The ‘LOVE’ Gremlin:
AND. RICK. RUBIN
It’s been 8 months, 32 Gremlins and somehow, I’ve managed to sidestep the word ‘love’ all this time. Love is a private and sacred topic to me and so I protect my loved ones and keep this piece of myself behind the scenes. And yet, stepping into the dojo of love is how I evolve in the world, and it is so much part of my creative process.
Richard Rudd says that ‘love is spiritual practice.’ Think…people in relationships using relationships as a vehicle of awakening.
Love as practice looks like two people (or more) walking into the arena of a relationship, and ‘trying it out’ - looking at the hard bits, dropping deeper into trust, getting into the messiness of misunderstanding and facing commitment demons, right the way through to separation and the rose tinted nostalgia that comes afterwards.
And now re - read that last paragraph through the lens of a creative project.
Love and creativity are parallel. Getting into a partnership and having your ass handed to you through the mirror or another person is V E R Y similar to partnership with creativity; both give us codes of illumination that cannot be possible when alone.
Notice I still haven’t actually told you what’s going on in my love life - no one needs to know, really. The by-product is who I become as a circumstance of saying yes to learning through love. Which takes me to my second point. Creativity as an act of becoming.
This week I was in the bookshop killing time when I found Rick Rubin’s new book. I’m a big big fan of R.R - I love how he holds himself in an interview and his music is fire, so I knew the book might be juicy - but I didn’t expect it to be borderline prophetic. I couldn’t put the book down, and I wanted to underline the words on the spot. There was a chapter that talked about the artist's trap where they overthink the purpose of their art or how it will change the world. When in effect, ‘deciding what to say in advance doesn’t allow whatever’s best to come’.
“Art is far more powerful than our plans for it. There are sides of ourselves that aren’t welcome in polite society, thoughts and feelings too dark to share. When we recognise them expressed in art, we feel less alone. More real, more human.This is the therapeutic power of making and consuming art.”
BACK TO LOVE
So to bring it back to relationship. From my interesting and plot line arc with romance I’ve learnt that there are two types of relationship. Ones that leave you needing healing, and ones that are an act of healing. The success of a relationship isn’t about how long it lasts but how deep the connection goes. For me, it’s the same with art - my own or someone else’s. It either speaks to you or it doesn’t, the work will be interpreted through the eyes and ears of someone whom I have no control of, but that shouldn’t stop me from opening my heart and creating.
As with art, when we are in a relationship, it’s the moments where we are really present, and bravely say yes to finding a new experience or emotion together when something clicks into place and we can go deeper.
And in utter gremlin sentiment I leave you with this final quote from Rubin - it made me cry.
“If there were anything you might stand for, it would be to defend this creative autonomy. Not just from outside censors, but from the voices in your head that have internalised what’s considered acceptable. The world is only as free as it allows its artists to be.”
- Rick Rubin
Run free Gremlin,
Love Karimah X
