Spanda

It is such a shame that we live in a time when money, position and power are the chief arbiters of success in our lives.

It means that when it comes to doing the things we love, just because we love them, it is too easy to talk ourselves out of it.

But it is a human instinct, isn't it, to create for no reason other than the joy of creation?  Every child knows this.

And people all over the world are quilting, sewing, drawing, painting, baking and writing for nothing other than their own, quiet fulfilment.

I say that there should be more of that.
Further, I say that people are born to create and that when they do not, something inside them withers and dies.

In Tantric terms, this urge to create is known as Spanda.  It is our desire to move, to flow, to use our brain and bodies in the creation of sound and movement, but also in the bringing into being of some new thing.  In this philosophy, Shiva brings consciousness, our awareness of the fact that we exist, that we are connected both to one another and to everything in the universe that lives, and Shakti brings action: she creates something out of nothing.  Without Shiva, we are lost, aimless, randomly moving through the world; without Shakti, something within us is dead and frozen.
 
There is a time in our lives when we are told that we are not good enough at something and we are made to feel that we ought to stop doing that, because we are not going to be successful at it; this usually happens in childhood and often at school.

But this is like saying that only the birds with the most beautiful song should be allowed to sing and only the prettiest of flowers ought to be allowed to bloom.

So please go ahead and write your poetry for nothing but you own pleasure - we shall never know how many beautiful poems have lain undiscovered in drawers throughout history - create collages and paintings that will only ever grace your private portfolio or your kitchen fridge; bake cakes that do not rise, then cover them with icing and eat them anyway; throw paint and words and pictures at paper with scant regard for a measurable outcome; strum your guitar, play the piano; grow vegetables and flowers for your own enjoyment, no matter that you can buy bigger carrots for less money in the supermarket; sing in your car and dance in your kitchen.

Don't do it because you are good at it; don't do it because you want to be famous for it; do it because you love it.  And know that that is enough.

Namaste x