TED2009
Elizabeth Gilbert: Your elusive creative genius
Elizabeth Gilbert om genialitet
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Elizabeth Gilbert funderer over de umuligheder vi forventer af kunstnere og genier -- og deler den radikale idé: at i stedet for at det er den enkelte person der 'er' et geni så det sådan at vi alle 'har' et geni. Det er en sjov, personlig og overraskende rørende tale.
Elizabeth Gilbert - Writer
The author of 'Eat, Pray, Love,' Elizabeth Gilbert has thought long and hard about some big topics. Her fascinations: genius, creativity and how we get in our own way when it comes to both. Full bio
The author of 'Eat, Pray, Love,' Elizabeth Gilbert has thought long and hard about some big topics. Her fascinations: genius, creativity and how we get in our own way when it comes to both. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:13
I am a writer.
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Jeg er forfatter
00:15
Writing books is my profession but it's more than that, of course.
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At skrive bøger er mit job, men det er selvfølgelig mere end det.
00:19
It is also my great lifelong love and fascination.
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Det er også min livslange kærlighed og fascination
00:23
And I don't expect that that's ever going to change.
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Og jeg tror ikke det nogensinde vil ændre sig.
00:25
But, that said, something kind of peculiar has happened recently
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Men når det er sagt, så skete der for nylig noget interessant
00:30
in my life and in my career,
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i mit liv og min karriere,
00:33
which has caused me to have to recalibrate my whole relationship with this work.
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som har fået mig til at gentænke mit forhold til det her arbejde.
00:38
And the peculiar thing is that I recently wrote this book,
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Og den interessante ting er at jeg for nylig skrev denne bog,
00:41
this memoir called "Eat, Pray, Love"
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disse memoirer ved navn "Eat, Pray, Love" (Spis, Bed, Elsk)
00:43
which, decidedly unlike any of my previous books,
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som, meget ulig alle mine tidligere bøger,
00:48
went out in the world for some reason, and became this big,
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gik verden rundt, og blev
00:51
mega-sensation, international bestseller thing.
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en mega-sensation og bestseller.
00:54
The result of which is that everywhere I go now,
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Resultatet af det er at hvor end jeg nu går hen
00:57
people treat me like I'm doomed.
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så behandler folk mig som om jeg er fortabt.
01:00
Seriously -- doomed, doomed!
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Seriøst -- fortabt, fortabt!
01:03
Like, they come up to me now, all worried, and they say,
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Det er som at de nu bekymret kommet til mig og siger,
01:05
"Aren't you afraid you're never going to be able to top that?
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"Er du ikke bange, bange for at du aldrig kan overgå den"
01:10
Aren't you afraid you're going to keep writing for your whole life
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Er du ikke bange for at fortsætte med at skrive hele livet
01:13
and you're never again going to create a book
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og aldrig mere vil skabe en bog
01:15
that anybody in the world cares about at all,
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som nogen som helst i hele verden vil interessere sig for overhovedet
01:18
ever again?"
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nogensinde igen?
01:20
So that's reassuring, you know.
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Beroligende, ikke sandt?
01:22
But it would be worse, except for that I happen to remember
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Jeg husker faktisk
01:25
that over 20 years ago, when I first started telling people -- when I was a teenager --
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at for over 20 år siden, da jeg i mine teenageår begyndte at fortælle folk
01:29
that I wanted to be a writer,
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at jeg ville være forfatter,
01:31
I was met with this same kind of, sort of fear-based reaction.
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blev jeg mødt med denne her form for frygt-baserede reaktion.
01:34
And people would say, "Aren't you afraid you're never going to have any success?
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Folk ville spørge, "Er du ikke bange for at du aldrig får succes?
01:37
Aren't you afraid the humiliation of rejection will kill you?
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Er du ikke bange for at afvisningens ydmygelse vil slå dig ihjel?
01:40
Aren't you afraid that you're going to work your whole life at this craft
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Er du ikke bange for at du vil arbejde hele dit liv med dette håndværk
01:43
and nothing's ever going to come of it
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and der aldrig nogensinde kommer noget ud af det
01:45
and you're going to die on a scrap heap of broken dreams
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og du vil dø i en skrotbunke af bristede drømme
01:47
with your mouth filled with bitter ash of failure?"
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med din mund fyldt af fiaskoens bitre aske?"
01:51
(Laughter)
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(Latter)
01:53
Like that, you know.
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I kender det.
01:55
The answer -- the short answer to all those questions is, "Yes."
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Svaret - det korte svar på alle de spørgsmål er: "Ja."
02:00
Yes, I'm afraid of all those things.
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Ja, jeg er bange for alle disse ting.
02:02
And I always have been.
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Og har altid været det.
02:03
And I'm afraid of many, many more things besides
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Og jeg er bange for mange mange andre ting
02:06
that people can't even guess at,
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som folk end ikke kan gætte.
02:08
like seaweed and other things that are scary.
