The Mormons who raised me
wanted to call intuition The Spirit. But I think that put it in a box that it
didn’t like. While yes, intuition is a recognized epistemology, somehow, The
Spirit allows Mormons to keep truth in black and white lanes. While I suspect--I
begin to suspect, as one does in one’s 30s--that intuition is valid and allows for
much more nuance than simple True and False. I much prefer intuition as a shape-shifting target dodger and I think I enjoy the journey of the pursuit.
So, this is not what I mean about disciplining one’s
intuition. Not defining it, or boxing it up. I think what I mean is that—now that I work as a scientist in a reference
laboratory, this work forces me to exercise muscles that writing music doesn’t
necessarily exercise. It’s helping me build this iron framework around which
creativity is spiraling up like vines.
A runner goes to the gym and builds muscles in ways that
running alone can’t build, but which vastly improves the running. Working on
all my left brain accuracy and precision and analysis and problem-solving at
work translates into having better analytical instincts for my music. And
providing a clear and simple framework like this seems to free up the
creativity. I’m not trying to discipline the little bursts of inspiration
themselves. I can let them be, because I built a solid skeleton for them to
flourish around.
