The Creative Act: The Imagination as Hermeneutical Tool

The Creative Act: The Imagination as Hermeneutical Tool

The question that must be posed at the beginning of this exploration of the nature and function of the creative act, is simply, why is it necessary to consider this phenomenon in the first place? My answer is a personal and simple one. The cognitive experience of the creative act, specifically poetic in my case, is the conscious mind’s greatest hermeneutical tool with which to understand the symbolic and imagistic capacities of the human mind. Understanding the creative, or artistic, capacity of the mind is important precisely because it is this psychic faculty and process that differentiates human beings from mineral, plant, and non-human animal life. In other words, to understand the creative process is to essentially understand what it means to be a human being, possessing a human mind.

The mind has an incredible capacity to think in images that transcend the discursive thoughts of our daily mundane experience. In moments of poetic reverie one can experience images and motifs that are not simply individual representations of ones unconscious mind, but also posses a universal or transpersonal quality. These images are both personal and impersonal. They are personal in the sense that an individual experiences them and hence the images are somewhat colored and interpreted through the subjective experience, understanding, and imagination of the individual. By this I mean that when one experiences the archetypes of the collective unconscious they bring an understanding and significance to ones life that on a certain level cannot be passed on to anyone else. This is so because the collective unconscious gets mixed together with the personal conscious/unconscious mind of the individual and hence the way that these images and symbols are represented to a given person become a hermeneutic tool through which one is able to better understand the seemingly meaningless and random events that happen in ones life.

On the other hand, there is a level to the experience of these motifs and symbols that arise in the unconscious, or the creative imagination as Herny Corbin called it, which by the way has significant differences from Jung’s idea of the collective unconscious, that belong to the World Soul or the World Psyche. These images and symbols are collective, not in the sense of socially collective (i.e. socio-cultural conditioning), but rather truths that are common to all people in all times and places. These symbols that arise in the mind of the individual are basic to the nature and structure of reality. By and large, in today’s world we have forgotten about this level of reality and psychic experience because for the most part we understand nothing other then material reality. These images are like a guide map that is sent to us from a source beyond our limited ego-selves which is attempting to give us the clues which will lead us back to our original and primordial nature.

The key is to understand these symbols. In this case, our main guide is the intuition. The intuition will lead us to those experiences, books, and people that will be able to shed some light on the realm of the creative imagination. In fact, intuition is the handmaid of the creative imagination. It is the creative imagination itself which utilizes the tool of intuition to guide the individual back to itself. So in a sense we could say it is actually the creative imagination itself that helps us to understand the symbols that is has presented to us. As human beings we are far more then simple material automatons who can experience only a very limited range of reality and hence die in confusion or disbelief of the existence of any realities beyond the scope of our mundane experience.

The symbols belonging to the World Soul which manifest through the medium of the creative imagination are closer to the truth of who we are. They are hieroglyphs that we must learn to read if we wish to unlock the deeper secrets and meaning of our existence. Each symbol presented to us by the creative imagination is the representative of a certain energy that exists in the unconscious. By learning to read and understand these symbols, or as Jung would say, by bringing them to the clear light of conscious awareness, we deeply enrich our being and open up to dimensions of experience and understanding which surpass anything the mundane mind can fathom. The interpretation of these symbols is really endless because part of their function is to bring together all of the disconnected parts of the human psyche into a unified whole which in turn repairs the psychic fragmentation that causes so much suffering and misunderstanding in the world of nature. Any particular symbol can have attached to it a wide variety of associations and interpretations. In fact, the deeper one goes into his or her understanding of the creative imagination the more possible interpretations present themselves to the seeker.

The point of these symbols is not to understand them for their own sake. For when it comes to the apprehension of the most subtle and divine realities, any given psychic manifestation is but a pointer to a deeper level of experience. Swedenborg called this the law of correspondence. The deeper we go into the experience and understanding of the creative imagination the more we are able to penetrate the veil of the symbols, which are but the creative imaginations external forms, and experience the energies that lie beyond these symbols. We can equate these with the Divine Names and Attributes of God that are spoken of in the mystical interpretations of Islamic doctrine. Again these energies are not in and of themselves the deepest realities that one is able to explore and experience. In other words, the multiplicity of energies embodied in various psychic symbols have their source in a deeper level of reality.

The idea here is that the deeper we go into the subtle dimension of psychic experience the more approach tawhid or that Unifying principal which is the source of all creation. We should not try to imagine this source as anything in particular. In fact, to try to understand it with or rational mind, or even with our intuitive faculties, is impossible because we can never imagine a form for that which is the giver of all form.

