This post is about the connection between art and healing and Love. I use the capital L to mean Agape, the unconditional, enduring, spiritual form of love most of us aspire to, and can only achieve in short bursts, rather than the Eros kind of love that only exists in short bursts. So let's look at the creative process as a path toward psychological healing and wholeness, shall we?
First you have to pay attention to yourself in order to see/feel/sense what is in there to begin with. And it can be pretty frightening, even if you are a typical American without any trauma, which is to say neurotic. Yes, I mean you. If you do anything that is contrary to what would be good for you, like eat sugar and McDonald's french fries, not exercise, pick the wrong men, pick the wrong women, drive too fast, etc. then you are at least somewhat neurotic. Don't argue with me, just nod and smile.
Next, you have to be willing to bring it out into the world in some way, which means you have to REALLY see/feel/sense it. Even when this happens suddenly and without your conscious permission, there must be some part of you willing to let it happen. Often when I am singing in a semi-meditative state I will suddenly started to cry for no discernable reason, sometimes it is an unexplained grief. I can only explain this as having tapped into something 'down there' in my psyche that I have been unaware of. Sometimes a poem will be suddenly available in my brain, and I'm not even sure what it is about until I write it down and work with it a bit. Novelists talk about characters telling THEM what to write. I see these experiences as disowned parts of the self making themselves known, and I do my best to let them speak.
Then, if you have any artistic leanings in any medium, and some amount of courage, you can put that experience into some kind of form--let people see or hear it. Every time I let someone read one of my poems, I feel anxious about what they are going to see about me that I may not have seen myself, and do I really WANT them to see that part of me. Professional artists take the time and have developed the skill to refine and edit the raw expression into something less personal and less revealing, but you can never completely hide yourself. And if you could, what would be the point? The need to be seen is generally what drives all artistic expression, and must be stronger than the desire to remain hidden. But WHY are we compelled to expose ourselves this way? How does it help us?
You could certainly point to lots of creative artists, past and present, who were gifted and prolific, and yet died as messed up and unhappy as ever.
My light bulb moment on this ocurred years ago when a professor pointed out that it is not the mere act of creating a work of art that heals the psyche. What heals is the act of being witnessed by another person who sincerely cares about you, the person, enough to take in your work and respond with caring curiosity. This caring curiosity could also be described as the desire to understand another's experience, or empathy. That, he said, was the healing element, and is very different from critique or acclaim.
This idea is a foundational truth for me--witnessing someone, with the explicit desire to understand their experience, their perspective, their truth, is a healing act. James Hillman, in
Healing Fiction, talks about psychotherapy as a place where this is happening, since we are creating and telling our life story in every session, and the therapist is receiving and witnessing that expression. It is an act of Agape, of Love. And that Love heals.
The trippy thing is that we actually now have scientific evidence that Love really does heal...listening with empathy to someone activates mirror neurons that facilitate an interaction between both people that then rewires the brain so that it functions better, which in turn improves relationships and everything you can list that defines an emotionally healthy and happy person. (read Dan Siegel for more on this)
The downside: It takes a long time and does not require pharmacology, so insurance still refuses to pay for Love. (sardonic laugh). Oh, and you have to be witnessed by someone capable of empathy and some measure of unconditional positive regard, so beware of sociopaths, in this regard.
Which brings me to my thesis statement: Creative self expression, and ultimately Art, occurs because of the artist's need to be loved. Like all human beings.
Discuss.
