Here’s my take on the power of Seed Sharing: The Power of Seed Sharing Rituals
According to Rick Rubin, in his book “The Creative Act,” this is what seeds are all about:
In the first phase of the creative process, we are to be completely open, collecting anything we find of interest.
We can call this the Seed phase. We’re searching for potential starting points that, with love and care, can grow into something beautiful. At this stage, we are not comparing them to find the best seed. We simply gather them.
- A seed for a song could be a phrase, a melody, a bass line, or a rhythmic feel. For a written piece, it may be a sentence, a character sketch, a setting, a thesis, or a plot point.
- For a structure, a shape, a material choice, a function, or the natural properties of a location.
- And for a business, it could be a common inconvenience, a societal need, a technical advancement, or a personal interest.
- Collecting seeds typically doesn’t involve a tremendous amount of effort. It’s more a receiving of a transmission. A noticing.
As if catching fish, we walk to the water, bait the hook, cast the line, and patiently wait. We cannot control the fish, only the presence of our line. The artist casts a line to the universe. We don’t get to choose when a noticing.
Collecting seeds is best approached with active awareness and boundless curiosity. It cannot be muscled, though perhaps it can be willed.
As the seeds arrive, forming conclusions about their value or fate can get in the way of their natural potential. In this phase, the artist’s work is to collect seeds, plant them, water them with attention, and see if they take root.
Having a specific vision of what a seed will become could serve as a helpful guide in later phases. In this initial stage, it may cut off more interesting possibilities. An idea appearing to hold less vitality may grow into a beautiful work.
Other times, the most exciting seed may not ultimately yield fruit. It’s too soon to tell. Until we are further along in the process and the idea has been developed, it’s impossible to assess these germs of an idea accurately.
The appropriate seed will reveal itself over time. Placing too much emphasis on a seed or dismissing it prematurely can interfere with its natural growth. The temptation to insert too much of yourself in this first phase can undermine the entire enterprise. Be wary of taking shortcuts or crossing items off your list too quickly.
The seed that doesn’t get watered cannot reveal its ability to bear fruit. Collect many seeds and then, over time, look back and see which ones resonate. Sometimes we’re too close to them to recognize their true potential, and other times the magical moment that inspired a seed into existence is bigger than the seed itself.
It’s generally preferable to accumulate several weeks’ or months’ worth of ideas and then choose which of them to focus on, instead of following an urge or obligation to rush to the finish line with what is in front of us today.
The more seeds you’ve accumulated, the easier this is to judge. If you’ve collected a hundred seeds, you might find that seed number fifty-four speaks to you in a way that none of the others do. If number fifty-four is your only choice, without other seeds for context, it’s more difficult to tell.
When we make assumptions about what seeds won’t work or may not fit with what we believe to be our artistic identity, we may be prevented from growing as creators. Sometimes the purpose of a seed is to propel us in a completely new direction. Along the way, it may morph into something hardly resembling its original form and become our finest work yet.
At this point in time, it’s helpful to think of the work as bigger than us. To cultivate a sense of awe and wonder at what’s possible, and recognize that this productivity is not generated by our hand alone.