Invisible Forces And The Challenge Of Creativity-Nancy Hillis, MD and Bruce Sawhill, PhD
Invisible Forces & The Challenge Of Creativity
The following blog post is constructed from conversations between myself and my partner, Dr. Bruce Sawhill, Stanford educated theoretical physicist and mathematician.
When one hears the term force field, one tends to think of science fiction and spaceships, perhaps a device used by the jut-jawed captain of a gleaming starship to defend against the repugnant reptilian aliens who are seeking to enslave or eat the pure and righteous crew.
Spaceship
But force fields are everywhere in our lives, and the most forceful ones are the ones we are not aware of. These are the invisible influences that govern our choices, our inhibitions, even our aspirations.
Not surprisingly, this reminds me of some stories.
These tales are associated with physics, which is also not surprising, as the formal idea of a force field comes from physics but the informal idea is much more pervasive.
The 1920s was a heady time for physics, with the evanescent and mysterious workings of quantum mechanics being unveiled seemingly weekly.
It was as if some sort of dam burst and the new realizations come spilling out one after another.
Punctuated Equilibrium
It mirrors the natural phenomenon of punctuated equilibrium, where an ecosystem seems to be stable for a long time, changing slowly if at all, then seemingly out of nowhere a huge cascade of change shakes everything up.
A new and different ecosystem emerges for a long period of relative calm before the cycle repeats again.
This phenomenon happens in ecosystems of ideas as well as ecosystems of plants and animals, as we discussed at length in the COVID-19 blog post.
Punctuated equilibrium is reminiscent of the strange and beautiful way cigarette smoke suddenly changes from a smooth flow to a turbulent whorl.
Smoke Turbulence
Encrustation Precedes Intellectual Transformation
The application of the idea of punctuated equilibrium to scientific ideas has been explored by the historian of science Thomas Kuhn (1922-1996), who described a kind of encrustation that precedes an intellectual transformation.
An idea about how the world works is accepted truth until it starts to accumulate exceptions that require more and more complex explanations to remain intact, like more and more elaborate embellishments told by a criminal to cover up his whereabouts on a particular night when a crime occurred.
Eventually the idea collapses under its own weight, guilty as charged, and is replaced by something new and simpler.
How does this emergence of new paradigms relate to creative endeavors?
Works of art, music and literature are also models of the world like scientific theories are, but they use a different language than equations and measurements.
Perhaps, just as in science, the models break down or run out of steam after their power wanes.
Modes of artistic expression are not unequivocally proven wrong like theories, but instead become irrelevant or less compelling and fade away.
The first force field story comes from this fertile time in physics.
It is tongue in cheek, and concerns the influence of the theoretical physicist Wolfgang Pauli (1900-1958), known for, among other things, predicting a particle called the neutrino.
The neutrino has amazing properties, such as being so subtle that it is able to pass through billions of miles of solid lead without bouncing off of anything.
Some of us have known people like that.
The physicist George Gamov (1904-1968), known for using quantum mechanics to explain radioactivity, wrote a book called, Thirty Years That Shook Physics.
In it, he described not only what went on in labs and universities, but also the quirky and complex characters behind the experiments and equations.
Gamov describes a particular incident involving Pauli:
It is well known that theoretical physicists cannot handle experimental equipment; it breaks whenever they touch it.
Pauli was such a good theoretical physicist that something broke in the lab whenever he merely stepped across the threshold.
A mysterious event that did not seem at first to be connected with Pauli’s presence once occurred in Professor James Franck’s (no relation to the composer/organist César Franck) laboratory in Göttingen in southern Germany, near Stuttgart.
Early one afternoon, without apparent cause, a complicated apparatus for the study of atomic phenomena collapsed.
Franck wrote humorously about this to Pauli at his Zurich address and, after some delay, received an answer in an envelope with a Danish stamp.
Pauli wrote that he had gone to visit Niels Bohr (more about him below) and at the time of the mishap in Franck’s laboratory his train was stopped for a few minutes at the Göttingen railroad station!
Göttingen
The Pauli Effect & Invisible Force Fields
This became known as The Pauli Effect, and there were numerous claims of its workings among physicists.
