The human being as a four string instrument

A Releasing Your Unlimited Creativity discussion topic

Copyright 2009 by K. Ferlic,   All Rights Reserved

There are a variety of ways to look at what it means to be human. Although we are each unique, the essence of our being is the same. How our essence functions to create our experiences and create the reality we experience is the same in each of us. It is what we have come to think and believe as a result of the experiences we have that makes us different. Because of the differences of our mind, we never really see and experience how much alike we really are. We tend to focus on our difference rather than our similarities.

We can see ourselves as a creativity machine which cannot not create. Our very existence is a creation and unless we consciously choose how we will create we will create nonconsciously through our programming, our enculturation, the experiences we have had and the intention for our life. Similarly, we can see ourselves as an energy being and our body is an energy detector. We tune what we detect through how and what we think and believe to sense particular certain types and kinds of energy in order to have a physical experience as a human being.

Another image that has great pedagogical insights is that we are a four stringed creativity instrument where each string needs to be tuned and learned to be properly played. In looking at the analogy of a human being as a four stringed instrument, it needs to be understood that one can show an individual how to play an instrument. The individual can be shown how to make a sound on that instrument and how different sounds can be made and which particular sounds should be made at a particular time. However the individual must learn to play the instrument and make the music. One cannot be taught to make music. One can be taught to play notes technically and mechanically but making music is more than mechanically and technically playing notes. As with any creation, making music is an experience the musician has with the instrument and as with any type of music, music is in the mind of the beholder, as opposed to being simply noise.

It needs to be understood, that the fact one has an instrument in their hands and they are making a sound or noise on the instrument does not necessarily mean they know how to play the instrument or make music. If we give a recorder or a whistle with variable sounds to a child, they can make different sounds or noises with that recorder or whistle. However, the individual sounds they make is not necessarily called music and is most probably not pleasant to the ears. Rather they make what we call noise because they have not learned to play the recorder or the whistle to make music. The individual sounds the child makes are totally unrelated and unharmonious when strung together in sequence. If they do create a melody that is soothing to the ears is either by accident or they rely on their nonconscious mind to guide them. In this case, it can be said the child is nonconsciously making music - that is, they are doing all the right things, making sounds on their instrument, but they are totally unaware of how to put the sounds together to make a melody that is soothing to the ears.

The point that need to be understood here is that at this moment, most human beings are using their four string creativity instrument to create the equivalent of noise rather than harmonious music. Through out human history individual have said the seek peace and harmony. Yet all we seem to create is war after war, strife after strife, confrontation after confrontation. Maybe we have just not learn how to play the four stringed creativity instrument we have in our possession to create harmony. Maybe we are more like a child with a recorder or whistle we have never learned how to use other than to make noise.

The four stringed creativity instrument

Seeing each human being a four stringed creativity instrument such as a violin, ukelele, and the like is a way to understand the body as a vehicle for the experience of a shared Creation within our given environment. Although each instrument may be unique, each has four strings that are played the same way. Analogously it is like the string on a piano. Each string makes sound the exact same way with a hammer hitting the string. But, each string is slightly different although they may be all made out of the exact same material.

In this regard we are like one musician in a orchestra where each musician is playing their own instrument making a composite sound. Within this analogy, our body is the wood part of the instrument with a spiritual, mental, emotional and physical string which are played by our awareness to resonate within the instrument to create a physical experience. The awareness which plays the instrument is not the instrument. So, whatever happens to the four string and the wooden frame of the instrument does not affect the awareness - the one who plays the instrument. However, although our physical experience and our body is the direct manifestation of what our awareness has chosen to think and believe our awareness is not the body or its experiences. Yet, we come to believe that we are our body and our experiences are what gives is our identity.

Each of the four aspects of the individual - the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical - are one of the strings. To play each of these strings we need to explore each and see what each is capable of sensing. As in the way a string vibrates and resonates when it experiences a flow of energy, each aspect of our being vibrates and resonates with the energy we feed in the experience we have. Here it needs to be noted, anything we experience in life is an experience of the flow of energy and that flow of energy creates within us a physical, spiritual, emotional, or mental component.

For each feeling we have, we need to look at the spiritual, mental, emotional and physical component of what we feel. However, most only use one string, the mind, and they don’t consciously develop the other three to create any reality or any experience that they choose. However, we nonconsciously create our reality and experiences with all four strings whether or not we play attention to the other three strings.

