1988- Creating is Being - Being is Creating

I thought you might be interested in how I create a song. I wish I could tell you, but I simply don’t know. There are a few things, however, that I would like to share about the process of creating as I have experienced it.

I think for each of us, there is a way that our mind works. There are inclinations that we have, there are opportunities that we find to express ourselves, and there are talents to support that expression. For me, it happens in music. I hear things musically. I see the things that become phrases that can turn into the poem which is the foundation for a song. Sometimes, it is like the song is writing itself. I have really had that experience.

 Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary was quoted as saying something to the effect that he did not so much feel like the writer of the song; rather, he felt like the instrument of that which wanted to be written. Truly, that has been my experience on many occasions.

I also have had the experience of finding a phrase. When I write a song, it comes out of my own emotions, my own experiences, my observations, my perspective, my vision. There is a phrase, generally, that the song begins with – something that captures the whole story in a sense, like “Leaving On a Jet Plane;” or a kind of philosophy in a sense, like “Poems, Prayers, and Promises;” or, more specifically, like “Calypso.”

In any case, I take that phrase and I start to work with it—when I can sit down with a guitar, when I’m driving, when I’m walking. I put these little phrases down in my notebook, and carry them with me. Whenever the opportunity presents itself, I’ll sit down and work with them. Over a period of time—sometimes many, many months; sometimes ten or fifteen minutes—it all happens. Again, sometimes it takes a great deal of effort – and other times, it is effortless. ……. How can you explain that? 

What it seemed like for me was that once I let go of trying to say what perhaps I wanted to say, and really put myself in a relaxed place and surrendered, all of a sudden the song gave itself to me. That’s how it feels.

I wonder how often in the process of our creating, we are not able to surrender to our creative inclinations and give ourselves to those feelings? We get caught up in our left brain – our intellectual and logical side of the brain. The other side of the brain, which is creative, is held back by all of these conditions within which we put ourselves – and when we can finally break those conditions down and open up that creative side, there is a flood that comes through.

To recognize that life in every aspect is a creation process, we cannot help but create ourselves as we continue to unfold as human beings. 

One footstep does not necessarily mean that another specified action is bound to follow. To the degree that we succumb to the notion that a single step in a specific direction dictates the following step and every subsequent step, we mechanize ourselves, our lives and our Universe.

The failure to recognize the constancy of change denies our evolution; denies the past, present and future; and denies the reality of our Universe. The failure to acknowledge each of us as affecting that constancy of change is to negate, to some degree, our existence.

A part of the Windstar philosophy states that, “Each of us is part of and responsible for the quality of life on Planet Earth.” What that means to me is that each of us – by the choices we make and the actions we take, by the very way we live our lives- is a determining factor in the quality of life on this planet. A new world is constantly being created every day as a product of our being. In an incredibly profound way, we are – each of us- creative, whether we wish to be or not.

• Rejoice in that. 

• Rejoice in the creative power that lives in you.

• Use it synergistically. 

• Use it responsibly. 

• Acknowledge yourself for what you have created and be totally responsible for it.

• It is yours.

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the privilege of being a part of your creation. At the same time, I honor what you are in my world, our friendship, and our partnership. What we are creating together will make a difference. 

Peace!

by John Denver, Summer 1988, Windstar Journal article (abridged) 

 [Shared for inspirational and educational purposes only. Copyright Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship and research.]