Muses, in the Age of Amusement
Our generation is distracted. We default to amusement, unaccustomed to the quiet practice of thinking carefully or thoroughly. This posture of amusement impacts our ability to create and to worship.
“But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness.
I want sin… I'm claiming the right to be unhappy.” - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (1932)
In retrospect, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World was a lot for a middle schooler digest. I wrote out this passage in my checkered composition notebook trying to grab it. Perhaps this is one example of musing, gazing at something intently for inspiration. Teenagers may do this best, childlike wonder but with new capability.
Still deeply entranced with Huxley’s Brave New World, I’m swayed by Neil Postman’s warnings in Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. Like Huxley, he warns the modern world of oppression-by-amusement (rather than Orwell’s oppression by state violence). Postman sees television as a present-day “soma” (the fictional pleasure drug in Brave New World) and warns against the exchange of rights for consumerism and entertainment.
“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information…Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance…Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.’” - Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985)
In a post-television world, it’s hard to say how horrified Postman would be to see what has developed since the 1980s.
Le Muse inquietanti by Giorgio de Chirico (1888 - 1978)
Without doom-prepping, we can agree our society is distracted. We default to amusement, unaccustomed to the quiet practice of thinking carefully or thoroughly. Postman focuses on the implications this has for a democratic society, but it also has direct implications for our creativity.
A posture of amusement limits the artist’s ability to build relationship with their muse(s). It takes the good medicine of laughter and makes it a meal; a body can only be fueled by what it has digested. This is true in our faith and our creative practice.
Before I lose your attention, here are some practical approaches to finding your muse.
The Three Muses by Gladys Nelson Smith (1890-1980)
You can’t — and shouldn’t — gaze at everything.
Musing is inherently exclusive. “To gaze intently” implies some level of selection.
Christians have biblical guidelines for what to dwell on, but these principles guide us to higher levels of pursuit. The Psalms cover heavy themes but never without truth. The truth doesn’t limit the work. Don’t let your work be bound by what is nice; pursue what is good.
You were created unique and will continue to grow in your distinct voice. Don’t let your muse be prescribed by what is standard or trendy: Don’t like the avant-garde? You don’t have to try to make a career in it. Don’t want to paint just pretty pictures, give yourself permission to paint the interesting thing.
Musing, for muse’s sake.
When you muse, let the muse be central. Resist the consumerist focus of “what am I getting out of this?”
Christian worship is a good model for this: simultaneous emersion-of-self and removal-of-selfishness. (Not to say that musing is worship, but for the Christian is hard to separate. Enjoying creation naturally points to the One Who made it.)
Josef Pieper writes about the role of leisure as the basis of our culture. I’ll use his words regarding leisure to include the artist’s musing,
“Leisure cannot be achieved at all when it is sought as a means to an end, even though that end be ‘the salvation of Western civilization.’ Celebration of God in worship cannot be done unless it is done for its own sake. That most sublime form of affirmation of the world as a whole is the fountainhead of leisure.” - Josef Pieper, Leisure: The Basis of Culture
Let your artistic meditation spring from holy meditation, or vice versa.
Art is not the same as worship, but it can be an act of worship. If we follow the command to “pray without ceasing,” how precious is it to collaborate with the Creator while working creatively?
Invite God to your studio. Offer your artistic work in the prayer closet.
Live wholly.
Brave New World depicts a society without art or religion. Rather, they rely on the fictional drug “soma” — a metaphor for oppression by complacency — which offers “Christianity without tears.”
Do we seek a Christianity without tears?
Ours is deeply embodied faith, bringing our will, mind, body, and emotions into alignment with the Holy Spirit. Much like the creative process, all aspects of ourselves are required. Evaluate, where are you holding back?
Get into rhythms that allow for musing by taking up practices that require focus.
Christians often have some private practice of prayer and meditation. This discipline of setting aside “quiet time” is necessary for uninterrupted study and growth. We need this quiet time in our artistic journey as well.
Julia Cameron penned the phrase “Morning Pages” to describe a tool of creative recovery; she prescribes three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing as an opportunity to get the flow started. Write about “anything and everything that crosses your mind…for your eyes only.”
An actor can practice deep study observing another person, or she can spend time in constructive mediation regarding her own instrument. Allow time to explore movement or expression centered around an idea. Sketch about! Read a book about your artistic craft and notate the margins; make an effort to engage with the material. Make undistracted nature walks or gallery visits a regular part of your life.
Sometimes doing less will allow for more. Guard against following a religion of works in your art!
Les trois muses by Henri Martin (1860–1943)
In all of it, give thanks!
Give thanks for what you gaze at, the experience of gazing at it, and the opportunity for it to overflow into your work. The pause of thankfulness is counter to a culture of amusement!
Thankfulness is not a positive spin on reality, that is too hurried. Unlike Huxley’s world, truth is not incompatible with our happiness; instead, it sets us free.
