Among the many reasons I’ve breathed a sigh of relief about the results of the Presidential Election is that I no longer feel the Arts are in immediate danger of being de-funded.  They only get a pittance compared to other budget items that could be cut, but somehow they landed in the political crosshairs.

So I ask you this: can you even imagine a world in which we have only Hedge Fund Managers, Wall Street Bankers and engineers to keep us company?   Imagine how our hearts, minds and inspiration would be strangled by the absence of art, music, books, theatre and all the other art forms we’ve recently been told aren’t worth being supported by a society that has no problem supporting wars.

The fear of a world without Bill Moyers, Masterpiece Theater and Downton Abbey reminded me I’d like to pass along something wonderful I learned about the energy of creativity, while I was working with remarkable healers and mystics years ago:  Qi expands during inspired creative acts – like an existential fireworks display, the brain’s neurons firing brilliantly, the explosive power of being “in the zone” making cognitive breakthroughs possible.  On an energetic level it’s a gorgeous light show that seems to have the capacity to reach far out into the cosmos.

It takes vast amounts of energy to do such inspired work, so the auric field of artists, writers, composers, musicians, and other creators, expands in this exponential way while they’re in the zone of creativity, then depletes afterwards until they rest enough to allow their energy to be restored.  The problem is, the man who digs a ditch or runs 50 yards with a football tucked under his arm, knows he has to rest after the exertion so his body can recoup, but creative people tend to believe they draw from an endless well and often feel frustrated or failed when, after a great breakthrough, another breakthrough eludes them. Creating beauty, as well as the period after, while the Muse recoups, is far harder work than people imagine.

So hooray for a political victory for a party that understands that creativity isn’t a faucet that can be turned off and on at will, or a useless way for people who didn’t get an engineering degree to fritter away their time!  It’s a gift of self to those with eyes to see and ears to hear.  To live in a world without the blessing of the Creative Arts would be unthinkable.  I’ve sometimes wondered as I listened to politicians talk about slashing the already meager budget that supports the Arts in this country, if perhaps they had such a hard time valuing creativity’s worth, not because it’s isn’t valuable, but because it’s really the pearl beyond price.

 © Cathy Cash Spellman/The Wild Harp & Co. Inc 2012

Tags: Art, energy, qi, the arts

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