The Pauli Effect is a humorous anecdote about an invisible force field that most people probably did not take seriously but made for a good story.
But there are other force fields, just as invisible, that people take much more seriously.
A story of some gravity
Newton & The Apple
Let’s look a little more into invisible force fields that people take seriously.
Most of us believe in the existence of gravity, though nobody has ever seen it.
Why is that?
- Because it affects many things in consistent ways.
- Because we can talk about it and compare notes and do repeatable experiments.
- Because we can relate to it personally.
Physicists have created the idea of a force field to explain the workings of gravity in a concise way.
A force field is a human abstraction, a mathematical construct that associates numbers with points in space, the numbers tell us how strong gravity is at that point and what direction it points.
This abstraction helps us make sense of our world. Perhaps this is the reason abstraction exists at all.
Embedded in the idea of a gravity force field is a belief that gravity is not subjective, that it works everywhere including places we’ve never been.
Like all scientific theories, it incorporates elements of belief, because scientific theories can’t be proven right, they can only be proven wrong.
There is always that one possible experiment that discovers that gravity doesn’t apply right behind your left elbow that could sink the whole elaborate edifice, Newton and Einstein and lots of others washed away in the dam breach.
Remember this when people state emphatically: “The science is settled”.
The Power of Belief
A very instructive story about belief comes from Copenhagen, Denmark, from the fertile and impish mind of Niels Bohr (1885-1962), one of the fathers of quantum mechanics, whose discoveries of resonances in atoms resonated all the way back to Pythagoras’ discoveries of harmonics in a string.
He kept a horseshoe above his office door, with the open end pointed upward so as to catch luck.
Horseshoe
At some point a reporter came to his institute to interview him and was puzzled by the horseshoe.
The reporter queried, “How can such a famous scientist as yourself believe in such superstitious nonsense?”
Bohr replied, unfazed, “You know, my friends tell me it works whether you believe in it or not.”
Bohr probably had his horseshoe just for fun and to provoke journalists, but beliefs are not always so obviously posted above one’s office door. Many of them are more subversive and subtle than that.
The insidiousness of beliefs and the importance of examining them
The economist John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) wrote,
Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back.
John Maynard Keynes
Ideas are sticky, like viruses, and it’s easy to become unknowingly infected.
There are lots of things, like Bohr’s horseshoe, that work whether you believe in them or not.
And, conversely and perversely, there are things that don’t work that you believe in nonetheless.
Often it is because these things live under the radar of overt questioning and occupy the realm of the subconscious.
Like an iceberg, the subconscious is much bigger than the conscious world and resists efforts at cataloging.
So we create fictitious forces and effects to try and simplify and comprehend what is going on down there, so as to make sense of our world.
We are the scientists of our own internal worlds, creating and discarding theories.
But we are also the architects of our internal worlds, with the ability to influence things, not like physicists trying to find consistency across the whole Universe.
Not only do we sometimes believe in things we don’t understand, sometimes we don’t even know that we believe in certain things.
As Mark Twain famously did not say,
It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.
Nobody actually knows who said it, which makes it a good quote in a discussion about the origin of certain beliefs.
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The Artist’s Journey: Bold Strokes To Spark Creativity- Nancy Hillis, M.D.
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Dr. Nancy Hillis is a Stanford-trained existential psychiatrist, abstract artist, and founder of The Artist’s Journey® workshops. In The Artist’s Journey, Dr. Hillis expertly guides you to experiment with mark making, color, and brush strokes, to explore ways of igniting inspiration—and finally, to express you in your paintings
You mean follow your instincts…..
Hi Harold,
No, that’s not examined enough. Examine your instincts would be closer.
Thanks for writing.
Warmly,
Nancy
I like this article and it reminds me of something I wrote. I’ll share that with you hoping that you won’t mind. This is what I wrote in my artist statement when I finished my MA in art.
When I’m in my studio, I’m not working as much as reacting to what is going on with a painting. My eyes tell me how the painting reacts to my touch with color, texture, and shape. Forms can shift between representation and non-representation as the dialog with the painting progresses.
