicate deep truths through metaphor and symbolism. Writing Tanka poems helped me gain insights during a chaotic time in my life.
Through Stories.
My coming memoir tells the story of a woman who came of age in the 1980s seeking to chart her own course and yet eventually finding herself trapped in other people’s ideas about how she should live her life. She broke loose and now she’s more creative than ever. (Coming soon – to learn more).
Through Appearance.
Dress as you would if the world was how you want it to be. Dress for the life you want. Your appearance reveals the state of your inner world and vice versa. Wear colors. Wear red shoes and be curious when someone tells you about the saying that women who wear red shoes can’t be trusted.
Embrace Awkwardness and Vulnerability.
Make feeling awkward your middle name. Feeling awkward is the path to the new you that the world needs. After suffering through the hardest decision I ever made to get divorced, I had to start all over again, getting to know my body and sexuality.
Saying yes to getting swept up in an irrational and ironic love affair became the vessel for reconciling sexuality and spirituality for me, resulting in a dramatic new sense of purpose and creative life. If I hadn't had the courage to say yes I wouldn't have grown and reconnected with my child self. Now I'm a creator in a new way!
Draw, Paint, Sing.
Get over your artist complex and be like a child who is present and open enough to allow creative intelligence to flow through you. Don’t be afraid. Surrender to the mysteriousness of the experience. It’s not about the outcome, it’s about the inner shift.
That’s a good start. Wonder about what you’re communicating and creating every moment. Step it up. The world needs you today and everyday to resist the constraints others seek to impose on you.
Through Movement.
Walk down the street like you mean it, walk toward your vision. Bullies sniff out scared people. Walk bravely toward the unknown future.
Go out dancing. Release parts of you that are desperate to be seen. There’s a reason certain people don’t like certain kinds of dancing. They’re repressed and fear their own power. Don’t fear your power.
Resist & Oppose Collectively.
People fear what they don’t understand and then they try to control it. Every moment is a resistance and opposition when we’re going through times like these, overcoming regression.
It’s supposed to feel like a pressure cooker, but without a framework to help you manage the tension between oppositing thoughts, feelings, and forces, you will either drown in an onslaught of emotions, feel triggered by those who are less conscious, and react instead of respond effectively.
It's hard work and we make mistakes along the way, but we do more self-reflection and get back out there. Each day, we will reach at least one person, getting better and better at encouraging, walking them back into self-reflection without judgment. It's already happening, and a really great resource for becoming aware of how difficult it is for people to break out of unconsciousness, I love Rich Logis (check out his website here and share.)
Resources.
Hold the tension and reflect and journal and you’ll see for yourself the ideas that flow. Learn to breathe better and go deeper in your self-reflection.
Here are some blog posts and podcast episodes that will help you get started:
Shifting Your Experience of Reality: A Chat w/Kevin Utley, Holistic Engineer & Mindset Coach (YouTube version).
The Role of Imagination in Healing and Growth (blog post).
The Role of Imagination in Healing and Growth: A Chat with Jungian Analyst Vlado Solc (YouTube version).
A Depth Approach to Transitioning to the New Year (blog post).
Guided Meditation: Come Breathe and Imagine.
The Film Aquaman and the Book of Revelation (Dose of Depth) (blog post).
Self-Reflection in a Time of Conspiracy Theories (blog post) (Dose of Depth).
The Republican as Symbol of the Wounded Masculine: A Chat w/Dr. Craig Chalquist.
Men's Patriarchal Wound: A Chat w/William Diplock, Psychotherapist & Trainer for Gender Equity & Reconciliation International (GERI).
Thanks for being a self-reflecting human
Dr. Deborah Lukovich
Originally Published on https://www.deborahlukovich.com/blog/
