The Creative Act: A Way of Being

“To create is to bring something into existence that wasn’t there before. It could be a conversation, the solution to a problem, a note to a friend, the rearrangement of furniture in a room, a new route home to avoid a traffic jam.”

This statement exemplifies the egalitarian nature of Rubin’s creative philosophy. The location of this statement in the first chapter relates Rubin’s authorial persona in an approachable and appealing manner. Rubin defines exactly what creativity means to him for the audience.

“If you have an idea you’re excited about and you don’t bring it to life, it’s not uncommon for the idea to find its voice through another maker. This isn’t because the other artist stole your idea, but because the idea’s time has come.”

In Rubin’s philosophy of creativity, an artist doesn’t create an idea in and of itself. Rather, The Source constantly sends messages to artists which they can manifest through their creative self-expression. Awareness and attunement to the universe means knowing when an idea’s moment has come to be expressed.

“It may be helpful to think of Source as a cloud. Clouds never truly disappear. They change form. They turn into rain and become part of the ocean, and then evaporate and return to being clouds.”

In this passage, Rubin defines The Source through the metaphor of a cloud. This figure of thought identifies the abstract and infinite nature of the universe with the physical mutability of a cloud. Because The Source is always present, artists can always access its plenty with the appropriate cultivation of awareness.