more questions for eric maisel

In the book, you say, "The centerpiece of a meaningful life for creators is meaningful creating." In aiming to achieve this, do you think there are benefits for people to create outside their "usual" medium? (i.e., artists try their hand at writing; writers dabble in a visual art project, etc.)

E: There are; and obvious dangers, too. Our first job is to make meaning in a particular discipline over time, because this gives us the best sense of continuity and completion and is the best way to make ourselves feel proud, existentially speaking. If we are a writer, we want to write well and regularly, other mediums come second. If we are a painter, we don't want to neglect our painting because of some momentary meaning enthusiasm. So, first things first: our lifelong apprenticeship in one discipline. That having been said, it can be wonderful to work in another discipline, especially if your primary one is at the mercy of others: for instance, if you are an actor waiting to be hired, it can be grand to get your performance piece written and produced. So the short answer is yes, but beware that you don't shortchange your primary discipline.

Could you explain more about the importance of creating a life plan sentence/statement? Should a life plan statement change over time, or is it best if it is written in general enough terms so that it isn't altered by time, circumstances, and life changes?

E: If you agree to commit to active meaning-making, you need to know where to make your meaning investments, both in the short-term sense of knowing what to do with the next hour and in the long-term sense of knowing which novel you are writing or which career you're pursuing. Having a life purpose statement or life plan statement in place serves as an ongoing reminder of the sorts of meaning investments that you intend to make, both short-term and long-term, and helps you make the right "meaning decision" about where to spend your capital and how to realize your potential. But it also necessarily changes over time, as you have additional life experiences and refine and reformulate your sense of what is meaningful to you. Create a beautiful one for right now and then revisit it periodically, especially if the blues have crept in.

With depression having existential roots in many creative people, do you think that antidepressants and other psychiatric medications are over-prescribed in modern culture?

E: Yes. They work for some people some of the time and checking in to them may make good sense, but they are not at all as effective as the public has been led to believe. A recent study showed that 95% of published reports praised the effectiveness of antidepressants and 90% of unpublished reports disputed the effectiveness of antidepressants - reports that went unpublished because of the clout of pharmaceutical companies, psychiatrists, and the medical-industrial complex. They sometimes have their place, but they are no real substitute for actively making and maintaining meaning.

a conversation with eric maisel

Over the next few weeks, I will be posting excerpts from an interview with author and artist advocate, Eric Maisel re: his book THE VAN GOGH BLUES. Check back weekly for more of our conversation.

WHAT ADVISE DO YOU GIVE TO ARTISTS TO HANDLE THE POST-CREATION BLUES? The blues that happen when a project is done and you've worn yourself out.

Meaning must be made at all times or else we start to get those existential blues. But that isn't to say that we can't frame a day by the beach or a week incubating a project as meaningful time. The art is in our self-talk, where we consciously address our meaning needs by announcing where we want to invest meaning today: in a good rest, in a visit to the bookstore, in a little office organization, in a visit with a friend, and so on. What we want to guard against is the experience of meaninglessness that follows the completion of a project, and this we do by investing meaning wisely even though we may not have a new big project wanting to launch.

HOW CAN ARTISTS BEST FILL THE TIME IN PERIODS OF DORMANCY?

The answer revolves around how long the period of dormancy is and what the quality of that period is. If you tend to take three years off between projects, there is something going on there that needs to be addressed and you need to do a better job of forcing life to mean. If we're taking about two weeks, that's a very different matter. If it's that shorter amount of time, then you can catch up on business matters (there is always something in that realm that needs doing), remind yourself why you love your art discipline by visiting a museum or reading a book, and passionately living your "parallel life," that life of relationships and other meanings not connected to your creative projects.

ARTISTS OFTEN FACE CRITICISM IN THE FORM OF NOTES OR REVIEWS. HOW CAN AN ARTIST KEEP THEIR "SPIRIT UP" AND "FAITH IN THE WORK" IN THE FACE OF NEGATIVE FEEDBACK?

The first step is remember that everyone has an opinion, that great works have been roundly panned, and that you and you alone are the arbiter of meaning and quality in your life. If you don't buy that at a visceral level, you will block when criticism comes. You have to have more than an intellectual understanding that your opinion must count the most: you must feel it in your bones. Once you possess that absolute certainty, then you can examine the criticism to see if there's something there for you to learn, for often there is. The tricky dance is to reject all criticism while at the same time making use of feedback that serves you, a dance that no artist manages perfectly. Some err of the side of grandiosity and listen to no one; others, lacking in self-confidence, err in the direction of caving in and blocking.

SHOULD YOU FIGHT THE BLUES OR LET THEM COME?

It is my opinion that we should fight them, though not necessarily in the first five minutes or the first hour. Being in "that space" for a little while may be unavoidable and even necessary, but remaining in that painful place of inaction and despair has nothing really to recommend it. As soon as we can - and if we have gotten in the habit of disputing the blues, this will be sooner rather than later - we stand up tall, remind ourselves that we make the meaning in our life and that there is no meaning until we make it, and decide where we want to make our next meaning investment: in a new project, in the business of art, or in another sphere like relationships. If we can nip the blues in the bud before they even come by making that next meaning investment before meaninglessness even has a chance to rear its head, so much the better!