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Following a more creative path

sibelleqow

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Ten years ago I left teaching and a secure (ish) life as an educational consultant to pursue a more creative path. I am now writing, drawing, painting sculpting but there is still a part of me holding back from committing to monetising my talents properly.

Today I felt strongly that I should submit some of my ideas to a national magazine but when I googled it Idiscovered that only recognised and established people in that field get a shot and all the pizzazz went out of me. I asked IChing about following through on my impulse and I got 17 4.5 to 24.

Any feed back would be very welcome as I am feeling very despondant about this journey at the moment as there seems to be a gulf between the life I have and the life I wish to lead and no bridge across...

Many thanks in advance
 

ginnie

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Is there some reason you are forced to MONETIZE -- horrible word. Otherwise, I think the I Ching would regard that approach as an ulterior motive not worthy of you and bound to lead to problems further down the road. Otherwise you are, of course, wanting recognition, which is natural, but it's just an ordinary ego need.

I realize everybody wouldn't agree with me but in my humble opinion you are living the best part of the creative life already.
 

sibelleqow

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Hi Ginnie and thank you for taking time to reply to my question. I appreciate you.

I'd just like to say that the point of monetising what I do not so much ego-led or led by an ulterior motive :) but is just a pragmatic next step needed to support the creative life that I have chosen.

To live as an artist and to make my living as an artist requires going out and showing my work and selling my work and I have spent the past ten years honing my craft and skills but have now reached a point where I am (timidly) putting stuff out there. I know that the time has come when the work I do to live is encroaching on the time needed to create the art I want to make and the challenge that I am now led to is to move away from work that just pays the bills to creating work that pays the bills! And it is very scary.

I don't believe I Ching sees this drive as unworthy of me. In fact my paid hours are diminishing before my eyes and I am being led towards opportunities to be paid for my craft ( I have recently been asked to write and direct a tv show) so I am clear that this is a road I should take. I really would like to know your (and other's) thoughts on what the reading has to say about approaching the magazine at this stage in my creative path.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts with me.
 

anon

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I don't know buti read it as: if you follow thru with your dreams, work hard a d do not give up, that you can bring about major changes in your life. Do not get discourage. Do not give up. Return to the source and follow your dreams! That's how I would read itif it was my reading!

Good luck!
 
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Hi Sibellegow,

Welcome! :)
I should start out in saying that I am all for people pursuing creative endeavors. For your reading though, it seems it is giving you a spin on what you would like to hear. I have been somewhere close to being in your shoes before. I have thought, because I am an artist, and I possess a natural talent for art (seems a little like boasting but it is true :D) and art is something that I yearn and love to do, why not make a living of it? I have also had a lot of jobs I was not happy in. I would put these two ideas together in my head and it would seem to point at making art a living. Now I just want to create in my spare time and enjoy the process.

I think it is very important to get something out of what you do, and to get fullfillment out of working. I look at the artist Alex Grey and see how he is living. It's amazing and inspiring. He lives completely off of attaining money through creative endevours. This path looks like the choice of being the most true to yourself but it is not for everyone.

Something just isn't adding up in your reading. 17.4.5 > 24 could be saying something entirely different than what you expect and want.
Hexagram 17 in general is about going with the flow. A flow that sometimes you don't understand and you are along for the ride but there will be success.
Line 5 of 17 is about being confident in this flow.
Line 4 of 17 I saved for last because it is the one that sticks out the most. I am going to quote a couple references:

Karcher's Commentary on Line 4 of 17:
Following is not hunting. If you follow only in order to capture a specific thing, the way is closed.

Wikiwing on 4 of 17:
"When the archer shoots for no particular prize, he has all his skills; when he shoots to win a brass buckle, he is already nervous; when he shoots for a gold prize, he goes blind, sees two targets, and is out of his mind. His skill has not changed, but the prize divides him. He cares! He thinks more of winning than of shooting, and the need to win drains him of power." -Tranxu, as quoted by Anthony de Mello
This is pointing that your art should not be used to collect money or recognition.

I have said this before. It is very important to pay attention to the creativity and the energy that flows through you at the time of creating. I will create a peice of artwork, and when it is all finished, yes, I feel accomplished. Sometimes I like what I have made, and sometimes I do not particularly like it. Either way, I always look back at the time I was creating it. I think about when I was focused and connected to a creative channel as if it were flowing through me. This process is so much more important than the finished product or anything monetary that you could gain from it. The process itself is really the most important part.

Hexagram 24 is about turning back, returning. Do you ever think about going back to teaching?

What do you think about all of this?

Take care,
AQ
 

sibelleqow

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Hi anon, thank you for your lovely response and kind wishes.

It is hard to keep going sometimes and your emphasis on the aspect of 'returning to the Source' in the reading is one I needed to hear, and need to remember and practice. That's why I fall into the doldrums sometimes! And this is certainly already becoming a year for major changes in my life. If I remember the source I will have a better chance of managing them and remaining in the flow.

Many thanks again for taking the time to respond to my post.:)
 

sibelleqow

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Hi AQ and thanks for the welcome:) This is my first time posting a thread in the forum so I welcome smiley faces! I appreciate your insightful comments and especially you taking the time out to find and post the Karcher translation for me...

Following is not hunting. If you follow only in order to capture a specific thing, the way is closed.

...as it has actually answered the question about submitting my work to the magazine very succinctly.

My main stumbling block with remaining in The Flow has always been trying to second-guess the outcome before stepping out whereas my experience has always been that by just following the basic directive I end up where I am supposed to be (though it rarely looks anything like I thought it would!) Funnily enough in my journals I always refer to this as working 'cross eyed' so the picture of the archer from the Wikiwing translation that you found for me...
When the archer shoots for no particular prize, he has all his skills; when he shoots to win a brass buckle, he is already nervous; when he shoots for a gold prize, he goes blind, sees two targets, and is out of his mind. His skill has not changed, but the prize divides him. He cares! He thinks more of winning than of shooting, and the need to win drains him of power." -Tranxu, as quoted by Anthony de Mello

where he is trying to aim at two targets is amusingly very apt!:) So I will simply submit the ideas to the magazine and see what happens next.

Regarding the relationship between money and art, money and recognition has never been my motive for creating and I hope never will be. I found the book 'The Artist's Way' by Julia Cameron (and I was lucky enough to attend one of her workshops last year) very illuminating and liberating on that subject and I would recommend it to any artist who wants to explore the possibility of spending all his or her time doing the thing s/he loves best.

As for teaching I never really left it completely but have been able to combine the best aspects of it with developing creative projects for disaffected young people, teen mums, underachieving pupils in educational settings. I actually love that aspect of my working life but I now have to take the plunge and get my other more personal creative work out there and the magazine article is one of many tiny steps I am taking in that direction.

Reading over my own response to you I can see that it is the old issue of 'working cross-eyed' that has cropped up again. And as anon said in his/her response, it's clear that it is time for me to return to the Source ann trust in the process that has got me this far in my journey. Thanks again for your help .
 
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sibelleqow

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(My typo 'ann trust in the process ' is very apt as that is my given name! lol!)
 

anon

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Well sweetheart you are more than welcome! I wish you all the best!
 

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