The Mind Palace
Reflection #59: A magical realm where holographic companions befriend dwarven acquaintances
The realm of my mind is a chapel of creativity. Ceilings have been painted by elven Michaelangelos, concealed doors lead to hidden passages containing the wondrous treasure of adventure into secret places unknown. Old maps, orreries, and astrological timepieces live side by side with computer screens, and technological marvels as yet un-invented. My holographic and android companions have befriended dwarven acquaintances. We have, together, my companions and I, delved deep into the earth seeking riches beyond mithril and have escaped via wormholes and scintillating portals to visit galaxies that existed a long time ago and far, far away.
Everyone must build their own mind palace – a place where they can retreat into magical solitude – at least everyone who wishes to remain sane.
For where else can you turn if you truly wish to see alchemy work and you desire for the mundane to become the magical? Where else may one visit the future and experience the technological wonders that humanity will someday build? Where else are you truly sovereign and free?
To construct your mind palace you must find and nurture your true self: The Sovereign Artist Within. To find this creative paramour, you must protect and expand the white space in your life.
White space is unscheduled and uninterrupted time that allows one to 'empty the mind' of the cluttered mundanity of the everyday. White space allows one to deprogram their mind — to remove the false programming that society’s institutions have placed there. White space allows expansion into that divine liminal place where ideas mingle, connections are made, souls are found, myths are born, and, ideally, to dwell there, leisurely, luxuriating in the wholesome god-like powers of creation, and finally, to come home to earth with the joyful memory of the effortless ambrosia that grows there and to bring some of that miraculous alchemy into the physical realm. As above, so it is below.
Protecting your white space is the key to building and entering a proper mind palace. It is one of the most divine and inspired experiences available to mankind. As it is written, the kingdom of heaven is within you. I enter as often as I can, and I pray that you do as well; for, the only way to share part of one's mind palace with another is Art and the only way to create true Art flows from The Sovereign Artist within — you —who sits in the mind palace’s throne room.
“I went back to collecting Buck Rogers. My life has been happy ever since. For that was the beginning of my writing science fiction. Since then, I have never listened to anyone who criticized my taste in space travel, sideshows or gorillas. When this occurs, I pack up my dinosaurs and leave the room.” — Ray Bradbury
These ideas in this reflection are related to the current book I am writing, The Sovereign Artist.
Inside of each of us lies the divine Sovereign Artist within - a remarkable force to bring joy, peace, creativity and love back into our lives. Join the waitlist for my forthcoming book about the creative process, and how it can save us all.
Thanks very much for this, Clint. It's partly why my creativity has plummeted recently. I've not read any kind of fiction for a while, and spend way too much time on YouTube watching political and instructional content. As YouTube randomises the home feed based on your watch history, but pushes content which is more likely to get a reaction, in my feed it's effectively gamified mundanity like a content fruit machine. I should be spending more time with comics, books or sci-fi/fantasy TV shows to reactivate my creative brain. Good luck with the book!
The kingdom of heaven is within you, as you say, and maybe infinity also. Good quote. What is in your article is an interesting way to look at creativity and how to foster it. You also make a very valid statement about the cluttered mondanity of everyday life. It is the latter factor that introduces stress, anxiety which results in difficulty in focusing on tasks. The anxious and stressed mind cannot focus properly, and willpower is not able to overcome the effects of stress. Many of us are unaware of this impact of stress on cognitive and creative functioning. As a result, people get very frustrated with themselves when they observe that even with the greatest possible application of willpower to the problem, the conscious mind is not able to clear the mind sufficiently of the cognitive noise that stress and anxiety produce. The bottom line: reduce stress, lessen cognitive noise and you will have greater access to your creative functioning. The capacity for accomplishing that is already in all of us but it needs training in my opinion.