This is one of my all time favorite talks on the nature of creativity and creative genius by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the phenomenally successful book, Eat, Pray, Love. The TED talk was filmed over three years ago now but her message is timeless, a return to the mysterious origins of creative insight. I love this talk because it takes away the heaviness of trying to create as an isolated individual and instead opens us up to the creative universe that has supported us all along. For anyone interested in creativity, insight, and innovation, this piece is a must. Here’s a bit of the transcript:
In the end it’s like this, O.K. — centuries ago in the deserts of North Africa, people used to gather for these moonlight dances of sacred dance and music that would go on for hours and hours, until dawn. And they were always magnificent, because the dancers were professionals and they were terrific, right? But every once in a while, very rarely, something would happen, and one of these performers would actually become transcendent. And I know you know what I’m talking about, because I know you’ve all seen, at some point in your life, a performance like this. It was like time would stop,and the dancer would sort of step through some kind of portal and he wasn’t doing anything different than he had ever done, 1,000 nights before, but everything would align.And all of a sudden, he would no longer appear to be merely human. He would be lit from within, and lit from below and all lit up on fire with divinity.
And when this happened, back then, people knew it for what it was, you know, they called it by its name. They would put their hands together and they would start to chant, “Allah, Allah, Allah, God, God, God.” That’s God, you know. Curious historical footnote — when the Moors invaded southern Spain, they took this custom with them and the pronunciation changed over the centuries from “Allah, Allah, Allah,” to “Ole, ole, ole,” which you still hear in bullfights and in flamenco dances. In Spain, when a performer has done something impossible and magic, “Allah, ole, ole, Allah, magnificent, bravo,” incomprehensible, there it is — a glimpse of God. Which is great, because we need that.
For the video of Gilbert’s talk, as well as the rest of the transcript, click here.