Creativity in 4 nautical analogies

By Terence McKenna, Steve Jobs, Yuval Noah Harari and yours truly.

Terence McKenna, Steve Jobs, Yuval Noah Harari, and yours truly* all chose to describe Creativity by way of nautical analogy.
(*I am not delusional to compare myself to these thought leaders, I just offer my working analogy of over a decade alongside theirs. If it doesn’t vibe with you leave it where you found it.)

I find that the learnings that arise from the collection of these analogies have served my creative process, and I hope they will serve yours.

1: Creativity as surfing/ Yours truly

For as long as I can remember, I think that creativity is much like surfing. Wind to surfing is like the creative spirit to creativity. Both activities depend on a condition I believe to be external to ourselves. The creative spirit moves through us, but is not of us. Engaging in the creative act when the creative spirit doesn’t move through you is as futile as going surfing when there is no wind. On the other hand — when there IS wind, you better be ready to get out there and engage with it.

AND: The creative process, like surfing, requires uninterrupted time. If one was to go into the water knee-deep only to come out, then back in, out again and so on, even if they spent days going in and out, they’ll get little surfing done, if any at all. Catching waves requires staying in the water. Similarly- the creative process requires staying in it. Multitasking and frequent pings from the outside world interrupt the creative process, let alone if any ADD- or ADHD-like patterns are at play (which is the case for many people if not most). In that way, the creative process, like sleep, is phase-based. The second hour of sleep is different from the first, and so on. No one tries sleeping in intervals of minutes, in between other tasks. We will be wise to apply the same logic to our creative processes: Long intervals of uninterrupted time allow us to go deep.

2. Creativity as sailing/ Yuval Noah Harari

Yuval Noah Harari uses a strikingly similar analogy to describe the creative process:

“I try to sail with the winds of the mind, not against them. When I feel a creative wind is blowing, I put aside all other chores, hoist my sails and focus on my most creative tasks. When I feel there is no wind blowing, I don’t try to force myself to create, and instead I answer emails, pay bills, wash the dishes, and take care of other dreary but necessary stuff. It took me a long time to adopt this style of working. Originally I tried to control the winds instead of sailing with them.”
— Yuval Noah Harari.

The similarity in both our analogies, as well as in other ideas echoed independently by different people speaks to the idea that ALL ART IS CHANNELED. and: If one is not ready with their sail/surfboard to catch a certain wind, someone else will.

3. Creativity as fishing (1)/ Steve Jobs

“When fishermen cannot go to sea they repair nets”. — Steve Jobs

This quote, which is attributed to Steve Jobs, like the two analogies before it, acknowledges that creativity requires certain conditions in order to exist. Instead of focusing on the creative act, this brief quote speaks of its downtime. Similarly to Yuval Noah Harari’s notion, it argues that when creatives cannot engage in the creative act, they better engage in the activities that ready them to engage in the creative act—i.e. repairing their nets.

4. Creativity as fishing (2)/ Terence McKenna

Speaking of fishing nets, I close with my favorite quote regarding creativity:

“The creative act is letting down the net of human imagination into the ocean of chaos on which we are suspended, and the attempt to bring out of it ideas.
It is the night sea journey, the lone fisherman on a tropical sea with his nets, and you let these nets down — sometimes, something tears through them that leaves them in shreds and you just row for shore, and put your head under your bed and pray.
At other times what slips through are the minutiae, the minnows of this ichthyological metaphor of idea-chasing.
But, sometimes, you can actually bring home something that is FOOD, food for the human community that we can sustain ourselves on and go forward.”
— Terence McKenna

So many aspects of creativity are packed into this beautifully articulated analogy: From the innate solitude of the creative act, through its chaotic and unpredictable ways and the minutiae that sometimes comes through, all the way to creativity’s ultimate purpose: “Food for the human community to sustain ourselves on and go forward.” Amen.

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I hope this lil collection of analogies around creativity supports your creativity and engagement in the creative process. If this or other ideas around creativity have been meaningful to your creative process, please comment/like/restack/share on other platforms.
The substack has a way of muting writers who cover altered states, which is certainly a topic I write about. As I prepare to start a new chapter in which I build a home (more on that very soon) and write more regularly, I lovingly invite all feedback and engagement.