The greatest masterpiece that you will ever produce will be the one you don’t know how you produced.

The world has become anesthetized against the fundamental mysteriousness of the human being in exchange for the measurable banalities of science. That which is measurable is not art. That which can be didacticized is not creativity.

When I am working with an elite performer or a world-class athlete, my foremost tenet is not to help him or her become “better,” but to help him or her become free.

For without freedom, creativity is only an idea. Without unscripted experimentation, art remains a remote possibility. For art is a visceral expression of the hidden mystery of man.

Imagine for a moment the works that you have been most proud of in your own life. The works that you incessantly admired. Perhaps more than the nature of the product, you marveled at how it came to be. You marveled at the realization that you were able to produce such a thing. And if someone asked you how you did it, you would hesitate. Not because you wished to hold onto your secrets. But because you didn’t know what they were.

The world has become enamored with the idea of “how.” Whether it is in the coaching of athletes or in the instruction of schoolchildren, the how has taken center stage. And it has led to the death of creativity.

Why is this so?

Because the person who asks “how” is not serious about learning. And the person who teaches the how is more interested in the subject than he is in the student. For the how asks for a blueprint, a recipe, a formula. And if art were formulaic, we would have a Picasso and a Rembrandt on every street corner. But we do not.

Is this because the how has not been taught well enough?

Or is it because the how is insisted upon?

Blueprints and formulas all lead to the same place. But it is precisely the wayward wanderings from the straight lines of convention that lead to the possibility of art. For art is not really a creation. Create should not be a verb. For the greatest of art is not created. It does not “get created.” Rather, it emerges. And it emerges only when the artist has no specified goal, no grand methodology or presupposed design.

The greatest songs seem to surface during a hot shower. The greatest insights appear when driving down a dirt road. When no one is looking, when there is no one listening, art seems to blossom into full form.

Creativity is not in the product that is produced. It is the smoke that rises. And it rises when there is a complete communion between the artist and his art. It arises when the artist so disappears into his art that only the art remains.

My work with human beings is not to instruct them, but to liberate them. To liberate them from the shackles of societal influence. To liberate them from the need to create. To liberate them from the hope of greatness.

For the artist’s greatest journey is not the journey toward his art. It is the journey toward himself. It is a journey that leads him into the dark recesses of his reservoirs of feeling. It is a journey into the depths of his painful past. It is the journey into the cool space between his internal organs, wherein lies the possibility of alchemy.

The artist’s greatest journey is the journey home.

For it is within this home, within the long and winding corridors within himself that his grand possibility will be discovered. And it will only be discovered if he is willing to embark upon this journey, not as an artist but as a seeker. Not in boundless intelligence but in deplorable ignorance. Not in maturity but in profound innocence.

The artist will produce his greatest art not when he becomes more, but when he becomes less. For in this way, his presence will not be substantial enough to interfere with the art that is bursting within him. In this way, his persona will not grate against the work that arises within him. In this way, his mind will not judge the quality of the work or contemplate its significance.

True artists are rare in this world. And perhaps the reason that they are so rare is because they live in a world that celebrates mimicry and shuns originality. A world that is given more to scientific analysis rather than to objective observation. A world which values the imprisonment of obedience rather than the rebellion of freedom.

The greatest masterpiece that you will ever create will arise when you abandon the need to create it. And the greatest art that you will ever stand witness to will not be the one that comes from you, but the one that flows through you.

Dr. Kapil Gupta works with world-class athletes and performers around the world, helping them create a masterpiece of their craft through their cultivation of unbridled freedom. SiddhaPerformance.com

BY KAPIL GUPTA

The idea of hard work leading to success has been a universal and sacred tenet for centuries. But is it true? Does hard work truly lead to success? Is every hard-working person that you know a success? Or is their life full of disappointments and anguish?

The advice is a reactionary response to laziness. Those who lack drive and motivation are told that they need to work hard in order to become a success. However, the idea of hard work has led to just as much frustration as has the failure to reach one’s goals. And there are good reasons for this.

Since childhood, whatever activity we have been involved in, we have been told to do it hard. Work hard, play hard, study hard, strive hard, practice hard. But it is often the case that success arises organically, rather than by force. It comes as a side effect, a byproduct. It comes because the circumstances are fertile for its emergence. It comes when the time is right. It is not necessarily won by grabbing it by the throat. Often, however, we see human beings fall into the trap of striking a brick wall again and again. We see them using muscle rather than sensitivity. We see them act through brawn rather than gentleness. Aiming for success directly rarely results in success, at least not in the form in which it is envisioned.

So if hard work is not the secret of success, what is?

Let us begin with a particular discipline, a craft, a hobby, whatever you would like to call it—something that you love to do. Not for purposes of success or fame or wealth or achievement but simply something that you love. Give yourself completely to it. Learn everything about it. Immerse yourself in it. Forget entirely whether you will fail or succeed, whether you will “make it” or not, whether you will become known or not. Simply do it for its own sake—for the feeling that comes from complete engagement, without fear of failure or hope of reward.

If you can do something with so much engagement and with so much care that it consumes your entire being, there will be a future in it. When you love something so deeply that you could care less whether it leads to success or failure, you are on the right path. Success will not only arise, but she will chase after you like an unrequited lover. Not because you want her to, but because she simply has no choice.

Ultimately, if you have not achieved success, it is because not achieving it was to some degree okay with you. And because it was relatively okay with you to remain where you are, you did. Do not for a second think that I am saying that you shouldn’t feel okay about being where you are. I have no intentions to steer you a certain way, or to motivate you, or to get you on the path to success. I am saying that the reason you are where you are is because you are okay with it. How do I know? Because if you weren’t okay with it you wouldn’t be there!

The irony is if you ask for tips on how to become a success, you will be a failure. The person who asks how to be a success doesn’t really want to succeed—and he knows it. He is simply making conversation. Talking about success gives him the cheap satisfaction of pretending that he is on the road to success. But, of course, he is not.

Stop asking what to do! No one can help you become a success. And anyone who agrees to give you tips is only stroking his own ego by feeling that he is an expert who is being helpful. Let’s dispel some myths:

• » Success is not about getting off the chair and doing something.
• » Success is not about taking action.
• » Success is not about jotting down positives and negatives in a two-column comparison.
• » Success is not about positive thinking and aphorisms.
• » Success is not about following anything that you’ve been told to do.

Success is a natural byproduct of hunger. And if that hunger has to be manufactured, it’s not hunger. When you are hungry you will do all the things you were told to do—and not because you were told to do them. They will come from your bones and not from other people’s lips. Your not having achieved success has nothing to do with your not having done things right. Or because you didn’t follow the right plan. Or because you didn’t have the correct advice. Or because the timing wasn’t right.

When you absolutely despise where you are. When it’s suffocating you. When it simply is no longer acceptable to you, you will act. Not because someone told you to, but because you will be moved to. Success will happen, not so much because following your dream will be so enticing, but because the alternative is simply not an option.

The source of your greatest momentum will not be the happiness that pulls you, but the pain that pushes you. And you will feel the exhilaration of success in your chest, not when you reach the end of your journey, but from the very moment you embark on it.

Kapil Gupta, MD, works with individuals who are passionate about learning to transcend their mind in order to create a masterpiece of their craft and a bliss of their life. KapilGuptaMD.com