Waiting for the Right Creative Hour is Waiting for Godot
Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot is one of the most interesting plays I’ve read during my Bachelors.
To summarize it in short, Vladimir and Estragon— the two old tramps engage in silly and insignificant actions to pass time as they are waiting for Godot— a character in the play who never comes. Both the men have put their hope in the enigmatic Godot who’ll apparently save them. Even after a messenger boy comes and informs them that Godot will not come ‘today’, but will come ‘tomorrow’, they do not move. With perpetual hope and anticipation for improvement despite their stagnant situation, they believe, “Tomorrow everything will be better.”
I don’t remember whom I read saying this first, but over the time, from various sources, I’ve got this idea clear that we don’t wait for everything to be okay to make art. It’s okay and very much recommended to make art — paint or write or whatever one likes — while the sleep schedule is screwed up, the room is still messy.
Because by the time we wait to set it all right that specific idea that has the potential to be a spectacular piece might most probably vanish.
The unused idea is like a dream deferred, which eventually gets wasted, if not acted towards it.
As we know, creativity is spontaneous. It's not dependent on one's carefully timed out schedule to let out creative outlets.
The idea of this article hit me up while struggling with insomnia at the time when I should be asleep. Had I not noted the incoming flood of words, I’d have missed the opportunity to share this here as well as to get to sleep with a lighter head.
The thing is, life manages to get unruly no matter how much we try to confine it to a routine. We cannot wait for life to begin when everything has been put into place. We’ve got to acknowledge its existence at the present moment and create even while other things fall apart. The environment need not be neat and ready to be welcoming. Because the perfect atmosphere for creative process is a superficial facet— it looks good on the outside— but Art, in actuality, reflects the state of mind and just as well stems from the same state inside which can chaotic or calm.
We cannot wait in vain for Godot, and so we ought to be the ‘messenger boy’ and warn others who are waiting for Godot.
It’s not only to identify with those sharing the same thought pattern, but also to identify our own idiosyncrasies.
Something that prevents one from creating is the uncertainty of backing one’s own ideas. At times, I’m hesitant to write about a topic because I fear I might not always think the same about it— that my opinions, however strongly I hold them now— might change with the change in circumstances. That’s when I convince myself that whatever opinions I’ve formed now are as valid as my current experiences that have led to me believing the same. There’s no point holding them back now without the hope of having more knowledge in the future because I cannot betray my present for a non-existent future.
And not to forget, we’re always allowed to change our mind and mindset as we know better. Perhaps that’s the transformation that makes people authentic— evolving is an essence of being human.
Thus it’s indeed an effective idea to convince oneself to— Listen to the call of your muse and hop into your art — because in the words of Vladimir in the play, “Perhaps it’s the way of doing it that counts, the way of doing it, if you want to go on living.”