The key to learning how to properly use and play this four stringed instrument is to be able totally embrace consciously or nonconsciously what we experience by either take responsibility for what we experience at each and every level of our being or are open to exploring this possibility. That is, that we either created the experience we have at some level of our being or we willingly elected to participate in the experience at some level of our being.

Each is a string which must tuned for it to function properly and in harmony with the other strings and in harmony with any other instrument in which it is played. Tuning is achieved by properly nourishing the unique true needs of each string or aspect of our being. Without the interference of mind and what it thinks and judges, each individual has an inner awareness as to how these needs need to be meet. Each will seek to meet these needs to the best of their ability and their understanding within the environment they find themselves by following what gives them a fullness of being or a fullness of life. Also, and probably more importantly, these four aspects of our being need to be integrated. Within each individual, these four aspects must come together in an integrated fashion to allow the individual to act and/or respond effectively to any given situation.

The more the true needs are met, the more harmonious the life that is lived within oneself and with others and we will experience a wholeness within our being. However, most of us, because of how we were raised, allows the mind and what it thinks we need or what it believes we need to interject itself rather that allowing the awareness within our being to direct us to what we need. As a result we begin to look externally to world and the activities in our life and our job to give us what we think will meet our needs.

For those who understand vectors, In many ways we can look at these four strings as being one of four independent directions which come together to give us the whole range of possibilities. There is much we can do moving back and forth along a straight line but there are infinitely more possibilities by moving both back and forth and up and down. If we add a third dimension, in and out, there is again an new set of infinite possibilities and we can expand it infinitely further by adding a fourth dimension.

From a creativity perspective, we can also look at any intention as having four different aspects each reflective of an aspect of our being and each aspect of our being affected differently by our intention. We have a spiritual, mental, emotional and physical dimension. Any given intention we hold can cause an expansion in each of these direction or a contraction and any combination of expansion and contraction between any of these four aspects. For example, we can expand our spiritual aspect at the expense of our physical aspect or learn to work all four simultaneous as we would learn to play four strings on a four stringed instrument together.

The four strings

Creatively, each aspect of our being is different and each serves a different function than the others. All four are needed if we hope to create harmonious creations. The following provide some thoughts as to how look at each. The recommendation is to set a clear intention to explore and develop each aspect of being and to pull the string as to why there is the desire to develop any one aspect.

The spiritual aspect or spiritual string is about the energy we access and the source of that energy. The emotional is about how free the energy is allowed to flow within and through our being. The mental is about how we control the energy that flows and where and how we direct it. The physical is about what becomes manifested with the energy within a given environment or which can be expressed within the environment.

An important notes needs to be made here. It is said there are four aspects, a spiritual, mental, emotional and physical. In reality there are only three aspect reflected three phases of manifesting and experiencing a creation. Four aspects are experienced when we live in separation and do not understand and/or accept how we can be both the creator and the experience. When we move to live in oneness and wholeness, we see only a cause, a flow of energy in response to that cause resulting in an effect. Until we move to oneness and wholeness, we will see a separate mental aspect and a separate spiritual aspect and never come to see there is one mind with a current mind reflective of our current life and enculturation and a transcendental mind reflective of all we have ever experienced. In this realization we can come to there is only one mind which lives in the illusion of separation.

Spiritual aspect: As discussed in the Creation Story for the Creativity Perspective, the consciousness within creation created an illusionary separation such that each aspect of its being became an independent point of consciousness capable of awakening to the whole. As a unique aspect of this consciousness within, or behind, Creation, there are things that we know about Creation unique to who and what we are. It is an awareness to which others can awaken but it is something we carry and is natural and inherent to our being. The expression of this aspect is the ultimate source of our creative power and creative ability. When we access it and live it, we become the source/Source of creation/Creation.

We awake to this aspect, through and beyond, the intention for our life. As we grow into the intention for our life we awaken other aspects of our being, and we move from the awareness of the source to the awareness of the Source. Yet, rather that being allowed to unfold the truth within our being, we follow what others think is the truth we need to know and to practice. Consequently, we give away our creative power and creative ability when we do not access the truth within our being. We seemingly become powerless in certain situation and hence think we are a victim and are at the mercy of the world or some external God. We fail to develop the awareness within our own being as to the source/Source of our creative power and creative ability. We are much like the eaglet and the lion cub discussed in the topic, "The Human Condition as Seen from the Creativity Perspective."

