I have always been fascinated with the creative process.
Where does creativity come from? Does it come from a muse, something ethereal that strikes in moments of divine brilliance? Or does it come from deep inside our own psyche?
And why are some people more creative than others? How is it that one person can create an entire symphony and another person can barely carry a tune?
The truth is that creativity is one of the many mysteries of life. It’s a miracle that we have creative works to enjoy—without it life would be quite dull.
One person who is a master of the creative process is Rick Rubin. As one of the most well-known music producers of all time, Rick has an astounding track record. He co-founded Def Jam Records in the 1980’s and helped popularize hip-hop as a genre. Beyond that, he’s worked with countless artists across a variety of genres, including Tom Petty, Adele, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys, Metallica, Johnny Cash, The Strokes, Aerosmith, Jay-Z, and more, earning him 9 Grammy awards over the course of his career.
But what makes Rick such a wizard is not his musical or songwriting ability. In fact, this clip recently went viral where he said during a 60 Minutes interview that he has no technical ability and knows nothing about music. Instead, his genius comes from his thorough understanding of how to cultivate a creative environment and then help people make their best work.
At the start of this year, Rick released a new book called The Creative Act: A Way Of Being. I have not read it yet but plan to in the near future. From my understanding, the purpose of the book is to help anyone tap into their creative side.
To promote the book, he’s done interviews on several different podcasts recently. In one of these interviews, Rick said one thing in particular that stood out to me:
“We think of a great artist as the person who makes the thing, we think about it as the making [of art]. But what makes an artist great, happens not in the making. It happens in the way of being in the world, the way of experiencing the world, the way of noticing the thing that someone else doesn’t notice, the way of seeing what’s beautiful when everyone else sees the mundane and being able to represent that back in a way that other people get a glimpse of what we saw that they didn’t notice. We get to walk around in awe all day and have our breath taken away, and then we get to portray that in something where someone else hopefully can have that same sense of awe from something we made.”
This is probably one of the best definitions I’ve heard about what the creative process actually is. A great artist is highly sensitive to the world around them, always in observance of the minor details. This is why “truth” is the guiding North Star for creating good art. The best artists are the ones who are able to notice something and then create a true representation of it.
For example, I’m currently reading The Lord of the Rings novels. I’m just about finished The Fellowship of the Ring. The book is full of imaginative creatures and characters—wizards, elves, dwarves, orcs, goblins, wraiths, and so on—but despite all of the fantasy, the book is grounded in truth. The lessons of the book—about courage, friendship, love, etc.—are universal truths that anyone can learn from, which is why it’s one of the most beloved series of the 20th century.
There’s an Ernest Hemingway quote that sums this up well: “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”
So here’s the truest sentence I can think of:
We are all artists. We all notice different things in the world because our individual experiences are completely unique to us. No two people have lived the same life.
Don’t let it go to waste.
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I have always been fascinated with the creative process.
Where does creativity come from? Does it come from a muse, something ethereal that strikes in moments of divine brilliance? Or does it come from deep inside our own psyche?
And why are some people more creative than others? How is it that one person can create an entire symphony and another person can barely carry a tune?
The truth is that creativity is one of the many mysteries of life. It’s a miracle that we have creative works to enjoy—without it life would be quite dull.
One person who is a master of the creative process is Rick Rubin. As one of the most well-known music producers of all time, Rick has an astounding track record. He co-founded Def Jam Records in the 1980’s and helped popularize hip-hop as a genre. Beyond that, he’s worked with countless artists across a variety of genres, including Tom Petty, Adele, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys, Metallica, Johnny Cash, The Strokes, Aerosmith, Jay-Z, and more, earning him 9 Grammy awards over the course of his career.
But what makes Rick such a wizard is not his musical or songwriting ability. In fact, this clip recently went viral where he said during a 60 Minutes interview that he has no technical ability and knows nothing about music. Instead, his genius comes from his thorough understanding of how to cultivate a creative environment and then help people make their best work.
At the start of this year, Rick released a new book called The Creative Act: A Way Of Being. I have not read it yet but plan to in the near future. From my understanding, the purpose of the book is to help anyone tap into their creative side.
To promote the book, he’s done interviews on several different podcasts recently. In one of these interviews, Rick said one thing in particular that stood out to me:
“We think of a great artist as the person who makes the thing, we think about it as the making [of art]. But what makes an artist great, happens not in the making. It happens in the way of being in the world, the way of experiencing the world, the way of noticing the thing that someone else doesn’t notice, the way of seeing what’s beautiful when everyone else sees the mundane and being able to represent that back in a way that other people get a glimpse of what we saw that they didn’t notice. We get to walk around in awe all day and have our breath taken away, and then we get to portray that in something where someone else hopefully can have that same sense of awe from something we made.”
This is probably one of the best definitions I’ve heard about what the creative process actually is. A great artist is highly sensitive to the world around them, always in observance of the minor details. This is why “truth” is the guiding North Star for creating good art. The best artists are the ones who are able to notice something and then create a true representation of it.
For example, I’m currently reading The Lord of the Rings novels. I’m just about finished The Fellowship of the Ring. The book is full of imaginative creatures and characters—wizards, elves, dwarves, orcs, goblins, wraiths, and so on—but despite all of the fantasy, the book is grounded in truth. The lessons of the book—about courage, friendship, love, etc.—are universal truths that anyone can learn from, which is why it’s one of the most beloved series of the 20th century.
There’s an Ernest Hemingway quote that sums this up well: “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”
So here’s the truest sentence I can think of:
We are all artists. We all notice different things in the world because our individual experiences are completely unique to us. No two people have lived the same life.
Don’t let it go to waste.
