Art in general has the ability to create a bridge between the inner world and external reality, which gives the image the role of mediator.
This image connects us – between the conscious and the subconscious, presenting and symbolizing aspects of a person’s past, present and future.
It is curious that in an image, drawing, painting, conflict and ambivalence are both presented and contained.
The creative experience is not limited only to the artistic field, this is a characteristic of life and being fully present. For example: the child has creative ability, and objects have special qualities for him; The child as the artist plays with the formation-creation of symbols.
The artist can now touch material from the unconscious without losing control – that is – he makes a regression in the service of the ego. We could say that during a creative session, one let go, thus bringing out aspects of the personality, apart from the social part, and giving expression to an inhospitable part of our interior!
That is, relaxation or regression within an artistic activity, contrasting with fantasy or dream, is controlled in addition to having a purpose.
If we look at history and mythology, artists have been considered “inspired creators” in some way related to the gods (Greek mythology). This leads us to think that there is a very deep relationship between the mythological tradition and the psychological processes in the artist.
Art also provides a service to the community – giving life – it is like “food” for the soul.
Art can be seen as bringing order to emotional experience.
The artist communicates an experience that has not happened with words (example – both the child and the artist use symbolically, a child cries, screams, moves, the artist communicates his emotional experience by manipulating sound, movement, paint, voice, or words )
The artist works with the most primary, instinctive problems and psychic fantasies linked to this – within – in relation to his body.
Perhaps to enter into creativity we require a type of dispersed attention that contradicts our normal habits of rationalizing. “An order hidden within chaos”…. the hidden order of the unconscious! This reminds me of Frazer’s famous anthropology work “The Golden Arch,” and the myth of the indwelling God as an analogy for the creation process. Another way to approach the topic would be around its symbolic value. Then we would explore the mystical – hermetic and religious part contained in a symbol. Now, I believe that each generation creates a new one.
If we remember Carl Jung, he compared therapy to a kind of alchemy, a transmutation of simple matter into gold. Jung tells us about the integration of non-integrated parts.
The images come from a need to reconcile part of our primitive psychic past with present-day consciousness.
Jung transmitted to us that images can be understood as well as emotionally accepted and then consciously integrated, thus helping to form a new center of balance for the personality.
Carl Jung talks about the collective unconscious and that he resells it directly as the inheritance of our ancestors. Now, according to him, we have two unconsciouses, the collective and also the personal (repressed memories, desires, emotions, as well as sublime perceptions)… so the symbols can be of one or the other type.
Jung sees the artist as an instrument of art. The artist has an internal war between his personal desires and creative force.
Artists can recreate their inner world and bring it to life in the outer world…
This leads us to introduce a very useful tool: creative meditation, for those who, not being artists, can experience a process in which the flow of creativity is released, both individually and in community.
To practice it one relies on the belief that creativity is a sacred and universal energy, a manifestation of the divine. If we look at it this way, it is natural to recognize that we are inspired by cosmic forces when we exercise our creative impulses and when we show our emotions, our passion, since all of them are earthly energies that stimulate transformation, manifesting self-expression and creating change at the level. global.
Creativity is a combination of creating something and letting it happen. Thus, creative meditation has two stages:
1 – one of stillness and silence
2 – and another of spontaneous, active and dynamic energy.
Painting and drawing are combined with spaces for meditation, reflection and ritual. This type of creativity is not oriented towards creating a product.
It is designed to free the artist from worrying about having a product at the end.
The result of this freedom is more enriching and reaffirms the creative experience.
Creative meditation is an integration of play, self-knowledge, community creation and aesthetic spirituality.
What is communication through image?
The image allows us to experience a series of reflections and deep feelings.
Individually it is very interesting although working in a group is even more enriching. One can help the other, opening the possibility of cooperation, creating self-esteem, with the opportunity to ask for help and observing issues of dependence and independence.
A group that practices creative meditation – It has nothing to do with producing beautiful works of art. ‐ Paint like when we were little, with spontaneity. ‐ Exploring with openness. ‐ There is no right way to do it – Expressing your feelings through art materials. ‐ Using art in your own way. ‐ You don’t need any skills or disabilities. ‐ Do not look for complete statements or finished images, scribbles are also valid. ‐ Relaxed and using the tools the way you want. ‐ Playing with your hands, enjoying the colors, the smell, letting yourself be carried away by the curves and straight lines that your hands draw, getting drunk with color.
During creative meditation we can connect with deep spaces that would otherwise be difficult to access. Whenever we can be ourselves, and accept everything we create, sharing from innocence, we invite a part of us relegated to childhood to emerge.
I know that many aspects of personality and ego will try to dominate or frustrate the experience. Normally the perfectionist, competitive and demanding part of each person can appear in these processes, although it doesn’t matter…as I usually tell my students, if you invited a friend to dinner, you won’t throw them out when they are already at your house. And when we create a drawing or painting, it is a part of us and when we reject it we also reject something in us that, given time, can show us something important about ourselves.
This process invites you to look with love at your own creations, those organic drawings or paintings, not thought out or planned that seem to emerge from inhospitable places.
Here we can learn as a first step to accept our fragments and in a later stage to find their place within us.
Rosa Puerto-Creator of creative meditation
Psychotherapist and Art Therapist