The spiritual aspect is about the source of our creative life energy and reflective of our deepest truth which is reflected before before us in our life, Creation and who and what we are. The spiritual aspect best characterized as, "What is it that puts fire or energy into the life of the individual?" In actually it is what supplies energy and passion and catalyzes the individual to act and transform the existing form into something new. It is called fire because it is the ability to melt the existing form of creation/Creation to cause it to flow into something new. It is fire in the sense of the phoenix where the individual is able to destroy themselves in fire, reflective of the passion of their being, only to rise out of the ashes to become born again anew. A related and important question is, "From where does our fire come or where are we drawing our fire? Where is the source of our energy and passion for life and for living?" The spiritual element is about "fire" and having the ability to transform the existing word into some other form. The question here is does what we believe about the realm of the unseen, which is usually associated with the spiritual, give us the energy to create what we desire, especially a life worth living.

Although a decision about what is right and wrong is a mental decision, the spiritual aspect is what ultimately determines what we are allowed to do and not to do by how we view our role and position in the world. Either we surrender to a social understanding of the origins of the universe or adopts one that is independent of our society that gives us the energy we need. For example, do we get our identify from society or from some deeper understanding of who and what we are.

The spiritual aspect is what allows passion to flourish. It is the spiritual aspects which causes us to characterized how we are going to conducts our life and what it is we are willing to figuratively, or literally, die. It is our spiritual understanding which gives our code of honor. The spiritual aspect is what lies at the root of our ethics and morals. The spiritual element addresses what action meets the spirit of the law versus the letter of the law. The actual choices as to what we chooses as morally acceptable and not acceptable is a mental decisions but the root of all actions ultimately stems from what we spiritually believe and what creative energy can be accessed because of what we believes.

The spiritual aspects are embedded in our actions whether we realize it or not. In this regard, our actions speak louder than our words for our actions reflect what we really believe. Our actions are literally putting our money (our creative life energy and life) where our mouth (what we believe) is. The question is "Do our actions correspond with our deepest beliefs and truth of our being, or does our mind adopt some spiritual beliefs which cause us to act opposed to what lies deep within our being?" If are actions are opposed to our deepest spiritual beliefs we will: feel discomfort if not outright pain, numb what we feel so as to not feel the discomfort, or create some type of addictive behavior to avoid the pain or suppress the pain. Here we need to look carefully. Conflicting issues existing between our deepest truth and mental aspects we adopt is a house divided against itself and to quote Abraham Lincoln, "A house divided against itself will not stand."

If our spiritual aspects reflective of our deepest truths are not integrated and consistent with our actions in the world we are sewing the seeds of our own destruction. It may take time, but we will fall. Many of us learn to separate our inner awareness from the life we live. We cannot act in a way that goes against our inner truth and not feel the lie we live. If we don’t feel the lie, we have simply numbed what we feel. It needs to be remembered that if we are open to our feelings we will see that each thought, memory, word and deed has a feel and we can know through feelings if that thought, memory, word or deed ultimately serves or doesn’t serve us.

Emotional aspect: Whether we realize it or not, our creative power is accessed through our feelings and what we sense. Alternatively said, creative power lies in feeling. Unless we feel the need to act for whatever reason we feel, we will not act. We need a flow of energy within our being to make something happen. The greater the creative effort, the greater the feelings, the passion and the flow of energy we need to have.

Emotions are simply strong feelings labeled by the mind. Emotions reflect the mind discerning and labeling the flows of energy we feel in life. We need to be open to what we feel and be allow to experience the feelings we have. Otherwise, we block the flow of our energy and rob ourselves of our creative power. It is especially true we need to be open to feeling early in life if for no other reason to know what we feel and what it feels like to feel. Most of us are not allowed to be in strong feelings which many label strong emotions. As such, we never learn to properly channel the feelings into creating experiences which serves us. If we are not open to feeling, for whatever reason, there is a aspect of our creative power which we deny. In denying that creative power, there are areas in our life in which we become powerless or have insufficient power to make certain things happen. Here again, we then appear to at the mercy of the external world.

Since creative power lies in feelings, it is what is labeled our emotional aspect is what allows the spirit to flow forth into form. The flow of energy which gives rise to what we feel is about the actual flow of the energy into a creation. If the spiritual aspect is fire of life, the emotions is what fuels the fire to burn brightly. Without some passion, some flow of energy, creation cannot manifest for the fire does not burn brightly. We tend to label certain feelings and actions as emotional but in reality, what we normally call emotions is a label mind gives certain types and kinds of flows of energy manifesting creation. Some feelings we judge as unacceptable, others we judge acceptable. The questions around the emotional aspect is about whether what we do allows us to expand and grow beyond ourselves to move towards accessing the depth and breath of our full being and nature or does it cause us to simply swim and stay float or actually drown and suffocates us.

