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

[billradish.livejournal.com]

I picked the option that works best for me, but it's not accurate. I don't require a muse to create, and in fact most of the time when I'm working with them, it's not about writing, art or even photography. It's not about story, Story or plot. It's about them, how we interact and work, and how their space operates. The closest we get to creation right now is worldbuilding, and trying to piece together the reality of events. I'm still settling in to being a muse-home.

And one of the stories I'm writing is about a world where these muses are given the benefit I generally feel they deserve, and acknowledging them as entirely separate entities from the author.

Does that mean that all creativity stems from the muse? No. Does that mean that those with muses are more creative than those without? No. Does that mean that the muse exists solely to further creativity? Fuck no. That means we have a different system for doing it, and our system is different from every other muse-host's author on top of that. Communication is a bitch, and the concepts you're poking at are not blanket ones.

Call it creative schizophrenia and move on, or identify those who call themselves mused and seek out individuals to babble at you. Your questions will not apply to most in my sphere, and you'll learn more by asking individuals to babble about it, in a venue they're comfortable with.

As for me in particular, I have twenty currently in active residence, with another four at least hovering at the fringes. I'm a bit odd in that I get certain associations very clearly (aqua, turquoise and all varying shades of those colors now fall under Lulia in my head, for they're her favorite shades and it resonates) but don't generally actually see them. What I get instead are touch and texture, and I'll shiver when they're cold, or trip when I get down off a stool while someone taller is up in the affecting part of the brain, as the mental perception is that my legs are currently much longer. They are themselves, not truly changeable (though some will take on roles for other projects, when they feel like it) to the same degree that we are not.

And this? Is not something I'm generally comfortable with talking about in public. If I don't answer any replying comments, this is likely why.

[sorchafyre.livejournal.com]

And with one off-hand comment you've just helped something inside me to relax. Something that had nothing to do with the original thread or intent of the post, but for which I must thank you.

"...the mental perception is that my legs are currently much longer."

There are times when, in broken segments of time, I *know*, totally, instinctively and completely, that I am really a very small thing, wearing this huge, clunky body. Not that I stop receiving sensory imput from it, but that it's somehow all sort of... extraneous to who/what I really am. And when I mention that to trusted friends I get a general feeling of bewildered support but not true understanding. Just verbalizing it, even in written form, makes me wince at how easy it would be to dismiss or patronize this idea. I get the "Oh, like the alien in Men In Black that rode in the robot of the person" type-thing. Nowhere near.

But... reading this was a strange reassurance that, although it's not the same for me as it does not involve any outside personna, at least the general feeling of 'body disassociation' is something not completely unique to myself. Regardless if you even read this, I thank you.