Caged Creativity

The safety zone has moved. Conformity no longer leads to comfort. But the good news is that creativity is scarce and more valuable than ever. So is choosing to do something unpredictable and brave: Make art. Being an artist isn’t a genetic disposition or a specific talent. It’s an attitude we can all adopt. It’s a hunger to seize new ground, make connections, and work without a map. If you do those things you’re an artist, no matter what it says on your business card.

Seth Godin in The Icarus Deception

 I’m writing this on the island of Maui where it seems a different kind of conformity exists. I cannot help but notice, as we drive to the beach at Ho’okipa on the North Shore and especially in the little town of Paia that people here try oh-so-very-hard to be unique, to stand out from the crowd, to be non-conformist. Picturesque Paia is a magnet for surfers, bohemian-types that some might call neo-hippies, spiritual seekers, artists, and some folks who are a mix of all of these things. What I can’t help but notice is that the measure of non-conformity here appears to have shifted to something more extreme, that people apparently feel they must go further to stand out from the crowd. A visual illustration exists in the surprising number of people who sport tattoos over most of their bodies – not just their arms and legs, but entire chests, backs, and necks are covered thickly with images that have been scratched into the substratum of their skin. In some cases the ink has crept up onto their faces. It’s as though the one-upmanship of tattooing has reached its zenith. What will they do when they run out of blank canvas? [I also shudder at what all those dyes and inks are likely doing to their livers, but that’s besides the point.]

When I see these and the people trying so hard to be bohemian that they have eschewed the use of soaps, razors and hair brushes, I question whether they get any pleasure out of their quest for uniqueness or if all that inking and body odor is ultimately just unpleasant and depressing. Ultimately the question that arises in my mind every time I see someone who seems to be trying awfully hard to be different is whether this is an authentic form of self-expression or just another form of conformity within the ranks of the non-conformists. It just doesn’t look “real” to me. It smacks of an act.

Long before she wrote her famed memoir Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert wrote “The Last American Man,” a true story depicting Eustace Conway’s choice to live life in a back-to-nature, non-conformist, non-materialistic way that bucks the “norm” of modern American lifestyle. In one scene Gilbert describes the affect Conway had on a group of “loud, disrespectful, shoving, shrieking, laughing” teenaged boys:

Eustace was supposed to get these kids all excited about nature…[he] walked across the stage and toward the microphone. The shoving and shrieking and laughing continued.

Eustace stepped up to the microphone with his hands in his pockets. He stood there, thin and serious, for a long moment. Then he said, “I am a quiet-spoken man, so I am going to have to speak quietly to you tonight.”

The shoving and shrieking and laughing stopped. I swear to God. The jerky teenage kids stared at Eustace Conway, absolutely riveted.

When Gilbert inquired later, Eustace confirmed that this was not an uncommon occurrence. She asked him why he thought they responded to him the way they did and he replied:

“Because they recognized right away that I was a real person, and they’ve probably never met one before.”

Eustace Conway and the tattoo and dreadlock-festooned Paia hippies drove me to wonder, “How many “real” people do I actually meet in a day, a week, or will I meet in this lifetime?” Then the more pertinent question I needed to examine hit me square in the frontal lobe:

Am I living authentically?

When I question what people will think about what I write here or in my memoir and then allow it to influence the creative process, I’m not being authentic. When I allow external factors to alter how or what I create I am not being who I was put on this Earth to be. I’ll be the first to admit it’s not always easy to ignore the voice in my head that warns of potentially negative reactions to what I write. Similarly it’s hard to write just for the love of it without regard for the potential accolades.  Try as I might not to, I do give a shit how many people read and comment on my posts. I am guessing you have no idea how hard it was for me to post my previous entry or how astounded I was when it exceeded all the others in the number of hits it received (Really? Profanity was all that was necessary to get you to read? Well, I’ll be a goddamned, shitfaced and fucking astounded motherfucker!).

Speaking from my own experience, I have to conclude that over and above the social pressures we all feel to conform, authenticity has become endangered by the effects of unlimited access to mundane visual media and marketing that reinforce the tendency to conform and make fun of those who don’t. Add to that the systematic brainwashing of youth by systems of education that are outdated, conventional and dogmatic and authenticity gets a terminal diagnosis.

It takes guts to be authentic in a world where the pressure to conform and the desire for love and acceptance are powerful forces pushing us in the opposite direction. In the face of so much conformance to non-conformity here on Maui, I found myself asking, “How much time and energy do I spend worrying about and trying to live up to others’ expectations? And what would happen if I just stopped doing that and instead started using that energy to express my own most creative ideas?”

Like Godin’s quote at the beginning of this post states, being artistic requires nothing more and nothing less than acting on the “hunger to seize new ground, make connections, and work without a map.” I believe we all possess that hunger. Courage and strength are the ingredients that will allow us to escape the cage of conformity repressing the creative artistry inherent in each of our brains. Doing that will make the world a better place.

