- posted on
- December 22, 2008
- by Liz Danzico
Life in Perpetual Beta
Melissa Pierce, the documentary filmmaker who is exploring the link between authenticity and creativity, recently sat me down to inquire about my own take on the matter for her upcoming film, Life in Perpetual Beta. Whether there is a link between finding what is authentic and what is creative, I’m still not certain.
To me, part of the answer is vaguely reminiscent of John Dewey’s pursuit of the link between perception and recognition, a topic I’ve brought up too many times to mention again here. For my own creative moves forward, however, I know I’m remaining authentic if I don’t get too comfortable, which it seems became the focus for the cut for the film clip here.
I was thrilled to spend time with Melissa, Adrienne Brawley, and Jane Quigley. A fine group of film enthusiasts who surely had a lot to teach me on the value of intuition. More on the project here.
Hopefully you’re right about trusting your own discomfort. That would mean I’m on the right path. :)
Thanks for sharing. It’s a relief to know that others are meandering along like me.
It was a pleasure interacting with you Liz (and Lucy). There was so much more of this interview that I wanted to share, but in the interest of making a brilliant and surprising film, I’ve saved the rest in my secret vault. Your insights are invaluable to my project.
Also, thank you for turning me on to John Dewey’s work. I will be studying it with voracity.
@Rob and @Janet: I’ll call it “strategic meandering” and “intentional discomfort.” So far, it’s worked for me; I don’t know anything else!
I once heard a quote along the lines of “comfortable people are dead” or was it “if you’re comfortable, you might as well be dead”? Anyways…
When you know too much of something, you’re comfortable. When you know nothing, you’re screwed. But when you’re uncertain, you’re uncomfortable, which leaves you room to go with your gut feelings/intuition (as you mentioned in the video clip) to come up with something more creative.
Perhaps that extra room between uncertainty and certainty is the link between authenticity and creativity?