Elsas Creativity Blog on: We are a weird species. Needs? Wants? We search.

We're such a weird species. What do we really want? Need?
Some needs: creativity, community, connection, challenge.
The world's biggest industry: tourism. How does that link with our needs?

JUNE 25, 2007

WE ARE SUCH A WEIRD SPECIES -
WHAT DO WE REALLY WANT? NEED?

Over and over these days, walking along busy streets, talking to people, driving along the highway passing some cars and being passed by others, I think:

We are such a weird species. I look at people's faces - tired, work, dissatisfied, happy, angry. I listen to people (including myself) argue. I hear small children cry in frustration and laugh with glee.

I come across much more dissatisfaction than satisfaction. I see many small lives, with people inside them, not fully at ease, stunted.

I have spent much of my life trying to get to a life the right size and shape for me: space for my intellectual capacity, space for my creativity, space for self-expression and listening to things that satisfy deeply.

****

I had another thought before sitting down to write: the biggest industry in the world right now is tourism. What's that all about, I've asked myself. My inner answer: it's people looking for things to make their lives full - or fuller anyway. It's part of the quest of so many people in our species to find completion, satisfaction, a full life.

Travel: the carrot held out to is - for many of us, anyway - a transformation. Movement from our daily lives into some other life with more pleasure, discovery, ease.

I have nothing against travel. I've done a lot, and have gained from much of it.

Still, I remember being bored on many of my holidays. Some things satisfied me - some of the things seen, some of the people encountered. But a very deep memory is of ongoing hunger for more. Over and over, something was missing, something I longed for.

My best holidays: workshop holidays, from creative writing to more creative writing to songwriting to yoga to singing. Something was happening - and the contacts with people tended to be much deeper than regular holiday contacts.

I am just seeing a family I met briefly - father, mother, small child - in my one singing workshop - a short contact, but much more than superficial.

****

What do we really want and need, after basic needs are filled (air, home, food, shelter, survival)?

We are an amazingly inventive species - everything from nuclear weapons to laptop computers. We thrive on developing our inventive capacities.

We are an amazingly creative species - and creative works (sculptures, stories, myths) are among what we remember most from past societies.

We long to express ourselves.

We long to be heard.

We thrive on learning.

****

We're also limited. Many of us can't think well. Many of us have massive amounts of anger and hatred and self-delusion inside ourselves. We're often impatient - so many don't take the time to learn something well.

We're very dependent on an environment that helps us grow - and that is missing for a huge percentage of people.

****

We're complex - and like with so many complex things, things often don't work out right.

We long to be heard. We bore those around us so that they run for cover at our approach.

We long for something new. We take holidays we barely survive, they are so boring.

We long to help - and the world comes to more starvation than ever as medical help leads to massive overpopulation; fertilizers lead to soil depletion; and so on and so forth.

****

Books have been written on all this. I want to get back to: we are a very weird species that can, however, find satisfaction.

How? What do we need? Here's what comes to mind:

Challenge - things that take us beyond what we knew, open our minds, stretch our abilities.

Connection - deep connection that changes us and others, whether through personal contact or through creative works like music and stories. Connection - best if it's with more than one person here and there, when there's a sense of community.

Creativity - not just through creative works (movies, music and so on) but through creative sponteneous living.

****

And with that, I come to my creativity site.

The creativity site. It challenges me, designing it, putting things on the web, reaching a audience that feels large enough for me. My creative works, at best, come from a deep inner connection with myself and connect outward to others.

The creativity site, phase two, is for everyone. A goal is help create a creativity community where many people can be stimulated, challenged, enriched.

And with that,

As always, welcome into my world.

signed,

Elsa

JUNE 25, 2007

Previous - June 23, 2007

Next - September 8, 2007

What do we really want? Need? Is it travel?
So much searching.
Elsas Creativity Blog explores the Weird Human Species.
Some needs: creativity, community, connection, challenge.
Many false directions.

Elsa's Creativity Blog
Writer blogs, poetry blogs, musical blogs.
How do I get my works out into the world?
Steps, stages, successes, failures.
Creativity. Not easy to find a home for it.

elsas creativity blog
is not the same as elsas creativity log - a jotting down of events, of time spent

elsas creativity blog
is not a hop and stop
     tip top mop shop pop drop
elsas creativity blog
     is elsas creativity blog
     is elsas creativity blog

but what is elsas creativity blog?

elsas creativity blog
     is stop and start
          on and off
       trying
       doing
       ever renewing
                    elsas creativity blog
                    elsas creativity blog
     is not a dog
                 log
                 fog
                 smog
                 groggy old nodding off creativity blob
     is a wide awake
         revving up
         ever making up stuff
                 elsas creativity blog

elsas creativity blog -
     a short stop to bring you along
                           as I'm making up the site
                           feeling my way
                           like a jungle explorer
                           creepers and crawlers every which way
                           how to get through the day?
                           I couldn't say
that's elsas creativity blog

where does it come from?
where des it go?
elsas creativity blog doesn't know

it records the words elsa writes
it stays the course
it blogs all night
it's delighted to be blogging
         leap frogging
                  over words
                  over muddles
                  over huddles
                           of word lugging trouble
                  over word puddles
                  and into word puddles

elsas creativity blog
         elsas creativity blog
                  elsas creativity blog
                      is a blog by elsa
                            on creative endeavors
                      is elsa's trying
                            once more vying
                                   to reach the world
                                        let words unfurl
                                        let them rumble
                                        let them blog into the sunset
                                              over the hill
                                              down the dale
                                              up the mountain
                                              down the vale
              elsas creativity blog
                       is a faithful old horse
                                 that won't stop
                         it blop blop blogs
                                 a faithful old horse
                                     stopping now and then in its course
                                          to chew its cud
                                              letting ideas bud
                                     and then blogging alone
                                          blogging along
                                              clip clop blip blop

                         elsas creativity blog
                             elsas creativity blog
                                      elsas creativity blog

                                                                                     Elsa Schieder
                                                                                      July 9, 2006
                                                                                      © Elsa Schieder, 2006

What do we really want? Need? Is it travel? So much searching. Elsas Creativity Blog explores the Weird Human Species. Some needs: creativity, community, connection, challenge. Many false directions.

Elsa's Creativity Blog Writer blogs, poetry blogs, musical blogs. How do I get my works out into the world? Steps, stages, successes, failures. Creativity. Not easy to find a home for it.

What do we really want? Need? Is it travel?
So much searching.
Elsas Creativity Blog explores the Weird Human Species.
Some needs: creativity, community, connection, challenge.
Many false directions.

Elsa's Creativity Blog
Writer blogs, poetry blogs, musical blogs.
How do I get my works out into the world?
Steps, stages, successes, failures.
Creativity. Not easy to find a home for it.