Sharin’ the Stoke

If you surf you belong to a fellowship that defines part of who you are. In Dana Brown’s documentary Step into Liquid, Kelly Slater, the undisputed King of the sport states,  “Once you’re a surfer you’re done. You’re in. It’s like the mob or something. You’re not getting out.” What he’s saying is that it’s more than a sport, it’s a passion, a way of life that grabs hold of you and won’t let go. My current lifestyle is a testament to how my own surfing baptismal in the waters off Costa Rica 12 years ago was as life changing as marrying into the Corleone family.

The longer I surf, the more it also becomes apparent that the surfing world is tiny. Case in point, how I landed the opportunity to work on the Maui Jim Women’s Adventure Series.

It was late last summer when I pulled up to Mysto Surf Spot #9 on my ATV with Peanut on board.  There was a young blond woman sitting under the shade of a palapa watching the waves and the people riding them. She turned and regarded us with curiosity. The rig in all its surf gear-laden glory and Peanut’s charisma made an impression. We struck up a conversation and quickly discovered that we had some friends in common…one an iconic figure who was featured in the sequel to the surfing world’s most iconic movie, another the daughter of the director of those iconic films (feel free to speculate on who I’m talking about in the comments section below). I was the one doing the name dropping and in what I would learn is her usual humble nature, Mary gave me no indication of her surfing world status. Heck she didn’t even tell me her last name. The words “professional surfer,” “longboard champion,” “Patagonia ambassador,” “Ambassador for the United Nations Environmental Safe Campaign and the 5 Gyres Institute,” “MTV’s reality show Surf Girls,” “Maui Jim team rider” never left her mouth. I figured she was just some average California surfer chick looking for some warm water surf. Ha!

Before I left the beach that day she was inviting me to crash at her place in Ventura, California on a trip I planned to make there. A few Facebook conversations, a massive ah ha moment when I realized who I’d had the pleasure of meeting and a couple of months later, I arrived on the Central Californian Coast. I was shocked and pleased in equal measure when Mary actually responded enthusiastically to my emails asking if we were still on for some Ventura adventures.

Who's warmer? Mary or the boom man?

I met her on the Solymar beach where a crew was filming some of the footage for Maui Jim’s promo of the Women’s Adventure Series that I posted in my previous blog. Watching Mary work provided additional insight into this woman’s patience and professionalism. She remained stoic and uncomplaining as she slowly froze in the fading light of an increasingly chilly November day. I got chilled in long pants and down vest just watching her try to stay warm in her board shorts and tank top. Watch the video again and see if you can tell her teeth were chattering between takes. Like I said, the woman is a professional.

Over the next couple of days she was a great hostess showing me sights like the surf break at C-Street and the Patagonia flagship store –  and making sure I got to sample some of the wonderful organic produce and wine grown in the area. We didn’t manage to surf that trip, but what I came to learn over the course of those few days is that Mary is the definition of the aloha spirit – warm, welcoming, generous – and a very hard-working business woman. So you can imagine how enthusiastic I was when she casually mentioned that perhaps I could join her in teaching on a series of surf and yoga retreats. Yeah, I got pretty excited. 😉

My niece charges into the surf on her inaugural surf adventure. The board is a classic Bing noserider gifted to me by Bing himself.

It’s been a dream of mine ever since learning to surf to share the stoke with which it infuses me with others. In 2006, I took my niece out in the placid waters of Nine Palms and although we had to abort the mission due to an unforeseen bout of motion sickness that ended with her chumming the water, she has since gone on to hone her skills in the waters off Ecuador, Peru and British Columbia. The following summer I  coached her mother, my oldest sister, into her first wave. The excitement on my sister’s face as she paddled back out to me after catching that wave was beyond rewarding. So it is with great excitement and a sense of deep privilege that I thank Mary Osborne for this opportunity to share my love of the sport with other amazing women during the Maui Jim Women’s Adventure Series retreats. So what’s holding you back? Come and share the stoke!

Mary Osborne Surfing El Salvador from Ryan W. Murphy on Vimeo.

Learn to Surf with Mary Osborne (and me too!)

Photo by Ray Butler

Adventure. Surfing. Inspiration. Yoga. Camaraderie. Fun!

Sounds good, doesn’t it?

[Cue drumroll please, followed by a set of five magisterial coronets]

I am totally, unabashedly stoked to report that I will be joining Mary Osborne, champion longboarder, professional surfer and all ’round great gal, to help teach at the Maui Jim’s Women’s Adventure Series. I’ll be at two of the five locations the retreats will be held: La Jolla, a beautiful suburb of San Diego, California in June and then in late September we’ll be on Maui for the final retreat. I’m so excited to work and play with Mary and to meet the participants.

So if you’ve always wanted to learn to surf or want to improve your round house cutback in a supportive and inspiring atmosphere, then come and join Mary and me for a long weekend in one of five beautiful locations.

And if the following video doesn’t get you stoked to come and join us, then you better check to make sure you have a pulse! 😉