To be or not to be...to should or not to should.

"The creative person has to dissolve all shoulds and should nots. He needs freedom and space, vast space, he needs the whole sky and all the stars, only then can his innermost spontaneity start growing.


When I say be creative, I don't mean that you should all go and become great painters and great poets. I simply mean let your life be a painting, let your life be a poem."

Creativity: unleashing the forces within, OSHO, p.120, p. 128






Several years ago a dear friend of the past was eating brunch with me. As we talked I marveled at her ability to see life so clearly. I jokingly called her my Zen master. [She is probably one of the smartest people I have ever known and someone I will always highly respect.]


I was going through an especially hard time. My body was "betraying" me often with illness and great difficulties. One day I would wake up and I would seem fine. The next day my existence was like a landslide. I questioned my friend about my life. She simply said something like, "You have a case of the 'shoulds.' You need to stop doing everything you think you should."


I am an artist by education. [I don't really produce work for purchase. I tend to gift most of my work. Yes! selling my work makes me excessively nervous. Putting a price on any piece feels like a nightmare. ] My point (I have one somewhere!!!) in saying all this is that people have frequently spoken to me about creativity. Many have even given me credit for being really creative---powerfully so, to be exact. And I think creativity is extremely important to all walks of the universe. I believe that, too often, we as people cave to the masses and our originality and our creative urges go by the wayside.


There was a time when societies were shaped by rules, regulations and etiquette. There wasn't a lot of wiggle room for individuality. To some degree this "shaping" concept was mandatory to the time period. Without structure many people would have expired prematurely and civilizations may have been destroyed. There was a group consciousness


[Collective consciousness refers to the shared beliefs and moral attitudes which operate as a unifying force within society.[1] This term was used by the French social theorist Émile Durkheim (1858-1917) in his books The Division of Labour (1893), The Rules of Sociological Method (1895), Suicide (1897), and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912).]



that was newly born in mankind and it needed to be cared for, nurtured, and protected. A lot of ignorance about the world and all its nuances prevailed. Harm could easily ensue.


[Webster's English Dictionary defines consciousness as con.scious.ness \'ka:n-ch*-sn*s\ n 1: awareness esp. of something within oneself; also : the state or fact of being conscious of an external object, state, or fact 2: the state of being characterized by sensation, emotion, volition, and th ought : MIND 3: the totality of conscious states of an individual 4: the normal state of conscious life 5: the upper level of mental life as contrasted with unconscious processes.]


But the evolution of earth has not stood still. The earth has changed. People have grown and developed. And as the development has occurred, the collective unconscious

[The collective unconscious is also known as "a reservoir of the experiences of our species."[1] Jensen, Peter S., Mrazek, David, Knapp, Penelope K., Steinberg, Laurence, Pfeffer, Cynthia, Schowalter, John, & Shapiro, Theodore. (Dec 1997) Evolution and revolution in child psychiatry: ADHD as a disorder of adaptation. (attention-deficit hyperactivity syndrome). Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 36. p. 1672. (10). July 14 2007. ]


has expanded. That is to say, our sense of knowing has become quite immense. Both the East and West have brought forth distinct ways of thinking and being; and now the various cultures are beginning to merge and become One. It is not easy. There is a lot of growth that has yet to surface; but our learning pace is amazingly fast.


Our lines of defense and/or consistency are quite blurred. Just looking at technology and news services, for example, we must admit that what used to be considered hard, factual news reporting is now so gray and malleable we frequently hear people say things like, "I don't want to watch FOX. It is so biased." Or, "CNN is the worst. It just manufactures information."

Points such as those show how truth has become very loose. [And, who really knows, maybe it has always sort of been THAT way] And when truths are subjectively administered---whether through cultural bias, or personal rhetoric---the concept of SHOULD becomes quite frustrating.

I was the fourth born child in my family. I spent a large section of my life watching my siblings, parents and extended relatives to determine right from wrong, and, also, to plan a course of action for daily living. My oldest brother, Curt, used to tease me regularly about my "little black book" that contained the rules for life.



Ironically, Curt never understood when we were young that he contributed to that very metaphor each and every day. He would say, "Do this, or don't do that," and somehow, without much effort, his verse became my reality. I had relatively no choice in the acceptance. He was bigger, five and a half years older, and much more aggressive than me. His word became my sheltered and naive viewpoint. But he is just one person that contributed to my childhood perspective. There were many more: my teachers, my friends, my employers, etc.



