It is Transformative...and Invites us into More than we Currently Know and Are
When I think of Masterpiece Energy, I think of it as the
embodiment of the confluence of several
key elements, regardless of genre: it is alive, transformative,
impeccably crafted, and has an element of surprise. It includes the
ordinary…and goes beyond it. To use and improv term, it “yes-ands” what is, and
takes it somewhere new. It takes both the creator and the experiencer of the
creation to new places. It exudes energy, and creates an energy shift in the
beholder. I even thinks it can go beyond that to elicit a co-creative quality
in the experiencer. It invokes insights, awareness’ or an expanded framework or
consciousness for how we hold the world. Masterpiece Energy invites us into
more than we consciously know, more than we have allowed to be possible, and
more of our own unique creativity.
It is "Living Art" - Fully Alive in the Beholder
Masterpiece Energy, for me, is among other things, “living
art” - art that is fully alive in the beholder of the art – weather a painting,
a piece of music, a performance, etc. It has a quality of aliveness, not just
for the creator, but also for those who experience what’s been created. For an example, when I was in the
National Gallery of Art several years ago, I found myself totally immersed in Rembrant’s self portrait.
I was captivated. I felt as though he were standing right next to me. I knew
very little about his life beforehand, but after being with that painting for
20 minutes, felt as if I knew him.
I literally felt as he were alive and standing right there, sharing his
world with me. It was fully alive for me, and the experience as profound as if
we had just had a conversation….maybe even more so, in that words can often
shroud the essence of someone.
It Takes Us Somewhere New
I had a similar experience in a totally different venue. I
went with a group of people to an artist’s home in Sedona, Arizona, who was
married to a Medicine Man. She painted wolves, shamans, other-worldly
landscapes. While there were so many wonderful and truly gifted artists in the
area, her work had an additional quality that made the paintings come to life
before my eyes. I felt like I was in desert where all these people and animals
where there, alive and breathing all around me. I was transfixed. It was
breathtaking. I was not just an observed, but an active participant in the
experience of the art. That experience was transformative - I can still be
transported to that feeling, and the feeling of an expanded awareness as it as
I talk about it. It feels like it lives in me. I love most all art…experiencing
it, creating it, and learning from it…but
when I come across Masterpiece Energy, it always takes me somewhere new,
expansive and somewhat unique.
It Goes Beyond Skill and Talent
Masterpiece Energy is also about where a certain level of
mastery – skill, accomplishment, refinement - in craft and form. The creator is
expressing what is alive for him or her with a level of skill and nuance that
is uncommon. There is a quote that says,
“To do what others cannot do is talent. To do what talent cannot do is
genius.” Masterpiece Energy, for me, is the place where that place beyond
talent meets up with that seasoned in craft. And not just prescribed craft, but a level of craft that
takes the art form itself to a new level. Two worlds unite to form a previously
unimaginable third thing…and the new birth is a masterpiece.
It Transcends Time and Space
Masterpiece Energy transcends time. It is “out of time” in a
way…at least out of time as we experience it in our left-brain dominant,
linear-thinking world. It brings
to my mind the brain states. The conscious brain state, referred to as the Beta
state, is considered our everyday waking experience of reality…and then there
is the Alpha –Theta, and Delta states, which are considered the domain of the
unconscious mind in ever-deepening levels – and where exists and infinite
source of creativity. To me, Masterpiece Energy is the domain of the non-Beta
states…the place that goes beyond our logical reasoning – although it may
contain it – into a non-verbal state of pure experience. It is
multi-dimensional – impacting experience at more than one dimension
simultaneously.
It Generates a Shared Connection
With a Masterpiece Energy, the creator of the Masterpiece
and the experiencer share a moment out of the space-time continuum. There is a connection, a feeling, an
understanding – it goes beyond age, culture, language, and time. It that
moment, there is a relationship between the creator and the experiencer of the
creation, often even a sense of kindredness. The relationship to time and space temporarily changes.
It Taps into the Collective Unconscious
If it has this power to
unite people across space and time, it is there for all of us. It is something
we can access and cultivate. We don’t all have the same gifts, skills and
levels of talent in the same ways, but we all have access to the creative
unconscious, where this energy exists and the power to create from what is most
alive in us. And aliveness speaks. Not only can we access this energy as
individuals, but as groups. Imagine the transformational power that can be
unleashed in our lives, organizations, communities - both individually and
collectively - by harnessing the Energy of the collective creative unconscious
– the fertile, alive, generous unknown.
It is a Dynamic Communication across Dimensions
Masterpiece Energy is a dynamic communication across and
between multiple dimensions including a communication between the unformed and
the forming - the shaping of the unknown into something known, felt, and
experienced; a communication between our essence and our senses; a
communication between the creator - the giver - and the individual experiencer-
the receiver; and the communication between that which has been created and the
collective unfolding. Masterpiece Energy generates a greater understanding –
that transcends, time, space, words and externally imposed constructs - about
who we are and who we can be. Ever generous, it offers us that chance to open,
expand, and evolve - both individually and collectively. It invites us to
co-create with it so it - and we - can become actualized in the world. It
provides the rhythm. It asks in return for our commitment, focus, attention,
presence and openness of mind and heart as we engage the dance.
It Holds the Creative Rhythm of Life
Masterpiece Energy is the universal dance of creation. It is an invitation to the ever-evolving party where we can experience the creative rhythm of life, nature and what it means to be more deeply human. Through the embodied language of resonance, it lifts us out of our current context and into the greater engagement of life and the fullness of our human potential.
It is the Driving Energy of Creation and Connection
Masterpiece Energy is a driving energy of creation and connection. It’s the life trajectory that compels us to manifest and evolve our deepest creative natures out into the world...and meet each other there.
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There are many other terms that could be substituted for Masterpiece Energy, especially in the second half of the post. The exercise brought up my more general thoughts about the creative process, emergence space, creation from the core, and the life-generating creative source. But for now, just leaving it as I had originally written it in our dialogue.
~ Michelle James ©2013
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