Meditation and Creativity

Updated

When we sit down to a blank canvas, a blank piece of paper or a silent instrument and search for inspiration to create something new to offer to the world, where does that inspiration come from? Where do those truly phenomenal and aspiring works that awaken both the artist and viewer to exaltation originate?

A good percentage of the time we are preoccupied with the body, the body’s vital energy, the human emotions or the practical mind. The activities and manifestations that are derived from focusing on those parts or our being are inevitably mundane. At times they can grab our attention with pure excitement, but most experiences quickly fade in memory and are given no real importance. Because of this most creative expression, although occasionally exciting, is also mundane, inconsequential and fades away with time.

On rare occurrences we perceive a deeper more profound experience which inundates our being with light, vision and clarity, but for most it is a chance occurrence. Rarely does this aspiration appear when we have the time and means to create something artistic. Even more exceptional is someone who can invoke this state of higher consciousness at will.

Sri Chinmoy states: “Those who are creative without being spiritual will often find that their creativity is not at their command. That is to say, they cannot create at their sweet will. But those who are consciously aspiring will find that their creative inspiration is tremendously increased, and also that they can invoke the inspiration-bird to come to them whenever they need it.”

This “inspiration-bird” flies in our spiritual heart and ultimately comes from our connection to the universal consciousness, our soul. While focusing on and meditating inside our spiritual heart, located in the very center of our chest, the mind becomes quiet releasing attachment to the body, vital, emotions and thought. We become receptive to higher sources of pure infinite creative energy apparent within us.

Through learning meditation on the heart our intuitive energy naturally comes to the fore, our mind becomes vast and uninhibited, and our vital energy grows more pure, focused and abundant. What we manifest in the form of visual art, writing, poetry, music and in live performance generated from this heightened consciousness maintains and offers this level of aspiration to humanity.

A calm tranquil heartfelt meditation is a very real and achievable goal that can be obtained through practicing on your own and in a group, and finally making profound spiritual progress by focusing in on a particular path, teacher or religion. In doing so the key to an endless fountain of creativity becomes permanently ours.