Peeling The Onion

Take the time to gently peel back the layers of the onion and raise self awareness

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Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Saturday, June 09, 2001

A Naturalist's Approach

Have you felt that you should be 'over' something and aren't? Or that unwanted thoughts should and could be banished using an affirmation or a cognitive therapy mantra? For me, these therapies work sometimes and other times they don't.

Maybe it's not surprising that my heroic actions regarding the psyche often leave me shuddering in the wake of their ineffectiveness.

For me, the nature of the psyche is fluid and defies prescriptions. But I've found that I can observe its workings using a naturalistic approach. I watch psyche's peculiar turnings and circlings with a compassionate eye, like an interested naturalist not knowing what I'll find and trying to ignore my preconceived ideas about the psyche.

The activity of writing is naturalistic. A leap of faith. Each time I begin writing, I'm filled with a mixture of terror and pleasure. Courting these emotions when descending into unconscious terrain is fierce work. I know I'll have to face both the demons and angels of creativity, and that the balance of power rests not in my control of them, but in my respect for their presence.

For me, the demons of creativity are doubt, procrastination and habitual self-flogging. The angels are ideas with meat, and the excitement of grounding these ideas in life.

It's easy to side with the flight of the angels and the pleasure they bring, but angels need a demon to two to test their resolve. Demons help angles to refine their vision and to ground ideas in meaning, not froth and bubble. Demons also provide fodder for writing. Writing about daylight is worthwhile but no reader respects an ignorance of the dark. A difficult subject written with vision and insight - angelic help - is what makes reading a sacred experience.

Creativity is both a labour of love and a wrestling of forces, who seem know know me better than I know them.

Try observing the workings of your psyche. Let go of any preconceived ideas about what you will discover or what you hope to discover. Observe the terrain and record your observations. Try not to compare your findings with other writers. Although writers have commonalities, the terrain of their psyches is as varied as the writing they produce.

Remember watching bugs when you were a kid? Your fascination with bugs or other creatures didn't depend on conquering them or getting answers. Love was seat of your observation.

Viewing your psyche naturalistically fans wonder and creativity. Try it.