Thinking too Much with the Intellect, Not Enough with the Heart

"Lovers and men of intellect cannot mix:

How can you mix the broken with the unbroken?

Cautious men of intellect shrink back from a dead ant:

Lovers, completely carefree, trample down dragons.

The intellect says, "the six directions are limits; there is no way out."

Love says, "There is a way; I have traveled it thousands of times."

The intellect saw a market and started to haggle.

Love saw thousands of markets beyond that market." 

Rumi

*****

I read this quote and this really spoke to me. Thinking too much can hamper our creativity. When confronted by the unexpected (the dead ant), sometimes we panic and freeze in our tracks. If we don't allow the weird and the wonderful to throw us off balance, we can tackle the biggest problem and triumph over it.


Once we hit a barrier, it's so easy to just give up. "There's no way around this problem; there's nothing I can do!" Look for unorthodox solutions, try new ideas, see what works. If it doesn't work, try another way. And another, and another. 


When your livelihood depends on your creativity, it's easy to fall into the 'will this sell and for how much?' trap. The practical side keeps us fed, clothed, and able to make more creative items. Once your main goal becomes achieving a bottom line, the quality of your product suffers. It becomes just a means for an end: to satisfy a certain "market". "Love saw thousands of markets beyond that market". Don't lose sight of what matters the most to you, and don't limit yourself to just one way of doing things.New roads and new directions can inspire more ideas and the circle begins again. 


Think, but also use your heart in your creative efforts.






All original writing and art copyright A. Dameron 2000-2010