I recently read David Lynch’s book, “Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity”. It’s a wonderful account of how meditation has changed his life and helped him deal with the stressses of living the life of a film director. It was a bit of a surprise finding out about the peaceful contemplative side of someone that has made some very dark and disturbing films. His whole aim is to be less creatively restricted by anger and depression, sadness and hostility and all the other negative aspects of life. 

In one passage of the book, Lynch says that Van Gogh “would have been even more prolific and even greater if he wasn’t so restricted by the things tormenting him. I don’t think it was pain that made him so great. I think his painting brought him whatever happiness he had.” This is a point that is closely related to the methodology of Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages and the illusion that artists are tortured souls trying to find a way out of the madness through their art.

In many facets of culture, there are myths of the hero. Tales of heros have been passed down from generation to generation through storytelling and art, and they are important for establishing a sense of hope and self esteem within a society. The tales describe individuals that have fought and struggled to achieve a significant goal, and these heros are usually rewarded with honor and respect. 

But what happens if an individual goes through an immense struggle only to find themselves alone and neglected at the end? And how often does that happen to people? One of the major obstacles in maintaining an optimum level of creativity is that it’s not worth the effort. Perhaps that’s because we have been presented with myths about artistic heros and legends that will forever overshadow anything we can ever do. And strangely enough, these stories are usually written by artists!

With Van Gogh, art historians and analysts have portrayed the man as a tortured soul, unable to support himself and constantly struggling to make ends meet, both materially and psychologically. What we have been told is that his creativity was the result of coping with conflict and difficulty. But I think that is wrong, and I believe it’s misleading for anyone engaged in the creative process to think that struggle should be the major source for artistic accomplishment.

What is so wrong with believing that Van Gogh was having fun? He would set out into the fields with his paints and the result would be a striking interpretation of the experience, a perfect example of creative inspiration. I don’t think the difficult life he experienced had anything to do with his creative process. In fact, I believe it was alcohol and the other exotic substances available at the time that distracted him from his art and made his life unmanageable. We see this happening to artists all the time, even today.

Creativity is the natural order of life. We are creations, and our role is to continue creativity by being creative ourselves. There is no reason to add excessive drama to this equation. The heros and myths in our culture are powerful examples of achievement and accomplishment, but they have nothing to do with the actual creative process. The real source of creativity lies deep within our hearts, when we are at peace and remain open to exploring our true potential.