Only via action can the idea become a reality.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a movie cracked open my imagination like an egg. With that, the huge window in my living room became the viewport out the helm of my starship, my favorite swing on the swingset a starfighter, and I ran around with toy laser pistols pew-pewing at make-believe aliens, monsters, and the like.
Not long after my imagination took off like a rocket, I began to write. I wrote my first two sci-fi books at 9 and 13, a technothriller short story at 17, and a bunch of unfinished sci-fi and fantasy works through college. After college, I started the first fantasy novel that would become my incomplete Source Chronicles series.
Over the years, I’ve started various stories. Sometimes, there is nothing but a file on my drive that’s just a one-page idea. Other times, I’ve got several pages of ideas or the beginning of a story. In a couple of instances, I have quite a lot of the story going, but it was never finished for any number of reasons.
No matter the idea and no matter the medium, your art won’t create itself. No idea for a story, painting, sculpture, song, shawl, recipe, and the like, will become more than a fleeting thing without action to manifest it.
Manifestation is never without action
In the early 2000s, an ancient law of nature, the Law of Attraction, was popularized by The Secret. The video and book told you how you could create the life you wanted out of thin air via belief, faith, and strong desire.
While these are important elements to the Law of Attraction, they neglect a key necessity. Action. Manifestation of anything at all requires action on your part. Big, small, whatever – you can’t just pull from the void. You must take action.
No bestselling novel wrote itself. The author had an idea and took that idea and expanded it into a novel. That process is different for every writer. However, in every case, they acted on the idea and did the work to make the novel a part of our collective reality. Whether writing as a pantser or planner, over months or years, they acted to make the idea behind the story into the novel.
The same goes for every painting, building, song, recipe, business venture, and so forth. Someone or multiple someones had an idea, then took action to make it manifest.
Yes, maybe at the start, it was just a matter of desire. And maybe they applied belief, faith, and strong desire to that. But it didn’t magically appear out of the void. It took action to create the work.
Your art won’t create itself
For every story I’ve written, there are several unfinished ones. For every idea I’ve started to plot, some ideas haven’t gotten past being written down so that I don’t forget them outright. None of my 16-and-counting novels would be published and available for you to read if I hadn’t done the work, taken the action, and written them.
Every blog I write is nothing but an idea in my head until I create it. That means sitting here in front of my monitors at my keyboard and pulling the words from my mind to the screen. Then, I need to put it on the websites and share it with you. My art, my words, won’t create themselves – I must act to bring them and share them with the world.
This doesn’t just apply to art. Anything in life that you desire and want to create, you need to work to create. Even if you believe that there are muses or other outside forces that inspire these works, they are only made manifest via action.
This is where The Secret, prosperity gospels, and the like come apart. The notion that you can wish it and manifest it without effort is not the truth. Action must be taken to create anything and everything. Despite the notion to the contrary, you can’t just make manifest from the void whatever you desire. Your art won’t create itself.
The world deserves you, your art, and whatever you create
Even if you’re not a traditional artist or don’t consider yourself “artsy”, you’re still a creator. Maybe you don’t see yourself that way, but you are. You might not create something grand and glorious, but that’s fine. You have ideas, thoughts, feelings, inspiration, and sometimes you take action to make them manifest. That makes you a creator.
Some days, it feels pointless, hopeless, and utterly frustrating no matter what you do. If you’re an artist, it can feel like you’re screaming into the void and wasting precious energy on unimportant bullshit. But you’re not, because the energy is never wasted because it’s infinite. The Universe is an infinite place with more than enough space, time, potential, and possibility for you, me, and everyone, everywhere.
If you’re hesitating to create art, start that business, apply to that school, paint that room, or whatever – big or small – ask yourself why. Is it because you’re afraid you’ll be kicked out of the tribe or off the island for selfishness? Are you concerned that what you make is unimportant? Do you think you aren’t worthy and deserving? Something else?
The truth is that the world deserves you and deserves your art. Even in the darkest, most uncertain and distressing times, what you create can be a beacon of light, hope, joy, and more. However, your art won’t create itself.
So don’t let excuses, fears, uncertainty, or whatever stay your hand. Make your art. Create your creation. Share your vision with the world.
Thanks for reading. As I share my creative journey with you every week, please consider this: How are you inspired and empowered to be your own creator, whatever form that takes?
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