Wise Words: On The Gift Of Creativity

Creativity is a gift. Too many of us refuse it unwittingly. Assaulted by self-doubt we fail to believe that it has been put into our hands. We diminish it by insisting we should have been child prodigies. We insist its only proof is commercial gain. But the creative is a gift to us from another realm, and it comes to us when it comes.

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This has been my experience: whenever someone has determination, has a clear intuition or belief that he is “meant to write” or that she “has something to say,” there is substance to it. Sometimes this intuition occurs without any immediate evidence of the ability to express oneself “appropriately,” whatever that means to the individual. Sometimes the something that must be spoken eludes him or her. Still, if the intuition or determination is there, it is probably a reflection of inner knowledge. The task, then, is to find the way.

(Deena Metzger, Writing for Your Life: A Guide and Companion to the Inner Worlds. Harper San Francisco: New York, 1992, pp. 15 and 18)

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When we are engaged in the creative process, we are engaged with higher forces. Mysterious forms and forces seek entrance through us, and we had best cooperate.

For this reason, I often say that art is an act of the soul and not of the ego or intellect. To make great art requires great humility, the willingness to be obedient to what would be born through us. We are immersed in our creative projects. We are subject to them as to a great wind. 

(Julia Cameron, The Sound of Paper: Inspiration and Practical Guidance for Starting the Creative Process, Penguin: London, 2004, pp. 212–213)