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The Creative Act: A Way of Being | Rick Ruben
The Creator(s) of Earth, and the Universe, are primordial. Primordial means from the beginning of time. Man are the Titans of Earth, and possibly the universe; we are the children of the primordial. “man” means man and woman(wo-man). The word ‘mankind’ means all of us. HuMAN.
Like the original God(s) who created everything natural we know and see, we Titans must behave like the Gods we are and are borne from to live in accordance with the destiny provided to us by the primordial.
Gods create Gods who create more Gods who inherit the universe from each generation so it is important to maintain and improve the universe by following your path and making the universe better where you can.
Those who put negative, destructive energy into the universe must be treated with caution at all times.
It does not matter what you create, but as man, and as Titan, you must create. To create is to birth something new, whether that is an original concept or an improvement on an existing concept.
Creation can happen every day and it should. Rick Rubin said a conversation can be a creation. And that’s true if it is a New conversation that creates some kind of value.
You want to avoid the repeating trap. Negative repetition.
Repeating the same conversations, doing the same tasks at a job, engaging in activities that don’t move you farther down the path, being stuck. Stuck is a bad place to be because the universe changes and you don’t and now you are behind. You want to be ahead. Put in your work and get ahead.
Getting stuck is why addiction is a formidable foe of the Titan.
Addiction is negative repetition that prevents creation. Time will carry our lives forward and our actions on the path will carry us forward too. So as we learn and grow we will create more and become greater at creating so we continue to pace along with the universe.
Addiction is the opposite of creativity. Addiction is the repeat of the present. The past burns away because it all looks the same, like a mirage, so you cannot see how far down the path you’ve walked.
Addiction is a circle in the darkness.
Addiction is the Dark Circle. You don’t go anywhere and can’t see anything. No memories or mountains climbed.
Breaking an addiction may be the tallest mountain you ever stand on. If you break an addiction you may be able to see better than those who have not.
Do not compare your experiences with others. We are following different paths.
Positive repetition, like in the case with discipline, must be cultivated to cultivate freedom.
By making your own choices, choices are not made onto you by others or by fate. Not making choices for yourself, through lack of will or awareness, will have choices made onto you that will be less favorable. We cannot control fate; but we can show her the way we want to go with our actions and she may help us get there.
Choices made for you may take years for the consequences to appear. The consequences of someone making choices for you may be realized only before death. In the choice between controlling fate versus letting fate control you, it is always better to be in control, like how voluntary exercise is better than involuntary heart disease.
Creativity involves a journey with a beginning, middle, and end.
Creativity creates distinct memories, whereas addiction is a tape that fast-forwards life in a way that makes us feel uncomfortable because we are moving in a direction outside of our true paths.
Addictions make the days long, and the years short. Creativity creates distinct memories that make looking back for lessons or nostalgia and remembrance a positive experience.
Create as often as you can while going down the path.
Rick Ruben is a renown record producer. He’s worked with Johnny Cash, Metallica, Beastie Boys, Ed Sheran, Eminem, and hundreds more. He wrote this book to document and understand what it means to be creative, what it means to create, and how to access the creative power within all of us. His Podcast, Tetragrammaton, has insightful and high-quality interviews with interesting people.