RE: muses

[permetaform]

th_nightengale mentioned muse-independant v. muse-dependant creation of artwork, and wondered about the possible demographics of creators who might or might not work with a muse.

[Poll #480760]
Personally, I work independant of a muse but keep on hearing about them occasionally in that other people use them. musesfool helped me clarify the idea of a muse in that the way I'm addressing them here is specifically as a separate individual entity.

If you do work with a muse, what form do they take and/or look like? Do you know what they look like? Do they change depending on your project?

Also, could this be at all culturally motivated? ie. more of an emphasis from western cultures who have a tradition (from the Greeks) of muses? OR could it be more prominent from cultures who do not like to accept the idea that inspiration/creativitiy/intelligence comes from oneself? (versus a higher being? or an alternate being?)

[edit] This also brings up interesting issues around sources of inspiration, and faith; can/should/could inspiration be attributed to outside sources? Common western psychological thought is that outside voices are simply hallucinations. But other lines of argument argue that creativity is simply a perception of more levels of possibility than those that occur in our current realm of existence...

[interesting threads]
- here (started by karose)
- here (started by sorchafyre)
- here (started by karotsamused)
- here (started by ranalore)
- here (started by aliaswestgate)
- here (started by billradish)
- here (started by th_nightengale)

[interesting followup post]
Muses and Friends - a poll and some discussion about a possible link between muses and the use of imaginary friends

[NOTE] The purpose of this post is to present a friendly forum for discussion. Please keep the discussion friendly and open? Concern is valid, so is criticism; but please keep an open mind. ::hugs flist:: Cool beans?

Comments

[climb-on.livejournal.com]

...less of a muse and more of a persistant naggy mental twitch and crazy urge to sit my ass down in front of the computer/a pad of paper and draw until it gets out.

Whatever it is, it won't let me concentrate until I get IT out.

...it always comes during exam time, too. Gargh.

[permetaform]

...less of a muse and more of a persistant naggy mental twitch and crazy urge to sit my ass down in front of the computer/a pad of paper and draw until it gets out.

oh man, I know exactly what you mean, but in regards to vidding...

[nightengale.livejournal.com]

Couldn't that twitch be labeled as a muse in its own right? In short: does the word/concept "muse" have to indicate something external to yourself, or is it a label for whatever reliably inspires you?

I mean...you rely on that tic to create, right? So what would happen if you didn't have it? I'm muse-dependent, and I'll be posting my thoughts soon, but I'm reading through the responses first. I was under a gross misunderstanding, that everyone worked with tangible muses, as I do, and now I'm wondering if the *form* of the muse isn't the point, and the presence, or poking it gives you, is.

Thoughts? Can you work without that self-sourced mental niggling?