Finding Meaning Through Creativity: In Conversation with Nicole Adams
What a joy it was to sit down with the wonderful and interesting Nicole Adams! As I mentioned in the Making Meaning episode, Nicole is one of my roommates and best friends and I feel deeply grateful to be able to chat about such important topics with her.
During our conversation I was particularly drawn to Nicole’s discussion of “inspiration” and its connection to exercise and nature. Nature has often been seen as a powerful way to connect to the universe around us, but here, Nicole pointedly focused on the way moving our bodies through nature, and seeing the way light moves through nature, elicits enlightenment for her. Not only does this provide physical wellness as well as mental wellness, it pushes her to acknowledge her place within the broader world.
This process of inspiration is reflective of the Buddhist practice of Walking Meditation which seeks to unite body and mind in order to better settle into conscious awareness. Nicole’s description of seeing the light peak in between the branches and leaves of the trees speaks to the way our minds, when in conscious awareness, can reach a new level of attention for the world around us. It is this attention that evokes inspiration and fascination for the world around us, when we slow down and pay attention enough to notice it. The light that sneaks through the trees is hugely symbolic of the conscious awareness that peaks through our days, reminding us of presence, of our comportment.
Further in our conversation, Nicole and I discussed the process of artistic creation, and its relationship to the notion of grand creation in general. Nicole’s artistic process is largely connected to the universe around her. As she discussed the way she, “creates something out of nothing,” I couldn’t help but be reminded of the Big Bang and the way each of us were once nothing. How did human beings come to develop our hopeful understanding of how we got here? How did we develop our theories, religions, notions of being? How did we discover light? How was it created?
Us, artistically, creating something out of nothing mirrors whatever higher power you might have in creating us, or the world. Or it mirrors the process of us being formed slowly, over time, due to the universe’s natural processes, similarly to the time and intention it takes to slowly craft a painting. The experience of living is inherently linked to, if not the same as, creating. As we live, we create. Our memories, our histories, our communities, our narratives, our lives, ourselves.
On the notion of creation, I also want to discuss creating, simply for creating’s sake. In his preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde expresses “Art shall have no other aim than being art and it should be protected from subordination to any moral, didactic, social or political purpose.” While I think that art serves an important purpose in pushing forward morality and social progress, as well as expressing personal narratives, I think Wilde’s assertion that art should exist purely as art is worth considering. Not only does this challenge our interactions with art, it also interrogates our personal definitions of what art is. As we create art, what is it that we are doing? At what point does something become art, or lose its “artness” that made it art to begin with?
Again, I think we can use the discussion of art and creation to our own way of living. Is an enigmatic way of living really possible? How necessary is a goal in our lives? Personally, I find having goals and ambitions lights up my passions and encourages me to pursue fulfillment in my daily life. However, is there ever an “end goal” in life? Some point you reach when you feel like you have finally lived your life wholly and completely? I don’t think so. And in this way, leaning into the uncertainty of living without an “end goal” may in fact reveal more meaning in our lives than the opposite.
I hope each of you enjoyed the conversation Nicole and I had, and perhaps gained something from listening! If you want more content, subscribe to the podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and subscribe to the blog so you never miss another post! If you want to join the conversation, follow us on Instagram @thecoherecollective. If you want more of Nicole, follow her on Instagram on personal account @nicolioliolioli or her art and foodie accounts @nicoles_paints and @nicoles_eats.
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