The mantra of today is that everybody is creative. I came across that truism in a book that decidely says choosing what to wear and decorating our homes are creative decisions we all make. Therefore we're all creative. Theoretically, of course. But it's the theory that has widened the creative department at most ad agencies to include pretty much everybody.

"The creative department shouldn't be the only one's who get to be creative.
We're all creative!"

So they say.

What I want to know is why do they want to be creative in the first place? Do they have any idea what they are getting themselves into?

Most creative people I know (including me) have a greyness about them. Or at least the one's who are trying to make a living from their creativity. That's because being creative is a fucking tortuous process. First we torture ourselves as we try to find a creative way to show an idea. Then we're tortured by the average minds who laugh and watch as we torture ourselves. Then we're tortured by the people who sell our ideas to all those average minds, because the only way to sell to an average mind is to average-out the idea. And if the idea still doesn't sell, well, now the torture really begins. The only entity in that equation more tortured than a man with an idea, is the idea itself.

So why would anyone want to be creative? Now when I say "be creative", I mean being a creator. That is, being responsible for the inception, development, protection and completion of an idea. Going through that entire process is hell. So I don't think they -- whoever they are -- really want to be creative. What they really want is to be a "Bob."

Bob, as I call him, is the guy who has no background in design or writing or whatever the abused creative endeavor may be. Bob is unable to be creative until someone creative gives him something to tweak, adjust or worst, consult. Bob confuses his ego with talent. Creative people who work with Bob know him to be an imposter.

What makes Bob an imposter is not that he wants to be creative too. It's his way of going about it. His way is cheap. So are his rewards. If he were truly creative, he would reap the true rewards of suffering the creative process. That's the secret that all those creative and tortured souls keep: Creativity is more than just its own reward. It offers deeper treasures. They're buried deep though.

To be creative involves self-discovery, and self-discovery is a vulnerable experience. Bob doesn't know anything about this. And he's not alone. So much of our culture is about hiding our undiscovered self and vulnerabilities behind cosmetics and bravado. It's a great way to be seen by others while keeping our essential self incognito. But that's not what any of the artists I know are after. I'll quote the writer and producer, Peter Dunne: "You must decide now, if you are going to be a writer, that you will not be afraid to tell on yourself."

That's why so many artists and writers I know have a moodiness about them. They're always telling on themselves in their work. Exposing themselves to themselves. And it's a painful, fatiguing experience because we're constantly re-opening old wounds. We become our own doctor, re-breaking a few bones so that this time they will heal properly.

Peter Dunne called this telling your truth. I'll quote him again: "Truth has no shame and has no excuse. It simply is what it is. It is the best of human qualities. It is the bridge between heaven and earth. All truth relies on an innate willingness to risk emotional vulnerability."

What's interesting about Dunne's words is that they echo what I've read about the Egyptians and their concept of that gap between heaven and earth. Apparently, after death, you stand to be judged by your own heart. During this judgement you stand before a scale. On one side of the scale is your heart. On the other side, a feather. The heart, to have levity, had to be filled with truth only. Lies and illusions about ourselves and our deeds gave it weight. Weight that it doesn't need. And so our task in this life is to shed a few pounds.

Being creative is a good way to do that.

So I'll change that damn mantra from "Everybody is Creative" to "Everybody should be creative." All of us should write, or make some kind of art. Or do something that allows us to articulate symbols of ourselves. We should put some part of ourselves on the line. We should risk losing our illusions and protecting our creativity and not the other way around.

That's why creative people seem so damn territorial. We're not protecting our ego. We're protecting our creativity.

It's the creativity we found down a wide path that got narrow at the end. I don't mean that all-inclusive creativity that people write books about. Creativity may begin that way, but the end is more personal. It has to be if the next mission, as Dunne says, is to "tell on yourself."

MY CREATIVITY is my singular mode of expression. It's the same as saying MY EXPERIENCES. Both are the treasures I dug so deeply to find. Bob can try and steal them if he wants, but he wouldn't know what the hell to do with them anyway. Because MY CREATIVITY and MY EXPERIENCES don't belong to him. They're all mine.

And my sincere advice to the Bob's of the world is this: Go find your own.