The Creative Act

Rating

5/10 This book was a #1 New York Times bestseller and as of October 2024 it is a #1 bestseller in the Creativity category on Amazon worldwide. There must be a lot of struggling artists in this world looking for a self-help book according to these statistics…

I don’t understand its popularity. This book has no substance. It’s a thick collection of spiritual gibberish peppered with some nice quotes about creativity and art making. And that’s about it. As much as Rick Rubin is a one in a generation kind of personality (or dare I say talent), he has had much more luck in his “career” (again, if we can call it that) than he is admitting to. This book is a proof of that - do X, do Y, then don’t do X, don’t do Y, just listen to your vibration, greatness will channel through you. Trust the process… and if the process doesn’t work, turn it on its head. Or better yet, turn yourself on your head.

That’s basically the entire book in a nutshell. Here is a bunch of advice. The different pieces of advice contradict each other. But that’s the point. Just take away whatever you feel like taking away. I’m just the messenger, so don’t shoot me.

But to avoid being just a critical and sarcastic jerk, I could look at this book as a piece of art itself. From that point of view, I can see the intention with which it was made. It was made to be looked at, admired, cherished, and discussed as a piece of art; not a piece of advice. But since art is subjective and made solely for the art maker him/her-self, not everyone will find themselves in the end product. I simply didn’t. Being 60% in, I just put it down, and proclaimed a defeat. You won Rick…

Synopsis

Self-help book for struggling artists.

Notes

You may be wondering how come I took so many notes if I gave this book a rating of 5 out of 10 and didn’t even read the last 40%? Well, as I said in my review, it contains a bunch of nice quotes and pieces of advice that I might want to remember and come back to. But that still doesn’t make it a good book. A string of catchy phrases is not a book, it’s a string of catchy phrases.