I didn't have the liberty to ignore everyone else's opinion. My family role was designed so that I gleaned knowing---not from the "inside of my heart and soul"--- but rather, from the my "external resources." I got very confused by people who spoke to me about freedom to choose. I didn't get that concept at all. My choices certainly never felt open and worldly. My choices felt confined and to the point. I lived my life according to everyone else's experience, and that is what I knew to do.



Many times I have heard people speak about adulthood which supposedly starts at 18 in American society. Cruelly, lacking total compassion, and saturated with judgment, people have stated, "She/he should know better than that, etc." My question for the compassionless, dogmatic individuals that spout [because I once was one frequently---hopefully not so much anymore], "She/he should..." so easily, is,

"Do you know everything from birth? Did your parents give you perfect knowing as they reared you? Are you currently complete as a human being? Have you ever made a mistake?"



Chances are, people will shrink at such proposals. The proposals are seemingly so silly. We, of course, all come from a different place. We have not been given a big book of answers to use on our individual journeys. We are seeking Oneness, yes [even when we are ignorant of that seeking]. But, we come from different angles and perspectives. And we each have been given different gifts and abilities. We have to use our individual identities to create our thoughts, feelings, and ultimately, our lives every day that we are on the planet. And we have to become aware of our single and unique identity first.

Creatively, Western society has spun an elusive, silky web of thoughts, feelings and jurisdictions. Our laws, for instance, are inlaid with "secret weapons" to unleash in a courtroom when least expected. If a word is interpreted one way, there is victory. If it is interpreted another way, there is failure. Furthermore, if you are a talented attorney you can render the "weapons" without much effort. If you are not so talented, you tend to encounter the brunt end of those "weapons."

Our nation is highly educated. I have heard it said that Bachelor's degrees are now a dime a dozen. And, yet, with all these "bonanzas," I continue to witness people being crushed in the wake of their fellow citizens.

I adhere to a philosophy of thought that encourages one's highest Self to be groomed and released. I feel that we all have much to learn from one another, and I struggle with the concept I grew up under: Survival of the Fittest.

The United States is filled with the desire to win and to conquer. Capitalism flourishes all around me. Competition is stiff. Egotism haunts every nook and cranny of our path. The country was born in blood, sweat, and tears. My forefathers did not assume their leadership easily and without pain. They fought for their freedoms. And they worked for what they said.

Today, we live in the legacy of those brave and valiant people. Yet, the legacy is but a ghost wafting through our minds and hearts. As a people, we no more can realize what our forefathers projected for us than they could contend with our current day-to-day lifestyles. Though it is true that many people in the United States grapple to survive; there are probably just as many people, if not more, who populate our cities from coast to coast that merely creatively apply the "Tabitha Stephens" technique to living. In other words, they metaphorically twinkle their noses and achieve instant gratification for whatever their needs and desires are for the moment. The people of today blaze through credit cards, loans and cash like they are popcorn in a movie theater! [I am frequently guilty just like the rest. I never have figured out how to be frugal, and that fact has injured me quite a bit.]

Our society supports enterprise...as long as you create financial gain as a result. Yet, there are resources available in each and every person that go unused and are so much more magnanimous. The highest resource of all being Love.

Love is the most creative, unifying force in the universe. It reaches out as far as it can go, [which is forever] and it brings forth the best, most complete aspect of every person that existed, exists and will exist. It is not stored in a vault like the Walt Disney movie collections. It is freely available to everyone that chooses it. Love demonstrates patience and kindness to each and everyone---allowing each person their growing times, their whoopsy-daisys, and what nots. Love sees that which is perfect in all of us---our highest Self---that which was in the beginning, that which is forever.

My creative instinct calls my soul to search for Love. My creative instinct denies the limitations my "accrued" mind embues. My creative instinct feels forever in the deepest recesses of my heart, on the tip of my tongue, on the balls of my feet, in every part of me.

My desire is to flow with the power of my creative urges. My desire is to lose myself in the heat of my passion and circumstance. Every "should" that gives way to my creativity releases love which waits for me on the corner sidewalk, in the quiet and vespering church, in the exotic tastes of a foreign restaurant, in the sorrow of wishes gone bye... My desire is to create in me a life so full of want and pleasure that I barely know no bounds! Every SHOULD dissolved creates my desires.

Creativity pumps this world with life force. Creativity is a kind of love! Shoulds are a path of the past. Shoulds need to be let go and liberated in Love!!!