THE CREATIVE RESPONSE
AUGUST 22, 2011. There is obviously a difference between fitting in and launching independent creative action.
The “normal” thing to do is fit in.
Millions of times in our history, leaders have set the goal of a new enterprise, and then, even though the idea was insane, ludicrous, self-defeating, boring, dreary, and prosaic, followers have jumped on board. They figured out how to play their parts.
But exiting this scene and taking individual creative action, in another direction, seems out of the question. It is unsupported, there is no precedent for it, there are no tight rules to follow, there is no checklist to consult, there is no manual, and who knows where it will lead?
Actually, these are all positive virtues, but people generally don’t see it that way.
People would prefer to discuss, share, criticize, carp, gossip, advise, meddle, remember, and negotiate. This they know. This is familiar. This makes a weird kind of sense to them. This is life.
It roils, broils, simmers, stews, and ends up in mush. But acceptable mush.
Independent creation action implies power, and who wants to admit to that? Who wants to launch from that center? Who wants to say that all the little gods and idols and traditions and conventions and fond remembrances are beside the point?
People live their lives building up layers and shapes of encrusted energies like barnacles, and they imagine that, were they to advance and project one original impulse out into the world, this whole “personal structure” would vanish. And this, to them, is unacceptable.
Of course, the vanishing wouldn’t happen. That’s a fantasy. The structure would actually turn into flowing energy and it would be co-opted into the service of a new kind of life. A creative life.
Every society and civilization has eventually run into a morass and dead-ended because the creative life has been rejected in favor of a calculated average—at which point, you can propose or impose any sort of system or political configuration and it doesn’t really matter. The deal has been made under the table. Average is the standard and the guideline. Humility is morality. When push comes to shove, self-deprecation is the flag that goes up the pole.
“I want to thank all those people, without whose support I wouldn’t be here tonight. My life wouldn’t exist except for the contribution they have made. I only hope that, in my own lack of an independent existence, I can pass along to someone else a fraction of what has been given to me…”
Seventeen years ago, when I was running for a seat in Congress from the 29th District, in Los Angeles, I attended a political club gathering, in West LA, to give a short speech, to drum up a few votes. The event was sparsely attended, by seniors. The most live person in the room was a guy who was perhaps 200 pounds overweight, and he was ponderously stalking the food table, picking and choosing from the selection of cookies on paper plates. Everyone else was deep into tranquilized narcosis in their folding chairs.
It was at that point I decided to go a different road. I would run (not for office) on a platform of power and creative action—for the individual. Period.
From one angle, it wasn’t the smartest move. But to me, it was the best thing to do. And it was interesting.
It still is.
Imagination.
Energy.
Projection.
Power.
Creation.
Invention.
Improvisation.
Magic.
Now we’re talking about something.
Mainly, we’re talking about new worlds. Without end.
Otherwise, it’s all reruns.
Jon Rappoport