One of the easier ways to understand the emotional aspect is to see the emotional as a flow of the water of life that brings life to a parched dry land that allows the trees to grow and bear fruit. The emotional aspects is the flow of energy that energizes intentions we hold in fertile field of mind to grow and unfold within the environment in which we find ourselves to create the experience we desire which is the fruit of our creation. However, these waters of life can water the parched dry land to bring life or it can flood the land in a sea of emotional fear and drown any life that is possible.

The emotional element is where we will need to address fear for fears tend to be of the feeling and memories we have from the past. Fears centers on the belief structure where what we believe causes us to think our ego we will be hurt or harmed. Yet our ego is only a creation of the experiences we have had. Our ego will never go away but only transform by how we perceive our experiences into something expansive or something confining. Here we need to look at what gives passion and enthusiasm for life and living and gives a fullness of being. We cannot allow ourselves to live in the fears and constraints of the past but must look for what gives us freedom to grow and expand in life.

Mental aspect: The mental aspect is what harnesses and/or controls the creative spirit and the subsequent flow of energy into form. We can tap an infinite source of energy and power in and/or through our spiritual beliefs. But our mind and what we think and believe an cause only a trickle of what is possible to flow. If the spiritual aspect is the fire and the emotional aspect is the heat generated by the fire, the mental aspect is the fuel which feeds the fire and causes it to glow brightly or starves the fire causing the fire to wither and die.

Although there are a number of parts to the creative process it can be summarized in three phases. The process starts with the unmanifested or free energy available to creation. It is followed by the flow of energy represented in the creative spirit flowing into form and experienced as the emotional aspect with the final resulting form of the energy represented by the physical. The mind as we know mind is not part of the creation process itself for we live in the illusion of separation. Rather mind controls, throttles, and/or other wise directs the flow of energy and is what determines the blueprint for the particular form that will manifest. Mind can affect the creative process if we get to the root cause of what is manifest the flow of energy. The mental is what takes an energy that can have one of an infinite number of forms and forces it into one particular form over all others. The mental aspect is a filter and is what determines whether we live in a world of abundance or poverty and lack. There is always abundance. We don’t see it simply because of the mental perspective that we have in the moment.

The mental aspect is what creates the laws, rules, expectations and the like that we must follow. It addresses what action meets the letter of the law versus the spirit of the law. The mental aspect addresses the belief structure and whether or not the beliefs create the space for our creative spirit to freely unfold to grow beyond itself or limits us and what we can explore in our creative imagination and subsequently bring into the world. The mental is what creates the cage of our own making which confines our creative spirit. It determines how we perceive a particular problem or issue and how we characterized it and the world we experience. It is the mental aspect that determines if we competitors and adversaries and if we must compete in the world. Or it determines if we see the uniqueness of each aspect of Creation to see there is really no need for competition.

It is the mental aspect that determines the view which allows the beliefs to exist that foster fears or obstacles that suffocate us or which allows us freedom of movement. It is what we believes that breaths life into our actions or causes our actions to slowly wither and die.

Physical aspect - the body: From a creativity perspective, the body is a creativity machine and is a vehicle for a physical experience. We create by our very existence in Physical Creation. The body does two primary things for us. One is that it grounds or directs our creative life energy into the physical experience. The second is that it allows us to take the energy we sense and the thought which arise from that energy and transform or convert it into actions in the world. The physical aspect is about living and being in the world. The physical aspect is very much about the things of the earth and deals with the creature needs of the body.

The physical aspect is the "proof of the pudding" so to speak. What manifests physically is where the spiritual, mental and emotional aspects all come together to produce a physical manifestation that is the composite of the three. The physical aspect is very much about how our physical body feels. The question is, "Does the feel of what we think, remember, say and do serve us?"

In summary, the questions is whether or not the spiritual, mental and emotional aspects can bring the energy to create what we desire in the way we desire to do it. This, of course, reveals the flip side of the coin. The life we live reveals our spiritual, mental and emotional aspects. By how and what we experience in life and how we experience it tells us the truth about us. If in one environment we follows all the rules and regulations and social expectation of those in that environment but when they are not around we do what we wants when we knows we should be doing otherwise tells us a lot about our real intent and what is motivating us. To know the truth about anyone, we only needs to look at the fruits they produce in the world in all aspects. Not just our actions in a particular environment but all our fruits at every level of being in all our environments.

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