One of my favorite authors, the late John O’Donohue, wrote in his exquisitely rendered book, Eternal Echoes (Harper Perennial 2000), that our habits “close us off from the unknown, the new, and the unexpected.” Living life along the familiar pathways of habit, we reduce and limit our creative side, he admonished.

Similarly, when we resort to using the same words and phrases, we also limit ourselves within the reach of our vocabulary. Observing this, O’Donohue noted that when we name something, we are giving it an identity. Yet, that very name can trap a person, place, thing, idea, or experience. Names, he felt, had to be worthy and spacious and, therefore, we humans must try always to thoughtfully choose the names we give such things.

In the creative imagination or dreaming mind,  a rose can symbolize love, beauty, spiritual desire, passion and purity

LABELS AND NAMES

I’ve thought a lot about the artistic inventiveness that creativity implies. The unnamed place deep within each of us is a limitless wild place. When we turn within, names of things and the names we call ourselves and other as well as the labels we put on things fall away. We experience the inner world without language. There are no walls to hold us. Our creative self expands in imaginative and inventive ways to touch inner landscapes, foreign and familiar. We are invited to explore, expand, and receive the unknown. The gifts therein are ours to claim.

Writers and artists are especially receptive to crossing the inner threshold where boundaries do not exist. In that void of silence, they rejuvenate their creative imaginations, receive inspiration, and become transformed by a richly imaginative landscape.

Our creative ideas come from within our imaginations, not from a source outside of us. That’s not to say external objects or events cannot trigger an inspiring idea. Inspiration means in its most literal sense a “breathing in.”

The inspired idea takes hold in our creative imagination where we then accept, reject, make linkage with other ideas, refine, and otherwise process the thoughts that arise around the trigger. We are the progenitors and curators of the ideas that emerge from our creative processes. Thus, opening ourselves to that wild place within is vital if we are to create our art, literary endeavors, or find the way to a scientific breakthrough.

There are myriad departure points on the path inward. Classical or quiet devotional instrumentals can pull one inward. Essential oil scents or incense can also do the trick. Communing with nature, daydreaming, meditating, taking mindful walks, and writing in a dream journal about your nighttime journeys help you tap that inner wild place. There are other ways, of course. Whichever path you might choose, take time to open yourself to that wild place within and be prepared to expand your creative side.