• “If you have an idea you’re excited about and you don’t bring it to life, it’s not uncommon for the idea to find its voice through another maker. This isn’t because the other artist stole your idea, but because the idea’s time has come.”
• “How do we pick up on a signal that can neither be heard nor be defined? The answer is not to look for it. Nor do we attempt to predict or analyze our way into it. Instead, we create an open space that allows it. A space so free of the normal overpacked condition of our minds that it functions as a vacuum. Drawing down the ideas that the universe is making available.”
  • these link to the theory that there is a world of ideas, a universe permeated with ideas; and we are just vessels connected to that hidden space
• “Rubin Advice:” Put aside time for creation without any input - just make. Take an hour to whittle from wood, or paint, or code - no distractions, no input, just scribbling, experimenting and going with the flow at hand.
• new word: jaded -> bored or lacking enthusiasm, typically after having had too much of something
• “Turning something from an idea into a reality can make it seem smaller. It changes from unearthly to earthly. The imagination has no limits. The physical world does. The work exists in both.” - I’ve experienced this with making videos. Sometimes you have to settle with less in reality than what you imagined in your head.
• “If something strikes me as interesting or beautiful, first I live that experience. Only afterward might I attempt to understand it.”
• “The spiritual world provides a sense of wonder and a degree of open-mindedness not always found within the confines of science.”
  • Hugely disagree! There is so much wonder and open mindedness in science ones you grasp the scientific method and see the driving force behind research and the itch to try and understand the world.
• “There’s an abundant reservoir of high-quality information in our subconscious, and finding ways to access it can spark new material to draw from.”
• “Memories can also be thought of as dreamlike. They’re more a romantic story than a faithful document of a life event. And there’s good content to be found in these dreamy recollections we have of past experiences.”
  • This is so true in my experience and should be acknowledge more often. Memories should not be trusted, they twist and turn with the passage of time.
• “If you start from the position that there is no right or wrong, no good or bad, and creativity is just free play with no rules, it’s easier to submerge yourself joyfully in the process of making things. We’re not playing to win, we’re playing to play. And ultimately, playing is fun. Perfectionism gets in the way of fun. A more skillful goal might be to find comfort in the process. To make and put out successive works with ease.”
  • Be a kid, live up to being a kid, play like a kid, create like a kid.
• “Procrastination consistently undermines our ability to make things.”
• “Rules direct us to average behaviors. If we’re aiming to create works that are exceptional, most rules don’t apply. Average is nothing to aspire to.”
• “The reason to make art is to innovate and self-express, show something new, share what’s inside, and communicate your singular perspective.”
  • So art is very self-centered and narcissistic… Until it isn’t because other people recognize their own thinking in your art and the art piece becomes a shared experience.
• “Holding every rule as breakable is a healthy way to live as an artist.”
• “We often take shortcuts without knowing it. When listening, we tend to skip forward and generalize the speaker’s overall message. We miss the subtleties of the point, if not the entire premise. In addition to the assumption that we are saving time, this shortcut also avoids the discomfort of challenging our prevailing stories. And our worldview continues to shrink.”
• ” There are those who approach the opportunities of each day like crossing items off a to-do list instead of truly engaging and participating with all of themselves.”
  • I am often guilty of this! And that’s bad, especially given I nearly died of cancer at 24. I should be less anxious and live the moment, not just think about what’s next or what’s being forgone for the present moment.
• “When you see what’s present around you as if for the first time, you start to realize how astonishing it all is. Most of what we see in the world holds the potential to inspire astonishment if looked at from a less jaded perspective. Train yourself to see the awe behind the obvious. Look at the world from this vantage point as often as possible. Submerge yourself.”
  • I have this every now and then. Recently it happened with trees. I got a field guide to recognizing trees and I am astonished and in love with the complexity of every leaf I see.
• “As artists, we aim to live in a way in which we see the extraordinary hidden in the seemingly mundane. Then challenge ourselves to share what we see in a way that allows others a glimpse of this remarkable beauty.”
  • This is exactly what I try to do with my blogs and videos - translate the beauty I saw for everyone else to see as well.
• “Discipline and freedom seem like opposites. In reality, they are partners. Discipline is not a lack of freedom, it is a harmonious relationship with time. Managing your schedule and daily habits well is a necessary component to free up the practical and creative capacity to make great art.”
  • Who would have thought that Rick Rubin and Jocko Willink will share the same point of view!
• “It’s generally preferable to accumulate several weeks’ or months’ worth of ideas and then choose which of them to focus on, instead of following an urge or obligation to rush to the finish line with what is in front of us today.”
• “If you know what you want to do and you do it, that’s the work of a craftsman. If you begin with a question and use it to guide an adventure of discovery, that’s the work of the artist.”
  • I think I am more of a craftsman than an artist. Or I am an aspiring craftsman on an artistic journey of discovering what’s his true craft.
• “Often the most accurate signposts are emotional, not intellectual. Excitement tends to be the best barometer for selecting which seeds to focus on.”
  • Select (artistic) ideas to work on based on excitement not intellectual reasoning. Emphasis on ARTISTIC.
• “In some ways, the Craft phase is one of the least glamorous parts of the artist’s job. There is creativity involved, but it often carries less of the magic of exploration and more of the labor of brick-laying. This is the point in the journey where some struggle to carry on. For now, we need to look away from the open field and turn toward a winding staircase a hundred stories tall. A long, precarious climb lies ahead.”
  • I like this part. I am more of a craftsman after all.
• “When you’re on a roll in the Craft phase, work toward a full first draft. Maintain the momentum. If you reach a section of the work that gives you trouble, instead of letting this blockage stop you, work around it. Although your instinct may be to create sequentially, bypass the section where you’re stuck, complete the other parts, then come back to it.”
  • MAKE FIRST DRAFTS instead of polished first half-drafts. I am guilty of this and I have to STOP!
• “The reason we create art isn’t with the intention of making something useful for someone else. We create to express who we are. Who we are and where we are on our journey.”
  • Don’t fully agree here. A piece of art can also be useful. I would consider my videos and blogs personal pieces of art, yet they are also useful for others (I would like to think).
• Some art is based on incoherent ideas of what the artist wanted to make. And that’s fine. Most people have many incoherent ideas of their own so it may turn out that people resonate with a piece of art precisely because it captures their own incoherent thinking.
• “If we write an essay and give it to a friend, before even hearing their perspective, our relationship to the work changes. Give it to a mentor and our perspective shifts in a different way. We interrogate ourselves when we offer our work up to others. We ask the questions we didn’t ask ourselves when we were making it. Sharing it in this limited capacity brings our underlying doubts to light.”
  • Share your art. Just the act of sharing makes you consider different point of view - you don’t even need to listen to the feedback.
  • “If someone chooses to share feedback, listen to understand the person, not the work. People will tell you more about themselves than about the art when giving feedback. We each see a unique world.”