Valuing Intuition in the Creative Process

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift
and the rational mind is a faithful servant.
We have created a society that honors
the servant and has forgotten the gift.”

― Albert Einstein

We've been generally educated and socialized to see reality/create/act from only the rational mind - from only what we currently see or consciuosly know (and it times of challenge, when people contract, that becomes louder). But the intuitive mind allows us feel into/see into/have knowings into that which goes beyond what we currently know, have evidence for, or can be proven - in our own lives and in society.

 

The intuitive mind allows us to leave the confines of "space-time" and go into the world of our yet-untapped possibilities - our emerging-future selves - and bring the knowledge it carries back into the present. It allows us to access more and varied ways of knowing and imagining - from much more deeply in our creative unconscious - and it bypasses the conscious editor, who carries a lot of limited stories and assumptions about who we are, who others are, why we are here, what's ours to do, etc.

The intuitive "right brain" information we get is direct and immediate, and sometimes abstract (colors, feelings, shapes, a-has, awareness', knowings, glimpses, words, energies, sounds, surprising connections, etc) - and it's the job of that rational mind to unpack it - to mine its riches - for next-level information...and often transformation. The rational mind is supposed to carry out the insights of the intuitive mind, not block it, keep it down, discredit it, and treat is as "woo-woo" like is done on most of our current systems.

So if you get an idea or intuitive feeling out of "space-time" (something that does not fit into your current knowledge or information system, or may not make complete sense to your current self), don't be quick to discard it just because it's unfamiliar, incomplete, or disjointed. Honor it, and bring the rational mind on board to explore and engage it, and see what it has to tell you.

Creative Emergence is all about that future what's next showing itself into the present...where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts and can not be predicted by what the rational mind knows alone, since there is no existing evidence yet for what the emerging future carries - outside of the hints from the intuitive mind. And connect them with the rational mind. That's the "Both-And" sweet spot of next-level creative thinking and being...and the sweet spot of cultivating our sacred calling in the world. For that, intuition is the sacred gift indeed. When we value it, we can experience the creatively unique ways it wants to engage with us.

Michelle James ©2020

Comments

[Carrie]

Love this post.

I think intuition is one of the wonderful gifts bestowed on us from the feminine "void" space and it is so important to recognize when to rest from the masculine "rational" mind that can become characterized by over-doing instead of listening.

So, from chaos comes order. From inaction, comes action. From big picture, comes small steps towards a goal and if we balance these dualities, we align closer to our mission or reason for being in this life.

The problem comes when trying to modulate monetizing creativity or the belief that productivity is equated to success. Intuition is a much slower process, but it is also the barometer for what has quality in artistic expression.

[Michelle]

Thanks so much for sharing, Carrie. I resonate with intuition coming from the void (feminine energy) and informing what we create/actions we take (masculine energy), working in balance. When out of balance with the masculine, we can get feelings of meaninglessness and disconnected over-working. When out of balance with the feminine, we get great ideas with no implementation. I feel that it is both working together in a dynanmic balance gives us a way to create value (and make money) doing purposeful, centered, creative work.