I start each painting with an idea and then it becomes an exploration between myself and the development of space on the canvas. Sometimes I’ll use the same structure, then I add or subtract elements. I like working on more than one painting at a time because it becomes a conversation, the paintings and I all communicate on some level.
Repeating the process in more pieces allows me to extend myself, and answer questions that arise, like what if, or does it convey emotion, and is there visual excitement? This pushes me ahead on the road. I have noticed that when something in a painting becomes the inspiration for another painting, it all adds up to be a most pleasurable journey back to an interior reality, my Self.
This process of interaction and repetition is fed by being aware of things around me in my environment, and by other artists works and conversations. All these things leave impressions and I use some of them in paintings to create atmosphere and moods.
For me, the act of painting becomes an exciting, conscious three-way conversation between my ideas, the process, and painting. Ideas generate process, through process, the painting and I have a conversation, then process generates ideas. I am exploring the ways in which inner and outer consciousness work together in tandem and how the integration of meditation and action results in the creative expression.
Hi Millie,
I love it. Lovely articulation of your process of continual exploration in your art. Thank you so much for being here and for sharing your experience.
Warmly,
Nancy
I love your description, it is reminiscent of the orchestration of music or water at the shore line, pushed and pulled by the forces of nature and the moon.
Nancy,
This is very timely in our transitioning world. As I see it, it a soul invitation to move from the belief of being limited to the unlimited nature of soul consciousness. Then watch to see what is revealed!
Thank you for your post.
Eileen,
Beautifully stated Eileen. I love it. Thank you for being here and for your thoughts.
Warmly,
Nancy
Hello Nancy,
I loved this blog. Thinking of limiting beliefs as force fields and undoubtedly “noble lies” or more insidiously “useful fiction” was very helpful. Three of them were operating as my own personal “fake news” answering the question, why am I not painting or making art of some kind?
1. I don’t have time.
2. I don’t know what to paint.
3. I don’t know where to start (or finish, for that matter).
Here comes the punctuated equilibrium. The lockdown put me out of work (I’m a manual therapist by trade). My surfer son, transplanted to Tahoe, called and asked for an ocean painting now that I had time on my hands. As an oceanfront dweller I walk the beach and photograph its amazing movements and moods regularly. I sent off a few, he picked one. I had some large canvases enthusiastically bought on sale some time ago in a burst of hopefulness. He chose a 48×48 size canvas, and there I was, thrust forward in the direction I so wanted to go. Areas 1 and 2 covered: time to paint and what to paint.
Now for the third: where to start. This was the most amazing. With the other force fields “recalibrated” the only thing to do was to do something to the canvas. A quick delineation of ocean and sky, mix some color, slap it on. This led to a final unknown belief: if I hit points where I can’t resolve an area, what then? I heard the best voices ever in my head. “You’re doing great. Keep exploring. Try something else. Blast out that area and see what happens…This is fun. You’re getting it..don’t you worry, this is going to be good.” A lot of experimentation and exhausting focus became an exhilarating experience. The defeating, negative voices just weren’t there. What happened? Where did these voices come from? Whoever you are, I like you.
Truth is, I don’t know because they certainly haven’t been active before. But here’s the thing: having numbers 1 and 2 removed was liberating. And then the domino effect: my son’s twin brother, also a surfer transplanted to Tahoe, wanted a painting. A very different feel based on the photo he chose. Then my niece put in a request. Then my nephew, then my sister. I will soon be starting the largest of all for my nephew. With each painting I am gaining more confidence that a work in progress is just that, and it is finished when I can say, ok this is the best I can do (for now). Hand it off.
I now see the negative, defeating thoughts as the encrustations you wrote about. Do we have control over them? Can we cause a punctuated equilibrium? I don’t know, but I do think that being out of work gave me some mental space and a slowing down of urgencies. Slowing down has helped me to become more reflective and accepting of my own unique self without comparing to others (and it didn’t come right away!). My paintings may not be “great” or as beautiful as many I see on site such as Pinterest, but I got that they are my own expression. I was delighted to discover that I was ok with that.
There’s another force field at work here: I was not making the paintings for money. I was making them for love.
Thank you for the physics. I have long loved what I have learned about Quantum Physics and its user friendly fields. Your blog was enlightening.
