To create requires energy, focus—to channel undifferentiated chaos of ideas into actuality. This is no small cost, as mental activity depletes one as much or more than physical labor. Similar to physical labor, when one enters into that shimmering state of optimal exertion—there is a paradoxical effect of becoming more energized by one's mental work to the degree that it opens avenues of sentiment and thought previously shut to awareness.

A pinprick of inflooding light becomes a slit, becomes a crevice—then a window, then a door for us to walk into—to discover other worlds we could not dream of but only inhabit when the key of willingness is entered into our mind's lock. In the new space, we receive new considerations, a fresh outlook, and a new appreciation for the basic facts of our existence. This encourages one to attempt to achieve a sort of perpetual motion in which we knowingly pay the energy cost of creativity, realizing it will be paid back in full—with interest.

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A depressed state, however severe, displays this exponential dynamic quite clearly in the reverse. Having come to a living impasse, however subtle or overt, we decide subconsciously that we are unable to meet the demands of life and begin to shut down. As we shrink from life, we become rigid and unfeeling; in order to preserve our false peace we gaze on our former passions dully and fall into neglect.

Having fallen into neglect, we further convince ourselves that it is not worth the effort to meet life head-on; we become drains of resources to those around us and tell ourselves that we are unloved and undeserving of love. Life appears to be infinitely arid; happiness becomes a limited commodity that only the privileged have access to, if it even exists at all. We arrive at cynicism and existential despair.

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In order to break this vicious cycle and snap the self-hypnosis, intervention becomes necessary, whether by a mysterious internal shift that comes seemingly uncaused, or by contact with an individual who remains in the perpetually creative state. This is the true, profound beauty of the collective organism we call humanity; we are the flowering of animal mammalian caring—originally for offspring or an exclusive in-group—into its greater fullness as a generalized affection for all living things. Thus, the lotus opens its petals.

Arising from the doldrums, we have acquired the unexpected gift of compassion and empathy. Having experienced the worst of what we are capable of feeling, we open more fully to the best and highest impulses of the human spirit. Gratitude comes as a consequence of the realization that no, we did not deserve love—we were given it freely, regardless of what we perceived as our shortcomings. Someone was willing to pay the cost we were unable to pay. Sooner or later, we will find ourselves in the position to pay someone else's debts in full, take them by the hand, and lead them to freedom.

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...This post is original content created by Daniel Pendergraft (@d-pend)...
....................to be published to blockchain on March 23, 2020.....................

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