Gifted
{Text of a speech delivered at the Poetry & More event in Bellevue, Iowa on April 26, 2022. Each member of the audience was asked to write a question upon entering the room.}
What if I told you there was a realm—not a physical place, but some sort of source dimension—where every work of creative genius that is, ever has been, or ever will be, exists? It’s like a Christmas morning that never ends and you can have whatever you like. It sounds like magic. Or it sounds like the infinite potentialities of quantum physics. I believe it can be approached either way. Let’s walk between those approaches, together.
Anyone can go to this dimension, anytime, and get anything, and bring it back to this physical realm.
Who, here in this room, has ever dreamed music? Dreamed scientific symbols or mathematic equations? Been working on a new recipe or architectural drawings, or whatever it is you do, and the ideas seem to come of their own accord? Have you trusted your intuition in a situation and found it somehow knew what eluded your rational mind? Have you had an idea suddenly pop into your head while you were in the shower of a fix for something in your life that was broken? An answer that you could not find in your daily life, even if you exhausted your logical mind looking for it? All those times, you were in contact with this realm I’m talking about. You may not even be aware of it.
Contents of the realm are free. They do not have to be earned or worked for. It’s just there for you to have. It’s already yours. I’m not going to give it a name, because that will set your mind on a particular, limited notion, and I want your mind to expand for this, not contract.
Only three things bar your access to this realm:
1. You don’t know about it.
2. You don’t know how to travel there.
3. You don’t believe it’s yours.
Number 1: I have just taken care of number 1 for you. Now you know about it. You may be realizing that you’ve already visited there, through your subconscious.
Number 2: How to travel there. There are many ways. The scientific explanation would be to induce a certain brainwave state. I’ve been doing this for my whole life, without realizing that’s what I was doing. I open some imaginary receptors to whatever is out there. Your brain is a marvelous tool and it will do whatever you tell it to do and believe whatever you say. It is not the boss of you. It works for you. Einstein said that the intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind a faithful servant. He also said that imagination is more important than knowledge. I believe that what he called his “thought experiments” were forages into the realm I’m talking about.
What you are interested in, what makes you happy, will shape what you return with. I could bring back a mathematical formula with tremendous implications for the world of science, but I wouldn’t recognize it as such, because I’m not a mathematician and not terribly interested in math. I do know what to do with a musical phrase or a string of words or sounds once I receive them. From a certain age, about 90% of all my songs have come through the channel of dreams.
To travel to the creative realm is easy, and that’s what makes it hard for people. We’ve been taught that we have to work hard for what we want. It’s just not true. It’s not an absolute and it doesn’t apply across the board. In this case, you do the opposite. You simply turn off the computer of your brain and make room for whatever is out there. Invite it in.
Prayer is a way to communicate with the realm. I would suggest you not beg for an idea, because when you do, what you are really saying is, “I have no ideas. Send me one.” And your smart brain, believing what you say, will follow your instructions and ensure that you have no ideas. Rather, if prayer is your method, then give thanks for being filled with wonderful ideas. Your brain will hear that you are filled with ideas and operate in harmony with that.
Dreams, as I mentioned, are another way to travel to the creative realm. The language of dreams is metaphor, and dreaming in metaphor is the most creative thing you do. No work is involved here. You can’t help but to be open to your dreams. They come unbidden from your subconscious. If you can’t remember them upon waking, then instruct your brain to remember. Your brain does everything you tell it to do.
A practice I call “drowsy meditation” is another way to travel to the creative realm. This is not the kind of meditation where you focus intently on your breathing. It might even be the opposite of that. It’s more of a self-hypnotic state. Open your imaginary receptors and allow all images and sounds to enter and float by. Put yourself into a comfortable, drowsy, almost-asleep state, while still being aware of what’s happening. I like to watch the movies on the backs of my eyelids.
The most common, and often taught method for traveling to the creative realm, is what you were asked to do when you entered tonight—ask a question. Because you open yourself up when you ask a question. I began this talk with a question, in order to open your mind. To ask a question, you have to stop believing, for a second, that you know. Asking a question admits that you don’t know and that’s a first-class ticket to the creative realm. I have to tell you, entertaining the thought that you might be wrong is one of the best things you can do for yourself. It opens doors you wouldn’t believe possible. (See also “What if I Was Wrong About Everything” by Penny Blue North).
Number 3: You don’t believe it’s yours. Now that you know about the realm and know some ways to travel there, the only thing left barring your entrance is a negative paradigm that only you can lift from yourself. If you believe that creativity is for others, but not for you. If you believe that work equals drudgery and fun equals laziness. If you believe that you have to work harder than everyone else for less reward. If you value other people’s opinions more than yourself . . . Hundreds, thousands of negative beliefs can block the entrance here. And remember, your brain believes exactly what you tell it. So tell it good news. Often. Ask questions. Appreciate being wrong.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is not hyperbole: This dimension I’ve been talking about--the creative realm—is where your subconscious meets itself and your soul meets its fulfillment on earth. If you’ve been wondering who the creator is, it’s you. It’s me. It’s all of us. Christmas morning is right here, right now. Open your gifts.