Creative suspension
I have been suggesting that gentle actions often emerge out of a period, no matter how brief, of “creative suspension”; a state in which the mind become open to other possibilities and feels free to travel along different roads.
From talking to artists and writers it is clear that something similar is related to bursts of creativity.
I would like to hear from people visiting this blog of how they exercise “creativity suspension” in their own lives – at work, recreation, with the family, or when approaching a difficult new problem.
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By Bonnie, May 1, 2009 @ 6:10 pm
I have been reading “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind” by Shunryu Suzuki and it made me realize the similarities between Creative Suspension and Beginner’s Mind (or the secret of Zen practice, as Suzuki says.) He says, “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few.” It seems so many of us are going around claiming we are experts and attempting to solve problems, when a much better approach would be to become child like again – to hold creative suspension – to return to Beginner’s Mind. As Suzuki states, “But usually, without being aware of it, we try to change something other than ourselves, we try to order things outside us. But it is impossible to organize things if you yourself are not in order. When you do things in the right way, at the right time, everything else will be organized.”