No, You are Not in Competition with the Collective Consciousness
So forget the invisible competitor, and focus on your own creative magic.
Photo: Jamie Feldman
There’s a growing believe among the creative community that artists can tap into the universal consciousness or quantum realm or collective well of the muses (whatever you want to call it) to draw down ideas. This would mean artists are able to tap into the same ideas and it then becomes a race to the finish line to see who materializes their art first. I’ve also heard a slightly different version of this concept where the universe/God/the creator predetermines when it’s time for a creative work to be born into the world, and if the artist presented with the idea cannot materialize it on time, it is then passed on to another.
Personally, I think these concepts are bullshit, force creatives into applying necessary pressure on themselves, and are potentially dangerous justifications for plagiarism. Didn’t expect me to say that, did you? Let’s get into it.
I first heard of this concept after Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic came onto the scene. In this book on the creative process, she discusses how the idea of a universal creative well explains how another well-known author managed to write nearly the exact book she’d abandoned a few years earlier. In this case, it’s possible coincidences happen. People absolutely do come up with the same concepts. However, I question when a work has the same plot, characters, and dramatic arc whether or not some whisper networking behind the scenes was involved. After all, in Gilbert’s case, her agent, publisher, and countless other professionals on her team did know about this book.
I suppose I’m a bit leery of believing that all similar works are mere coincidences of an artist tapping into a universal well party because I’ve had my own work stolen before. It was a short film script many many years ago, but yes, I could trace a direct line back to two professionals who I worked with on the script, who were later both involved in the stolen project. It’s all water under the bridge now, but all those folks out there who openly pitch their ideas on twitter, or seek beta reading from strangers no the internet, or openly give their work away? Well, they may be asking for a rude awakening.
I don’t say this to sound harsh, but in the last two weeks the big news in the writing world was the firing of an agent who openly solicited writers to submit work based on the query letter of a rejected writer. Essentially we are in a time where a literary agent felt it was acceptable to steal a querying writer’s idea from her inbox, reject that writer, and then openly steal and share the concept publicly by asking others to write it instead. That is absolutely insane to me, and regardless of that agent being fired, the current atmosphere allowed her to feel safe enough to do it in the first place. (Of course those of us in the know are well aware that this person had been employed by the same agency where another one of their agents called writers hobbyists who didn’t deserve to get paid in the same way as agents do. Apparently only agents have bills to pay from books, where the labour writers require to write those books is funded by spinning straw into gold, I guess?)
The point I’m trying to make is that plagiarism exists out there, even if it’s only from a handful of bad actors. It does creators a great disservice to think someone else beat them to the finish line on a great idea when the work wasn’t being valued or protected. Also, taking the second half of our original concept into consideration, if the universe wants an idea birthed into the world at a specific time, then what’s the point of having it met with that handful of bad faith professionals to stall it? Surely if an idea is that important to be brought into the world on a specific schedule, then its path though the professional gatekeepers should be smooth, right?
To this point, I’m reminded of significant artists like Vincent Van Gogh, who never saw success in their own lifetimes. Why give Van Gogh the inspiration if the artwork’s time was not the present? And, perhaps more importantly, what does that say about Van Gogh’s individual talent and auteurship? To use a different example, I’ve heard it said The Beatles are proof that God exists. However, I’m more inclined to believe that perhaps God/the universe had a hand in bringing Lennon and McCartney together as writing partners, and then perhaps again to bring producer George Martin into their lives. Was there magic created? Absolutely! But was the magic that “Hey Jude” needed to be released into he world precisely in 1968, or was it that a group of specific, very talented, and creatively open people were brought together to create something bigger then themselves, or individually ever could? The same goes for Elton John and Bernie Taupin. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. It’s certainly something to consider here for sure.
As another discussion point, what do we make of individual fate in all of this? After all, the initial concept is rooted in spirituality, so it seems fair game to go there. Let’s take Harry Potter, for example. This wasn’t the first book ever written about a boy who goes to wizard school. And, to be honest, the first Harry Potter book isn’t really anything earth shattering in terms of concept or style. (And several publishers who rejected it at the time would agree.) So why was it — and JK Rowling — propelled into such fame and fortune? Rowling, herself, has said how the initial concepts for the wizarding world came to her out of the blue, so was she predestined to create the legacy that is Harry Potter and live a life of luxury? It’s hard to say she simply tapped into the well and beat everyone else to the finish line because the initial concept wasn’t really that original. And furthermore, in the following decade, anyone who so much as wrote a short story about a wizard, or a magic school, or just a middle grade book with any sort of magic realism or fantasy elements, was accused of trying to recreate or ripoff Harry Potter. (I guess we all forgot about the plethora of middle grade wizard books that came before it.)
Perhaps this speaks to another point. Many artists will argue that multiple people can crate the same concept but will ultimately end up with a different result on account of auteurship. So if Wes Anderson and Quintin Tarentino both took swings at directing Citizen Kane, you’d get some wildly different films! However, this is really only acceptable with low concept/ highly stylized work. Going back to Harry Potter, no one else could write anything similar for years without backlash due to its widespread popularity. Likewise, if someone else made another horror film with the same twist as The Sixth Sense, it isn’t going to be so great the second time around. The same goes for any movie that has a time loop — it’ll always be compared to Groundhog Day. There is a reason there are so many sequels and remakes of great films, but never similar ones with the same concepts — you just can’t beat the original. This is why it’s so important to value and protect your ideas, and why it was absolutely the right move to fire that agent who refused to honour that value, and broke a writer’s trust.
So does that mean it really is a race to the finish line to get original ideas out there? No, I don’t think so. The King and The Mockingbird is regarded as a masterpiece of French animation — and it took 33 years to make. It took JRR Tolkien 17 years to write The Lord of The Rings. Painting the Mona Lisa took 16 years. Guns N Roses started recording their album, Chinese Democracy, in the late nineties and didn’t finish until 14 years later, releasing it in 2008. Art takes as long as it needs to be completed, and putting invisible competition and pressure on an artist does nothing but stifle creative output.
Do I think there is a creative well, or channel, or some spiritual way to tap into creativity? Yes, I think so, based on my own experience. However — and this is a big however — I don’t think it’s like a bunch of last minute shoppers all clambering though a holiday bargain bin on Christmas eve looking for the last hot ticket action figure to put under the tree. (In other words, creating is not the plot of Jingle All the Way!). The universe is a lot more complex than that, and art has much more magic involved. So take the pressure off. You’re not in competition with anyone but yourself. And just as long as you protect your magic, keep creating. You still have time.