Beauty is the Indicator

Beauty Is the Indicator

by John Compaglia

I cannot but help looking at beauty as an indicator of the significance and coherence in life. By significance I simply mean that there is meaning, sense, and purpose in this life. I do not mean to be making any argument for the truth or reality of the idea of Creative Design. I am just pointing to the fact that in the end all things point towards order, coherence, and beauty. This is a rather big statement to make, but I will stand behind it and show you why.

When one writes a poem one is not in total control of the poem. Often, Gary Snyder once said, all a poet does is caste out his or her line and wait for something to bite. There is an undeniable logic behind poetry which cannot be explained by the conscious mind. Now this seems like a contradiction because when most of us think of logic we think of a statement thoughtfully reasoned out and articulated by the conscious mind based on concrete experience and evidence. Yet why is it that a poem can come to us in its entirety without any initial conscious effort on our own part? After the initial inspiration the poet may use his conscious intelligence, his or her knowledge of grammar, punctuation, etc., to smooth over the rough edges of the poem but the fact is that initially a poem comes from some mysterious source in our unconscious mind.

It could certainly be argued that the reason we are able to write a poem of haunting beauty and coherence with out consciously formulating it is because our intention to write a poem was so strong that we manifested it. I would not deny this as part of the process in the writing of poems. I think that the will and desire to write a poem or a novel are certainly an integral part in the creation of the work of art. The mind is a powerful instrument and when we want something, whether the want is conscious, unconscious, or partially both the mind more often then not will find a way to make manifest that which it desires.

Yet this is only the beginning of the process. The other fact that we must take into consideration is that the unconscious mind has a logic and coherence completely of its own. I feel that I can say this with assuredness because how else could a poem come out in its entirety with out any conscious formulation. The duality we must do away with here is the idea that there is a vast cleft between the conscious and unconscious mind for these so called two-minds are really part of One Mind. The unconscious could not be made manifest with out the conscious mind for the unconscious needs a platform to be known on and the conscious mind is precisely this platform. At the same time the conscious mind is more often then not simply those small parts of the unconscious, at any given moment, which awareness has brought to the forefront of our attention.

It would be better to not speak of an unconscious mind and a conscious mind, but rather simply say the conscious and the unconscious. The two aspects of the mind are inextricably interconnected with one another. If we were to pictorially represent the conscious and the unconscious aspects of the mind we would not have a sphere with half painted black or blue (the unconscious) and the other half painted yellow or white (the conscious aspect of them mind).It would be more correct to paint a sphere yellow and blue, or black and white, mixed together. Now these colors are significant in and of them selves. I choose the colors I did because in psychological terms these colors are those often used to represent the conscious and the unconscious.

If one mixes the colors yellow and blue together, what do they get? The answer is green. Green is the color of nature and we must always remember that the psyche is natural; it is as natural as a tree or wind blowing in the breeze. Our life always exists in nature, and by “in nature” I mean embedded within nature, inseparable from nature. In other words, we are nature experiencing itself through the medium of self-consciousness in embodied form. On the other hand, if we mix the colors of black and wit together we get grey. Grey is often representative of that space in between any two opposite poles, as in seen in the common phrase “This is a real grey area.” Much of our life is lived in this grey area. We can call it ambiguity. Certainly we need to make definite decisions in our life, but as far as the ultimate questions go we are never quite sure of where we stand or what the correct answer is. Even if we formulate an explanation to describe why we feel what we feel, or think what we think, there is always the lurking feeling that we have not quite explained ourselves adequately enough, that we have left something, some vital perspective or detail, out. So really, the best way to picture the mind is as an undivided whole consisting of conscious and unconscious components that interact wit one another.

Let us continue with our explanation of how poetry is an example of the inherent beauty, order, and coherence of life. There is forever a mass/mess of thoughts circling around in our minds. For most of us, most of the time, it is difficult to get anything discernable out of this confused mind of ours. That is why we often place so much attention on the actions of a person because at least in ones actions we can see a concrete representation of their mental states. Often times an action cannot fully explain the intentions of a person, for often times a person is confused or scared and they do not know how to act in a way that is in accordance with their deepest desires or wishes. The action is simply a manifestation of the confused desires, wishes, fears, phobias, and neuroses of the individual. In some extreme cases we even see people who are in such a state of disconnect that they cannot make any decision or action whatsoever.

