We live in the age of information. Almost anything we wish to learn or know is just a click away. That’s a lot of information, and a lot of information overload.
In this age of mobile phone addiction and various distractions, it’s incredibly easy to lose touch with our creative side.
Digital distractions. The rat race. Basic survival. All of these can be major hurdles if you’re trying to be creative.
But wait, all of these are external. There’s an even worse enemy inside us...
Our ego. Ego, meaning “I” in Latin, is a creative’s worst enemy.
In spirituality, it is the biggest barrier to enlightenment.
In Sufism, the ego is called the Nafs. The Sufis believe in a very basic principle:
“Return as you came”.
“Return as you came”.
Return with the ego you came with: a selfless, pure one.
The Sufis spend their entire lives aiming for this simple goal: a pure, selfless goal. In Sufism, the Nafs is divided into 7 types, starting from the most animalistic and
ending with the most enlightened.
When applied to creativity, these 7 stages work surprisingly well, and create a
framework that accommodates creativity at every stage, with identifiers, traits and suggested course of action at each stage.
The 7 stages of Nafs have amazingly accurate parallels to a creative’s journey.
In this discussion, we’ll talk about the Nafs Ammaara (The Commanding Self).
The Use of Symbolism In Sufism
Animals and birds are used extensively in Sufism to represent various qualities,
concepts and attributes. The most common one is the donkey, used to represent the ego.
But the donkey is a loyal, obedient animal, isn’t it? Then why does it represent the
ego? Because the Sufis believe that a trained donkey carries you and your burdens, while a man with an untrained donkey carries the donkey around on his back.
In this series, we’ll use symbolism to illustrate the conceptual dimension of each
stage.
We’ll do this with a bird that personifies that stage.
At the end, we’ll have a short recap (TL;DR).
The Commanding Self
The first stage of Nafs is called the Nafs Ammaara: the Commanding Self. This is the self that commands one to do evil. This is the Nafs that causes the seven sins (pride, greed, wrath, sloth, envy, gluttony and lust).
For the creative, it causes ignorance and procrastination. It also prevents one from taking positive action.
This is the stage where the creative has no idea about his potential. In short, this is the Nafs that hides and buries latent skill and creativity.
A person at this stage is someone who’s creativity is trapped without an outlet. Such a person is usually frustrated and confused, without knowing why.
Meet the Kakapo
What comes to mind when you think about Parrots? If I’m correct, you either
thought about the common green Parrot or the big red Macaw.
That Kakapo’s not like either of them. It’s big. It’s nocturnal. It’s never on trees. And it can’t fly.
It looks like an owl, but it’s clueless. It doesn’t know that it’s cousins fly. And it has
no clue that it’s clueless.
The Nafs Ammaara is like the Kakapo: clueless.
Identifying The Kakapo
The Kakapo is driven by base desires.
Because it’s at the first stage, it has no self-control or self-awareness. It only wants comfort and convenience, and is incredibly instinctive and impulsive.
In a creative framework, it represents a person disconnected from creativity. It is
driven by comfort and societal pressures, and not creative considerations.
Dealing With The Kakapo
In Sufism, dealing with this stage is a gruelling process. One has to fight the ego
constantly, being careful at every step, avoiding sin, fighting seduction and
overcoming base desires.
In creativity, it’s a completely different ballgame. The Kakapo transforms almost
immediately into the next bird, or not at all.
Why so? Because the Kakapo will not listen to logic. It’s not logical, it’s emotional.
It’ll never transform for logic, only for emotion, and fast.
Overcoming the Kakapo
It’s incredibly tricky to overcome the Kakapo.
You cannot reason with it, guide it, or threaten it. It just transforms automatically.
This happens when the one influenced by the Kakapo is “hit by lightning”, a point of intense inspiration.
You must have seen this happen. Someone you knew, and believe to be “non-
creative” suddenly picked up the guitar one day.
What happened?
Lightning. They were hit by lightning, and the Kakapo transformed.
It’s a beautiful thing, seeing the Kakapo transform.
Unfortunately, it’s not something that can be forced upon the Kakapo. It needs to
happen automatically.
Does this mean that the Kakapo needs to be left alone to live forever? Of course not.
As long as the Kakapo is surrounded by creativity, it will transform. It’s incredibly
curious, just not comfortable enough to explore. So if it “just happens” to come
across something creative that it fancies, it gets hit by lightning, and transforms.
After The Kakapo
Understanding the Kakapo is a “happy” accident.
If you’re a Kakapo, the realization alone will push you to the next stage. If you know a Kakapo, exposing them to creative inspiration might be the push they need.
But what happens after one crosses the Kakapo? Well, that’s where things start to get really interesting. It’s also the point where creativity begins.
This next stage is where most of us realize that we’re creative. It’s also where we
meet our new friend, the Rooster.
To learn the origin of your creative roots, and what you need to do to take things to the next level, check out The Awakened Self (Nafs Lawwaama).
You can read it here.
Until then, happy creating!
The Kakapo In A Nutshell
State of mind: Clueless, hedonistic.
Traits: Has no creative direction, strategic purpose or tactical goals. Driven by
instinct and urges. Seeks comfort and convenience.
Suggested course of action: Realization (for self) or inspiration (for others). When
hit by lightning, it instantly moves to the next stage:
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