The Creative Act
A Way of Being
“Nothing in this book / is known to be true.” The opening lines of Rick Rubin’s book on creativity hint at the text that follows, which lacks much in the way of rules and guidelines in favor of a vision of creativity as everywhere and for everyone, as receptiveness and awareness as much as—if not more than—creation itself. Structured as 78 short meditations, each section posits a perspective on being an artist—on self-doubt, on success, on habits and seeds and choice—that emphasizes the being over the doing. The result is a book that is delightfully patient and restful, more Lao Tzu than self-help. I’ve found myself leaving it out to hand, and picking it up to read a page or two here and there, as if the reading of it was always incomplete. Which, per Rubin’s take, I suppose it is.