Yet the fact that poetry can be produced from even an extremely depressed, confused, and demented mind seems to me to show that there is an intelligence at work in the cosmos which transcends our individual confusion and indecision. The way a poem can mix allusion, metaphor, foreshadowing, symbols, and a variety of other subtle qualities is amazing. It is fascinating how the language a poem expresses itself in is often far more subtle and beautiful then the language we normally speak. It seems far more like an ancient language. Maybe this is why Plato spoke of poets as instruments whom the gods use to express their messages, even if the poet is not sure what exactly they are saying when the inspiration hits them. Yet don’t be fooled by Plato’s insinuation that poets are often just the puppets of the gods. For a true poet who stays with his or her craft over the course of a lifetime will go forever deeper into the meaning and process of their interactions with the muse(s).

A poet’s logic might not be as literal and exact as the logician’s ideas, but you can almost guarantee the poet will touch on far deeper truths then the dry witted logician ever will. At the same time, I do not mean to say that the poet’s ideas will be murky and non-sensical. Many times the essays a poet writes are far more exquisite then those of the dry philosopher. The poet’s poems have a way of touching a person on emotional, intuitive, and visionary levels, even if one cannot do an exact literal-linear reading of the language. There are poets who take more sustained effort and penetrating insight to understand, William Blake for example. This is as it should be though because one who is trying to describe deep-imaginal realities, which can be described best in symbols, is confronted with the difficult task of trying to convey in written form poetic deep psychic realities to a world that has largely lost its sense of awe, mystery, and magic.

In no way do I mean to undermine the forces of chaos and dissolution in this life by giving primacy to order, coherence, and beauty. These forces of confusion and dissolution are absolutely normal and necessary in life. Yet it is uncanny the way the way life seems to move towards order and beauty. Just look at nature. Look at how all of the species in a wild environment work with one another for the continued health and survival of the particular ecological niche. Also, why is it that looking at a grove of giant redwood trees inspires such awe in us? We could easily say that the ideas of beauty and order are just human fabrications and that in reality life is just the conglomeration of random events that we humans strain ourselves to create meaning out of because we are too scared to face the idea that maybe our life doesn’t have any reason, rhyme, or purpose at all. Yet to state an idea such as this is another silly things us human love to do.

We love to set up dualities such as reality and illusion. We would like to think that the world of nature, which we are a part of by the way, is meaningless and it is just us humans who have to make sense out of this world we live in. Of course the logical contradiction in this statement is the idea that we can separate our consciousness, our life, from nature, and then speak for what is human-made and what is not. For if it is a fabrication for humans to think that because they feel something inside of themselves that it can overlaid on non-human reality, then it is equally a fabrication to think that we can speak for non-human nature, define what it is and isn’t and what it is and is not capable of, from our limited human subjectivity.

Behind all of this is the direct experience of beauty. It is undeniable that when we come upon beautiful natural scenery we are awe struck. This is no overlaying of our search for meaning onto the natural world. This is a psycho-physical response to the beauty that is life. In fact, the lack of such a response in an appropriate situation is a dangerous cultural pathology that we face today. The fact that we increasingly feel the need to destroy the wild places of the earth to make room for the expansion of maddened industrial and materialist instincts shows just how far we have gotten from our primordial experience of awe and reverence for life. In reality it is our constant attempt to separate life into dualistic categories that causes our perverse fascination with creating one great machine out of ourselves and the world we live in.

Why Love is More Important Than Hatred

John Compaglia
11/5/08

Why Love is More Important than Hatred

Love is far more important then hate. I know this has been said many times. John Lennon has said it, Jesus has said it, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Theresa have said it. I hope it is not too trite to say it again. Actually, I think that this simple sentence is not trite at all if it is understood in its deepest sense. Hate is easy, especially in our culture. In American culture so much of life is directed towards “me” and the “I.” We are taught to be self-sufficient, to do things for ourselves. There is a very high value placed on “me” doing things to “my” advantage so “I” can get ahead. In a certain sense, if a man wants to attract a woman he as to conform to this line of thinking because in our society, what kind of “reasonable” woman would want a man who is not rich, ambitious, and self-motivated? I am not saying that this is how all men are or how all women think, but I am saying that these tendencies are woven very deep into the structure of the American capitalist psyche[1]. Furthermore, I am not condemning wealth and ambition outright. I am simply trying to draw attention to the possible negative side effects of these qualities which include a lack of care and concern for others and the ability to relate to people and life on any level besides economic.

With all this in mind, the reason I say that to hate is easier than to love is because when everyone is out for themselves, there is no cooperation, communication, love, or friendship in the world. Therefore, in a very real sense, other people simply get in the way of me getting what I want. This is so because other people are in search of power, wealth, fame, and recognition just as much as I am and inevitably their search for power and the like will cross paths with mine and obstruct me in the acquisition of my goals. If someone is stopping me from getting what I want, what would be the natural response in terms of the mentality I have been describing? Hate. We will hate, despise, dislike, and all the other similar adjectives that people who get in our way and prevent us from getting what we want inspire.

