By now it seems everyone knows of TED. If not, you’ve really been missing out.
TED is an annual conference that brings together speakers from the Technology, Entertainment and Design fields. Speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, J.J. Abrams and many others. Most of the lectures are under 20 minutes, and I have never watched one and later felt I wasted my time; unlike many things on television or YouTube.
This past week was the 2009 edition of the event, and some of the videos are already being posted for those of us who can’t fork over the $6,000 registration fee to attend.
One of those released videos is that of Elizabeth Gilbert’s lecture on genius. Gilbert is the author of the best-selling book “Eat, Pray, Love.”
She speaks of the culture of 20th century American creatives, and how many of them drove themselves to death, either directly by their own hand, or through addictive tendencies. She wonders if it’s always been this way, and her search for answers leads her to ancient Greece and Rome.
Gilbert talks of the need for a psychological break from the creative process in order to protect herself from the inherent risks of that very process, the risks that have driven Western creatives of recent generations to the grave. She finds that the ancient Greeks and Romans had such a psychological break. When creativity struck, it was not you, but daemons or genius spirits that chose to bless you with that creative spark. Since the creative spark was a divine or spiritual act, the pressure of being creative was no longer fully placed upon the person, but rather on the creator, the daemon, the genius.
How much can I relate to the fear of rejection with my own creative process? How much as a believer in the Creator can I truly understand the meaning of Gilbert’s discovery and believe in the idea of a divine spark being the essence of the creative process?
The answer, is fully.
I’ll spare you the full summary of her entire lecture, as I would strongly encourage you to grab a drink, pull up a chair, relax and devote the next 20 minutes of your life to hearing her speak.