Big Magic is Upon Us

        In order for big magic to be upon us, we need to understand what big art is, as in “All the arts we practise are apprenticeships, the big art is our life”, penned by M.C. Richards, an American poet and potter.  While the maxim may resonate with many readers, others – for whom art has always seemed a little unapproachable – will be unmoved.  Unless I can convince them, that is, to pick up Elizabeth Gilbert‘s new book “Big Magic:  Creative Living Beyond Fear” which reads like a love letter to the artist within us all.

Big Magic, Big Art

            In “Big Magic”, Gilbert invites us to consider that all of us are quite capable of getting to the ‘big art’ if we are receptive to the idea of ‘big magic’, i.e. the cosmological existence of creative ideas and how these ideas are brought into being by human thought. And creative ideas don’t just hang out in certain bohemian enclaves, she argues, they stalk us all and the sooner we give them permission to enter our lives, the sooner we can get on with the richly fulfulling business of bringing those ideas to life.

            While the skeptics amongst us may feel that her theory sounds too much like ‘if you just sprinkle it with a little fairy dust, the light will come on’, we need to remember that when songwriters, poets and visual artists tell us they have no idea where their ideas come from, that the poem wrote itself or that they were gifted with a song last night, they are alluding to this same mysterious energy that they have tapped into. Most of us have also been struck by those lightning bolts from the blue, be they innovative solutions to a challenge at work, another way of communicating with your teenage daughter, a way to synthesize seemingly unrelated ideas or a colour scheme for your living room you’ve never tried before.  But we have been hesitant to explore our creative depths more fully because it is something that takes a lot of…..courage.

Big Magic, Cups of Courage

            Fear often stands between us and creative living.  We fear that we have nothing to say, that no one will be interested in what we have to say, that what we have to say is self-indulgent nonsense and has no right to be considered art, that what we say indecently exposes ourselves, that we are too old, or too young, or too busy, or too……to try to say anything at all. Courage challenges these fears, furnishing us with the confidence needed to take creative risks.  Courage is the voice that says “I’m here, I am just as entitled to tell my story – be it in clay, spoken word, song, fabric, wood – as the next person.  You may not like it or think it any good but I do, and frankly, that’s all that matters.”  We listen to Gilbert, Glen Gould and others, who stress that being involved in art is all about cultivating a state of grace,  transcendence, wonder and serenity.  Its public purpose is secondary.

Big Magic, Creative Fulfillment

            Pursuing what we love and are curious about is as essential to us as, well, herding sheep is to the border collie.  Denied the opportunity to engage in constructive work would result in the collie ‘eating the couch’ just as it would have us burrowing further into wells of self-disgust and dissatisfaction. Creating affirms our value, elevates us, and temporarily relieves us of the burden of being who we are.  It allows us to experience what R.W. Emerson felt when he said, “There are no days so memorable as those which vibrate with some stroke of the imagination”.

            And there will be days that nothing vibrates and the magic has momentarily fled.  Gilbert reminds us that every endeavor in life comes with some disagreeable aspect, whether it is because you need to endure the cold as a figure skater, the breathing exercises as a singer, the seclusion as a writer, the weeding as a gardener.  If you love the creative work enough, however, the discomfort or frustrations will be amply compensated by the satisfaction you gain from being absorbed in it.

            So, kudos to all of you quilting a pattern you once thought undoable, designing your Hobbit fort, or those planning your next masterpiece.  And courage to those who want to try.  Magic is in the air; rejoice, breathe in the inspiration, and pass it on!