‘Called to beauty’ – an interview with Elizabeth Gilbert

ISLAND | ONLINE ONLY

Elizabeth Gilbert is the author of ten books, including Big Magic: Creative living beyond fear (and of course, Eat Pray Love). Island spoke with Liz about the place of creativity in an increasingly complicated world, why it’s worth spending time reading, and what we might learn from moss.

ISLAND: Readers of literary magazines tend to be interested in the arts, to be creative and socially progressive, and for many of them, it feels as though the world is becoming a worse place unjust, repressive, violent and degraded. Many of us feel immense pressure to do something to make the world better, and it might feel like spending time reading is an unforgivable self-indulgence at this time. What do you think? 

LIZ GILBERT: This question touched my heart. And my first response was, ‘But what about pleasure? What about beauty?’ One of my favorite poems is by the late Jack Gilbert, and it's called A BRIEF FOR THE DEFENSE. In those stanzas, the poet makes a case for beauty and for pleasure, no matter how dark and suffering the world may be. He calls our attention to the beauty of the morning, to the exquisite power of a tiger, to the laughter of poor women who are gathering water at a well — noting that they are taking a break to laugh, in between the horrors that they have known and the horrors that are to come. He writes, ‘To make injustice the only measure of our attention is to praise the devil.’ I think it's a false belief to think that if one is enjoying the arts, it means that we don't still care about the horrors and troubles of the world. What if pleasure and beauty actually fill and sustain us enough that we can carry on, and not lose hope for humanity, or for ourselves? What if pleasure and beauty are actually essential for our survival, and for the wellness of our spirit?

ISLAND: Creative work is often only seen as successful if it can be packaged and sold - if your writing can be turned into a book that goes into a bookstore, if your art can be sold as tote bags, if your philosophy can be a podcast. Very little value is placed on doing creative work that is shared freely, or even made just for ourselves. Is there a way to stop productivity and capitalism from finagling its way into everything we make and do?

 LG: I think it's helpful to remember that for tens of thousands of years, your ancestors and mine made art of all kinds without any sense of capitalistic reward. Before the age of mass-media and mass-consumption, all of our ancestors did creative work — for reasons that they themselves might not have been able to articulate. They were called to beauty, is all I can figure. My grandparents were immigrant farmers on the plains of Minnesota during the dust bowl and the depression. They were serious people, with serious problems. And yet, in the evenings my grandmother made beautiful quilts and my grandfather made beautiful carvings. They didn't sell their work. They just wanted to make beautiful things, because, I assume, it was deeply satisfying. Your ancestors did the same. Creativity is our shared birthright, our natural heritage. Don't ever forget that. Making beauty for no reason is what we DO. And you are allowed to do it, as well, whether anyone ever gives you a penny for your efforts. The work itself is its own reward. 

 

ISLAND: For many creative people I know, the biggest problem they face is their brain constantly telling them they're no good at what they do, what they're doing is a waste of time, that if anyone else sees the thing they're doing it will only get them in trouble. Do you have any advice for getting past those voices and getting on with making the work that calls you?

LG: It's not a question of getting past those negative and self-critical voices. I can't get past them; they are contained within my consciousness. It's a question of learning how to live with them — how to accept them as every bit as natural as sunrises or the tides. As surely as day follows night, the moment I get a creative idea, the very next thing that will happen is that a voice in my head will start telling me all the reasons I am doomed to fail at this. But it's nothing personal; it's just a voice in my head. It's just fear, trying to keep me safe because it doesn't understand creativity. If I start fighting against those voices, I will lose the fight every time. So I don't fight. The way I describe my healthy creative process is that I bring fear along for the ride — because it's coming along anyway, whether I like it or not!  My fears are allowed to be in the van with me, but I ask only that they sit in the back, don't touch the radio, don't choose the route, and are not permitted to ask me to stop. But yes, they can come on the road trip. They are part of the human family, too. They just can't drive the van. 

ISLAND: I spend a lot of time with scientists and conservationists, and many of them have a secret favourite book: The Signature of All Things. You must have spent a lot of time researching and thinking about moss to write that novel are there lessons you learned from moss that you carry with you still?

LG: I love hearing that so many scientists have taken to that book! (It's my favourite as well — ha!)  There's a line in the novel where our protagonist — a woman who has spent her life deep in study of the natural world, without ever getting any credit for her discoveries— says at the end of her life that, despite her lack of fame or success, she has led a wonderful life, essentially because she was PRESENT to the world. She was here, and she observed things, and she marveled at them. The lesson I carry forward is that it is worthy any amount of difficulty to be here. The world is not a safe place, but it is, objectively, a very interesting place. To walk through one's destiny with open-minded curiosity, unattached to outcome, is to live a beautiful life. And that is available to all of us, at all moments, no matter what else is going on. ▼

Elizabeth Gilbert is touring Australia throughout February, speaking about living ‘a vibrant and fulfilling life’. She’ll be in Hobart on February 11.

Image: Elio Santos


If you liked this piece, please share it. And please consider donating or subscribing so that we can keep supporting writers and artists.

Elizabeth Gilbert

Elizabeth Gilbert is the author of ten books — including Eat Pray Love and Big Magic: Creative living beyond fear — which altogether have sold over 25 million copies worldwide.

https://www.elizabethgilbert.com/
Next
Next

Grass, willow, skin – by Ben Walter