Essays on Creative Process.
Reflections on art, culture and meaning.
Creating and Fear
September 11, 2008
We meet various shades of fear upon entering unfamiliar territory. That’s no less true in the creative process. At its best, fear will act as a friend, jumpstarting dreams to create beneficial reality. But it has other manifestations, too. Fear can distort reality in harmful ways, or even stop us in our tracks. It may seem odd to use election season to illustrate the central role that fear plays in the creative process. But then again, everything is connected. So I’m going to give it a try.
With Election Day in mind, I revisited Jane Mayer’s book “The Dark Side.” The narrative charts a fact-filled path through the bowels of the George W. Bush administration’s war on terror since the tragedy of September 11th, 2001.
A sound defense against terror was not the only motivator in the violation of civil liberties after the shattering events of 9/11. Fear played a central role. The American people were afraid, as were our leaders in the White House, and understandably so. As evidence shows, however, the criminality that produced 9/11 had no links in reality to justify war with Iraq. In fact, the mission to defeat the true perpetrators, al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, was squandered in favor of the Iraq war.
In a posture of frenzied reaction, Bush administration lawyers wrote new U.S. laws in violation of the First Amendment and Geneva Conventions, eroding our civil liberties and laws of war. With Vice President Cheney at the helm, they followed a course through which the executive branch of our government could sail beyond checks and balance to maneuver with no restraint, outside the law. In its wake, we have witnessed the unjust and chaotic war in Iraq, along with torture, repression and enormous loss of respect for America abroad. History illustrates in stark terms that creative action born of fear-driven reasoning has created some of the worst and bloodiest miscarriages of justice known to humankind. Miscarriages that issue not only from minds of tyrants, but, indeed, from otherwise honorable who people become insidiously bound to a tragic illusion–that the ends justify unjust means.
“The Dark Side” is a riveting journey through the abuse of power. It’s an astute, expert witness to critical moments in our recent American history. One night, with chills up the spine and hairs on end, I bolted from my reading chair. I could take no more, so I fled to the TV switch. Rolling across the screen was the opening credits for “The Life of John Adams” documentary. Analogy seemed to be calling.
The legacy of John Adams, second president of the United States, includes a dark chapter of his Federalist Party rule. Fearing the rising influence of Thomas Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party, he signed into law the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. The acts severely limited civil liberties, providing unlimited powers of deportation, and criminalizing anyone who publicly criticized the federal government. In contravention of the First Amendment, many newspaper editors and others (including a congressman) were imprisoned for several years and fined thousands of dollars.
Federalists defended the Acts as intended to protect the United States from alien citizens of enemy powers (Britain and France) and to stop rebellious attacks from weakening the government. But historians–as did many citizens at the time–claim the Acts were unconstitutional, and designed to repress criticism of the Adam’s administration. The documentary went on to note other mishaps of intervening years–Roosevelt’s internment in the 1940s of Japanese Americans in the wake of Pearl Harbor; McCarthyism in reaction to Communism in the 1950s; and Nixon’s Watergate of the 1970s–to name a few.
Escape would not oblige. Instead, I found myself headlong into to the dark side of creating–a theme we encounter along broad global lines, as well as along the seams of our daily lives.
In life, we always have a choice. Fear harnessed can play the role of an instructive friend. But left unaddressed, fear can lead us into a tangle of unintended consequences. At worst, a population gripped by fear can be maneuvered cynically for the monopolization of power.
How can we keep fear from steering our creative process down hazardous slopes? This question could likely be answered authentically in many competent ways. But one key phrase keeps ascending to mind: action vs. reaction. In reaction, fear has taken the lead before we understand the anatomy of our position as it relates to the situation. Without that understanding, reactive fear and opposition build. Fate might smile to create a positive outcome, but in reaction, we increase the odds that it won’t.
When in action, on the other hand, we have reflected enough to coax fear into the back seat. We took time to explore the anatomy to our true position as it relates to the situation. Fueled by that understanding, action reduces fear and opposition. Fate might operate to create disappointment, but in action we increase the odds that it won’t. With time, patience and flexibility, our actions will produce positive results.
To visit the abuses of American power is unsettling. But to recognize that our the framers of our Constitution anticipated, and tried their best to stave off, the pitfalls of power, is deeply moving. They incorporated wisdom they’d gained from the storms of their European history. They knew all too well the scorched earth left in the wake of tyrants. Their written masterpiece endures, providing us with freedom to check our intentions and, most importantly, the freedom to change course. In the coming weeks and years, my hope is that we will all grapple with this question of fear as it relates to both our personal creative lives, and the creative fabric of our country as a whole.
Do you need content? You may use these essays at your website, or in your newsletter. The only requirement is inclusion of the following plus active links:
*Essay by Barbara Bowen of GatewaysCoaching.com - the definitive source for artists and creative careers in transition. Contact Barbara to empower your creative process and for help with your career goals. She would love to hear from you.*