Hello Pat,
Thank you so much! And thank you for your thoughtful and considered response.
I love your story- the unknown belief, the encouraging voices in your head, the power of constraint with paintings requested, the slowing down engendering reflection and deeper self acceptance, creating for love.
What a beautiful story. Thank you for sharing it. I’m delighted that the blog is enlightening and meaningful to you.
Warmly,
Nancy
Wow. Wow. Your blog posts are filled with insight, promote depthful consideration, and I appreciate and look forward to each one.
Thank you
Thank you so much Patti! I’m delighted that these posts are meaningful to you.
Warmly,
Nancy
Pat Berberich…your comment gives me hope! It’s very inspiring! I love Nancy’s writing…always so provoking and encouraging…and this of yours is just exactly what I needed to read after reading her post! Thank you…and may the joy and the flow continue !
Somethings come and go; those which matter remain!
Thanks,
Denise
Hi Denise! Yes, they sure do. Great to see you here.
Warmly,
Nancy
I enjoyed this blog very much. I feel it is a question of opening up and then some more. There is magical stuff that cannot be explained, or I can’t and I don’t want to. It’s getting through the low bits with gritted teeth, keeping going and trying to let thoughts go . Stepping through to see what’s happening. Instinct first and then apply light discipline to create the magic. On a lighter note, wouldn’t it be great if they sold artistic courage in bags along with the paints!!
I’m still learning so much, thank you again
Keep well, keep safe. Happy Painting Margaret
Hi Margaret,
Thank you so much! Yes, the magic beyond comprehension, getting out of the way, moving beyond the thinking mind and allowing the spontaneous to come through…Ha! Yes, magic in a bag! I love it. That would be an interesting story to write!
Thank you for being on the journey Margaret. Stay safe and well too!
Warmly,
Nancy
I’m involved with teaching art as well. I’m trying to teach art principles, but also use that platform as a way to help others feel their own power and freedom and learn to love themselves. And I know that these force fields do indeed stop many students. They know it too, in my experience in talking with them. So. HOW do we show them a way to de activate these forcefields? What is the pedagogy? I struggle so much with trying to keep a class light, fun, engaging – while at the same time touching and addressing the real lessons. Just thought you might have some insight on that.
Hi Karen,
The cultivation of self compassion is the ongoing work of a lifetime. As artists and creators we’re continually facing the unknown, feeling vulnerable, grappling with the perils of inner criticism, self doubt and the fear of mistakes, failures and “ugly” paintings. Art mirrors our lives, our inner states.
As teachers and artists, there are things we can learn about and transmit, such as the research on topics of: the inner dialogue and its affect on creating, Carol Dweck’s work on growth versus static mindset, intrinsic versus extrinsic validation, the power of constraint in creativity and much more. Then there’s the importance of trusting oneself and I’ve written an entire book on this topic informed by over 25 years in psychiatry and psychotherapy.
In my mind, this important topic cannot be reduced to a how to answer. Facing the dark night of the soul, learning to love oneself and embrace the space of “not knowing” that creating brings up, is part of the human condition. It’s a process that unfolds and evolves over time.
There are two quotes I love that get at the essential mystery of life, the mystery we tap into as artists.
“Life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved” -Soren Kierkegaard
“Do not now seek the answers which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now”- Rainer Maria Rilke
Thank you for being here, for doing the beautiful work you’re doing with artists and for asking this important question.
Warmly,
Nancy
Where do I start? I’m hoping you don’t mind if I tell you that I KNOW you are Brilliant, Nancy. You are brave too. I know you are brilliant because many years ago I was brilliant too…lol… Oh, don’t make a fuss… I know I could slip back into those red shiny Dorthy shoes again and on occasion I still do. The brilliance I’m speaking of comes from the knowing of ones self and what human beings are actually capable of creating …not only as an Artist but in all of life! To be, and stay in that huge awareness takes guts! What happened to me is that after realizing it was no joke to be the entire creator of my life, and too, when looking around discovering I was alone….thats when I chickened out. All I had to do is click my heels together and wish myself back ‘home’ to be ‘normal’ again and actually have people I could talk to! But YOU are so brilliant that you are surrounding yourself with other aware creators and even pulling some up with your red shiny boot straps!
