On this week’s episode of Creative Space, we’re diving into Chapter 6 of Julia Cameron’s seminal book on creativity, “The Artist’s Way.” The focus for this week is “Recovering a Sense of Abundance,” and it’s all about examining our ideas around God, money and creative abundance.
There is so much to cover but there are three core principles we’ll talk about: the Great Creator, Luxury, and Counting.
My favorite quote from this chapter: “Creativity lives in paradox: serious art is born from serious play.”
If you’re interested in reading "The Artist’s Way" and/or following along with the podcast as you complete the work, you can purchase it here.
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Jennifer Logue:
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Creative Space, a podcast where we explore, learn and grow in creativity together. I'm your host, jennifer Loge, and just as a reminder for the next few weeks we're going to be doing something different. On the podcast, I'm Doing the Artist's Way by Julia Cameron for the first time. Last week we talked about Chapter 5, recovering a Sense of Possibility, and this week we're diving into Week 6, recovering a Sense of Abundance. This was a really powerful chapter for me. Basically, we were asked to examine our ideas around God, money and creative abundance and explore how we limit our own good in these areas. We're going to discuss three topics the great creator, luxury and counting Now with God, or however you view God with this great creator bit. Many of us were taught to believe that, while God is good to be spiritual or close to God, we need to forego material things like money. We've all heard the phrase money is the root of all evil, but it certainly makes being a creative a heck of a lot easier when we have that financial support. There's a quote Cameron mentions from the Bible here in this section seek ye first the kingdom of heaven, and all things will be added to it. I've always interpreted this as staying in alignment with your purpose. Put in the work and God will do the rest. Have faith. While it's easy for me to say this, it's so hard to do. The practical side of me kicks in and whispers things like Cameron mentions in this chapter. I have to keep a roof over my head. No one is going to pay me to be creative. There's a mentality many of us were brought up with, and it's that being an artist or singer or writer is play, while work is supposed to be something that's hard, something that you don't like to do to substantiate, getting a paycheck for it. Hard work and drudgery is a virtue, and making art that's playtime, that's fooling around. So this week I've taken some time in my morning pages to reexamine my ideas about God, as Cameron suggested. Explore the idea what if God was a woman? Or what if God is the ultimate artist, the ultimate creator, supporting me in all of my endeavors? What if I just put in the work, say, an alignment, and let God handle the rest, instead of trying to make things happen on my own, doing it all in my own strength? It's really tough to have this kind of faith, but I'm making space in my own life to let God take the wheel creatively, and I'm starting to see little blossoms of change all around me that are really encouraging.
Jennifer Logue:
Next, cameron talks about the concept of luxury. Just saying the word feels a bit indulgent, doesn't it? But this is more about authentic luxury. What are ways we can pamper ourselves without being excessive? She gives a few examples buying a new article of clothing from a thrift shop, or getting a single fresh flower each week for a nightstand, or buying a magazine subscription. The luxury isn't about flying first class or penthouses. It's about giving into those little authentic luxuries here and there to enjoy the present moment more. It can even be the luxury of time. I've gone through many periods in my life where I just work myself to the bone. I work the day job and then I work, work, work on whatever creative project I'm focused on at the time and I get burned out. I stop filling up the well of inspiration. Apart from artist states, allowing myself these little luxuries day to day are really helpful in me refilling my well of inspiration. I just love this concept.
Jennifer Logue:
My favorite quote from this chapter is creativity lives in paradox. Serious art is born from serious play. Finally, the last concept is an exercise counting. We were tasked with writing down every single penny we spend in a given week. Now she calls it an exercise in self-observation. So where does our money go? What do we value most when it comes to our spending? Now, given the very personal nature of this, I won't go into detail here about what I discovered about myself, but it was very eye-opening and I highly recommend you give counting a try. Anyway, that's all I have for this episode of Creative Space. Next week we'll be diving into chapter seven of the artist's way, recovering a sense of connection. If you're interested in checking out the artist's way by Julia Cameron and doing the work on your own, I've linked to it in the show notes. My name is Jennifer Loge. Appreciate you taking the time to listen to Creative Space. Until next time.