To begin to approach love we have to begin to approach the other. The other for the hateful person is a means to accomplish their desires or perhaps a partner in accomplishing their desires as long as the other doesn’t try to get in the way or take more than his or her share. This is not the case with love. With love the other can no longer be seen as an object but rather must be seen as a subject. If we can see the other as a subject we can come to the realization that in a fundamental way the other is like me, in fact, in a certain sense the other is me as far as we are part of a collective humanity that longs for many of the same things, such as love, comfort, a place to belong, peace of mind, and financial security. The prerequisite to being able to recognize the humanity and subjectivity of the other is predicated on our ability, as individuals, to realize our own humanity, (i.e. our own weakness, desires, longings, passions, and frailties).

Once we have realized deeply what it means to be human, namely the qualities I just mentioned, we can begin to open our imaginations to the possibility that others experience these same or similar longings and desires. Since each of us hopes that our deepest desires and longings will be fulfilled, and we realize the sadness that comes along with living in a life where often these longings and desires are not fulfilled, we begin to hope that all human beings have their desires and longings fulfilled in some sort of meaningful way. This is so because we know that others suffer just like we do and in turn, since we want our suffering to be alleviated, we will want others to be happy just like we want to be happy. This is what empathy means, to feel with another, to wish the same good we wish for ourselves for another.[2] With the dawning of this realization comes a feeling of compassion for others because we understand the sorrow, suffering, and disappointment that comes along with living in this life, in this world, and on this planet. We feel this compassion for others because we have felt the same sorrow and sadness in ourselves. Therefore we know that others must feel this same or similar sadness in themselves as we do in ourselves

The man focused on hate will never come to these realizations, and furthermore, because of his outlook on life he will perpetuate his own suffering by constantly interacting with other hate-filled people who he is in continuous competition with as they both pursue their faulty ideals of happiness, satisfaction, and contentment. On the other hand, the loving person seeks to help and care for others because she realizes that all people are in the same predicament, to one degree of intensity or another, as she is. In fact, the compassionate person cannot conceive of simply searching for their own happiness because they realize that the individual search for contentment is inherently selfish, and that true contentment, because psychologically we are the world, is a collective experience. Therefore, when others are happy I can be happy as well because together we are learning ways to alleviate our sorrow and suffering together. In this type of world, where love and happiness is more common than hate and sorrow, even if one is feeling down, he or she can see people all around that are more are less happy and content. By virtue of the fact that the weight of sorrow in the world is not crushing everyone, there is more of a chance that our individual sadness will not seem quite so large and will not be further exaggerated by the immense sorrow, suffering, hatred, anger, and confusion going on in the world around us.

It is not a selfish instinct, at least not ultimately, which causes the loving person to search for happiness-with-others. The loving person understands that on the most fundamental level, the level of our common humanity, a level which lies deep beneath the particularities and superficialities of our individual egos, we are all basically searching for the same things, albeit we go about this search in very different ways. This realization does not negate the individuality of individuals; it simply recognizes the interconnected nature of human beings living on this planet, in this atmosphere. A simple realization arises that in terms of individual and global well being and happiness, their can be no selfish search for answers, for the selfish attitude creates tension and friction between individuals which in turn engenders sorrow, suffering, and hatred.

To go back to the title of this essay, “Why Love is More important than Hatred,” we see that the answer is that for individual and collective happiness to take place in our lives we need to cultivate the virtues of love, patience, compassion, empathy, and understanding rather then greed, anger, ill will, selfishness, hatred, and violence. Admittedly, this is not an easy task. For people living in America to cultivate these qualities of love, kindness, and compassion will mean that we will have to go against our societal, cultural, and unfortunately often familial conditioning which tells us to, at all costs, get ahead and take what we can without regard for the well being of others. This is not a sustainable way to live and yet many of us keep on living this way. Its time to wake up and realize that a smile on the face of our neighbor is worth more than any Mercedes-Benz or corporate take over will ever be worth, at least in terms of human economy.

[1] I refer specially to our “American psyches” and “American experience” in general throughout this essay because as a person who has grown up in America, American culture and ideologies, or at least a certain version of American experience and ideology, is what I am mot intimately familiar with.

[2] Of course this line of logic can be tricky in the everyday world because often we are so convinced that what we consider to be right and true and good is or “should be” what others consider to be right and true and good. The answer to this possible dilemma seems to be to always keep in mind that each person is unique and therefore what the specifics of what happiness means to one person might not be the same as what happiness means to another. When working with other I suggest that we should always inquire into what their conception of the good and true are so we can better understand and be-with one another.