Love the course and YOU!
Ah…Thank you from the bottom of my heart dear Nancy. I’m deeply moved by your words and your story.
The old stories tell us that in our lives, we’re called by something meaningful, by a dream, by our heart’s yearnings… but oftentimes we refuse. We turn our face away.
But one day, we refuse the refusal. We say yes. We put on the red, sparkly shoes and click them together three times.
All of that brilliance is in you. It never left. It’s waiting there patiently for you.
I believe in YOU and I love YOU too!
Nancy,
I’m on day 28 (?) with Creative Prompts and found this conversation. Had “beginners luck” (created fictitious force?) the first 18 days Then ENCRUSTATION ensued! Am numbering and dating the Ugly Paintings; getting them ready for the Altar. Then the invisible – but loud – force fields moved in. (Kin to monkey mind, as noisy as poltergeist.) But as we acknowledge (defang!) the force fields, then tell them to drift away, they usually do. Prior to reading your blog, I put some paint down that felt and looked closest to what has been in my head. Seismic shift, positive force fields? Is there an It’s-About-Time-Theory in Bruce’s scientific arsenal? This week, the accumulation of your teachings, telling us IT is possible, and gremlins coming out to help have had a very positive outcome,
Many thanks for your encouragement,
Melissa,
I’m laughing uproariously over here! Bruce too!!! You are a very expressive and playful writer! I love it Melissa! I’m delighted that you’re enjoying this!
Warmly,
Nancy
As always I find inspiration in your words and come away realizing that I still have the power of creation on my own terms. It’s like a term we use in Buddhism, a theory if you will entitled Hokke-shu Kempon meaning to discard the transient and revealing the true. In your article I can recognize those force fields let them remind me that I have that I have the ability shed those things and reveal the artist within.
Thank you
Hi dear Lois!
Thank you so much. It’s always wonderful to hear from you. Thank you for sharing your lovely note about Hokke-shu Kempon, the power of your own creation and shedding things to reveal the artist within. I appreciate you Lois. Thank you for being on this journey and in my life.
Warmly,
Nancy
Hi Nancy,
My favorite blog, wait what day is it? They are all my favorite.
Finally in my studio after blinking and stepping out of a force field. Did I disappear and reappear through or over? But like the horse shoe does it really matter? Well, yes, as to the how of it and the fun of the math and mark making. And no kidding, this morning after reading this conversation I looked up and out my kitchen window, and right there in the near distance over Jacks Valley was a hot air ballon rising and falling. I thought of the train stopped at Stuttgart.
As in synchronicity to the West, way back at the beginning of paper and writing we read how shiva dances as a new world is born and the baby god contains the whole of the universe at birth. Let’s spend our moments in this form benevolently seeking, allowing, imagining, forgiving, loving and constantly returning to where we are all meant to be.
Thank you once again for shining your brilliant lights!
Marian
Hi Marian,
Ah…I got goosebumps reading your lyrical note. Yes! to dancing in the light and returning to our true home of belonging.
Thank you dear Marian for YOU!
Warmly,
Nancy
Fascinating stuff Nancy. Exquisitly described. I never question why, just enjoy the path that leads me to rich sources, like your site(s). I started this morning with Goodreads, noted we have mutual “friends” there and chose you to explore. My new ebook, Little Magic, follows that same inner direction. For 25 years I gave rides in my beautiful TravelAir biplane over the San Juan Islands and on the counter I had a tiny sign which read, ” My whimsical Aerosculptures include the elements of cloud, wind, water, “G” force, music and folklore in a delicate, yet powerful, ephemeral performance which disappears as it is created yet is never forgotten.” That was exactly how I felt about every flight I offered.
Thank you Rod! Wow! You transported me with your magical description of your Aerosculptures. Definitely unforgettable.
Warmly,
Nancy
Thank you Nancy..you seem to lift weights off my heart..I feel so much lighter after reading your blog..and wanting to create !
You’re welcome Sharla! Ah…I’m delighted to hear this. Happy creating!
Warmly,
Nancy