THURSDAY, 25 SEPTEMBER 2003
When a person’s perception of where he belongs is disturbed, the subconscious activates a process to neutralise the disturbance. This process would include certain actions being undertaken to confirm the person’s identity, and with that his sense of where he belongs.
My situation the last few weeks serves as a fine example. I was suddenly forced to take my things and go after having lived in an apartment for almost five years. This experience – which included packing all my belongings into boxes, stripping the walls of images and other paraphernalia of my existence, and me living between the boxes and the bare walls for about a week – slightly disturbed my sense of my place in the world. Without consciously thinking about taking steps to alleviate this disturbance, I started writing with unprecedented urgency every time I took a break from the packing. In doing so, I actively confirmed the part of my identity that I regard as fundamental to my existence. (Important to note that I expect a return to normal output the moment my sense of where I belong is restored.)
This might imply that a more ideal existence – which, for the sake of argument, can be defined as a situation where most of my needs are met on a fairly regular basis – would not be conducive to maintaining an above-average pace in my writing. This could of course also be applied to other people and the creative work they do, although it would depend on the type of creative work they keep themselves busy with.
The question may be asked what is more important: regular satisfaction of all your needs – and the happy result of a more ideal existence, or a certain pace in the production of creative works? One might even wonder what difference regular satisfaction of all your needs will have on the quality and inspiration of your creative work.
How important is it in the end to be creative? And if it comes down to it, is it more important than being “happy”?
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