A life has to be lived at right angles to a perfect balance. Life is all about keeping your footing in that middle point of a see-saw. If you go too far to either side of the see-saw, the see-saw tilts. In a sense you are never on either side but somewhere in the murky middle. Everything is made up of this balance. Good and Evil, Love and Hate, Right and Wrong, Light and Dark.
So much of a life well lived is about striking that perfect balance. However if you look at a seesaw, you will see that balance is all about equal weights on either side of a weightless object. Success is measured by finding the perfect balance between want and need.
We know what balance is in life, but what is balance in art. Or is that the ultimate contradiction? Can one have balance in art without it becoming ordinary? Is balance important in art? I think art is the one area in life when balance can be to the detriment not the betterment.
Creativity is one side of a seesaw and Logic is the other side of a seesaw. The artist that is remembered for pushing the boundaries is not one who strikes a balance between creativity and logic. Genius in creativity is given too excess creativity. The world sees this as having one’s head up in the clouds.
Why is that it is so important to have your feet on the ground, metaphorically speaking? I believe that an excess of creative thought and expression scares the ordinary into extraordinary. I find it a terrible waste and shame that children in particular have their creative thought and expression controlled and bordered by boundaries that are supposedly protecting them. Are we not harming them more by trying to control and contain that creative spark that is natural in a child?
I believe that if adults could find their inner spark that they had as a child that they would find life to be richer in detail and beauty. Maybe the definition of a life of perfect balance is to lose the balance. Let your creativity be unleashed.
Art cannot be art when it bordered by imposed boundaries of what is right or wrong, good or bad. Creativity cannot be contained in a glass container. Creativity and creative thought or expression needs to be fluid like our emotions. Emotions defy balance. Creativity has to do with our emotions not our thoughts. Logic is guided by thought and balance.
Creativity is like a wild horse. If it is left to roam as its natural need, there will be no limits to how far the horse will run. If you tame a wild horse, it does not stop being a horse. Just like if you try to contain and bound creativity by logic and normality, it will not stop being creative. But the spark of spirit that is the essence of a wild horse will dim when tamed just as if creativity is bounded by logic it will dim.
To truly be open to your own creativity, you need to allow that wild horse to roam free, far and wide. Trust in that spark of creative innocence that you had as a child. You need to allow yourself to colour outside of the lines. You need to tilt the seesaw in your life. You need to not allow criticism and judgement to try to tame your creativity. Creativity needs to be untamed.
What are you going to do this week to unleash your creativity? How are you going to release that wild horse from its captive paddock? What would you have done as a child? Do that now. Growing up is not a reason to lose the magic of creativity and imagination. Instead embrace your creativity as a gift. You may think you have been living your life balanced because you are doing what you are supposed to do, you are being a grown-up. But in fact your seesaw is tilted too far to the left and logic is blinding your view of the world. The world is a beautiful place and sometimes there is no logic to be found in life. Creativity and imagination understand this.
Follow the creative path you have been told has no future. You may find it creates a new future for you. You may find you burn new paths for others to follow in. Do not be afraid of losing your logic to your creativity. Sometimes throwing caution to the wind can be more liberating than you imagined. Are you brave enough to try? Are you brave enough to write that book, paint that picture, take that photograph, dance that dance? So what if nobody likes it or understands it. The important thing is you may just find your inner child hidden within that creative release.
Run free and roam far. There is nothing more beautiful than a wild horse running with the wind as its only companion. There is nothing as beautiful nor magical as releasing your creative spark.
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”
— Pablo Picasso“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”
— Pablo Picasso“The chief enemy of creativity is good sense.”
— Pablo Picasso“If I paint a wild horse, you might not see the horse… but surely you will see the wildness!”
— Pablo Picasso
© All Rights Reserved Kim Koning.
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Kim Koning 
I may not agree with every statement in this post but I’m sure I catch the impulse behind its intent–creativity is throttled when subjected to an improper overbalance of what folks call “rationality”.
I’m a big fan of Jung’s psychology and absolutely love the way it allows a balance of Conscious and Unconscious–in fact, lets the Unconscious creativity compensate for overuse of the “Conscious Cramp” 🙂
And, his psychological framework provides a third point that rises when Conscious and Unconscious are on good terms with each other–Spirit.
I am a spirited horse, I feel the wind, I love the pounding rhythm of my hooves, I taste my streaming sweat 🙂
Hey Kim,
This post is a perfect summation of what creativity and art represent. No artist is capable of producing something that touches the soul if they themselves did not imbue that creation with a bit of their own soul.
This is true of any creative outlet – and yes, balance is the key.
Heart is the forge in which that key is fired – without heart one can never empathise, or understand, or feel.
That is why this blog is an inspiration- because it has heart and soul as its basis.
Roll on sister…
Tee
What a lovely compliment! Thanks hun 🙂