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Såsom tang og andre skræmmende ting.
02:12
But, when it comes to writing,
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Men når det kommer til at skrive
02:14
the thing that I've been sort of thinking about lately, and wondering about lately, is why?
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så er dét jeg har tænkt og undret mig over på det seneste: hvorfor?
02:18
You know, is it rational?
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Er det rationelt?
02:20
Is it logical that anybody should be expected
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Er det logisk at forvente af nogen
02:23
to be afraid of the work that they feel they were put on this Earth to do.
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at de skal være bange for det arbejde, som de føler, de er sat her på jorden for at gøre.
02:27
And what is it specifically about creative ventures
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Hvad er det specielt med kreative forehavender
02:32
that seems to make us really nervous about each other's mental health
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der tilsyneladende gør os virkeligt nervøse for hinandens mentale helbred
02:35
in a way that other careers kind of don't do, you know?
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på en måde som andre karrierer ikke rigtig gør.
02:38
Like my dad, for example, was a chemical engineer
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For eksempel, min far var kemiingeniør
02:42
and I don't recall once in his 40 years of chemical engineering
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og jeg husker ikke en eneste gange i hans 40 år som kemiingeniør
02:45
anybody asking him if he was afraid to be a chemical engineer, you know?
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nogen der spurgte ham, om han var bange for at være kemiingeniør.
02:49
It didn't -- that chemical-engineering block, John, how's it going?
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Ingen spurgte "Den kemiingeniør-blokering John - hvordan går det?"
02:55
It just didn't come up like that, you know?
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Det blev bare ikke sagt på den måde.
02:57
But to be fair, chemical engineers as a group
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Men for at være fair, så har kemiingeniører som gruppe
03:01
haven't really earned a reputation over the centuries
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ikke gennem århundreder gjort sig rigtig fortjent til et ry
03:03
for being alcoholic manic-depressives.
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som alkoholiske maniodepressive.
03:06
(Laughter)
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(Latter)
03:08
We writers, we kind of do have that reputation,
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Vi forfattere, vi har på en måde det ry,
03:11
and not just writers, but creative people across all genres,
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og ikke bare forfattere, men kreative mennesker fra alle genrer,
03:14
it seems, have this reputation for being enormously mentally unstable.
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har tilsyneladende et ry for at være enormt mentalt ustabile.
03:19
And all you have to do is look at the very grim death count
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Man skal bare tage et kig på de barske dødstal,
03:23
in the 20th century alone, of really magnificent creative minds
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i det 20. århundrede alene blandt virkeligt fabelagtigt kreative sind
03:27
who died young and often at their own hands, you know?
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som døde unge og for egen hånd.
03:30
And even the ones who didn't literally commit suicide
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Og selv de som ikke direkte begik selvmord
03:33
seem to be really undone by their gifts, you know.
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virker som om at de bliver spoleret af deres talenter.
03:36
Norman Mailer, just before he died, last interview, he said
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Norman Mailer sagde, umiddelbart før sin død, i det sidste interview:
03:39
"Every one of my books has killed me a little more."
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"Hver enkelt af mine bøger, har dræbt mig lidt mere."
03:43
An extraordinary statement to make about your life's work.
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Et ekstraordinært udsagn omkring ens livsværk.
03:47
But we don't even blink when we hear somebody say this
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Men vi blinker ikke engang, når vi hører nogen sige dette
03:50
because we've heard that kind of stuff for so long
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fordi vi har hørt den slags så længe
03:53
and somehow we've completely internalized and accepted collectively
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og på en eller anden måde har vi kollektive internaliseret og accepteret
03:57
this notion that creativity and suffering are somehow inherently linked
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denne opfattelse af at kreativitet og lidelse er tæt forbundet
04:01
and that artistry, in the end, will always ultimately lead to anguish.
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og at kunstfærdighed, ultimativt fører til lede.
04:06
And the question that I want to ask everybody here today
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Spørgsmålet jeg vil stille alle her i dag
04:08
is are you guys all cool with that idea?
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er: "Accepterer I alle denne idé?"
04:11
Are you comfortable with that?
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Har I det fint med at --
04:14
Because you look at it even from an inch away and, you know ...
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fordi I betragter det på en centimeters afstand og –
04:17
I'm not at all comfortable with that assumption.
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Jeg har det på ingen måde godt med den antagelse.
04:20
I think it's odious.
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Jeg synes den er odiøs.
04:21
And I also think it's dangerous,
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Og jeg synes også den er farlig
04:23
and I don't want to see it perpetuated into the next century.
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og jeg har ikke løst til at se den gentaget ind i det næste århundrede.
04:26
I think it's better if we encourage our great creative minds to live.
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Jeg synes det er bedre, hvis vi opmuntrer vores store kreative sind til at leve.
04:30
And I definitely know that, in my case -- in my situation --
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Og jeg ved helt sikkert, i mit tilfælde, i min situation
04:36
it would be very dangerous for me to start sort of leaking down that dark path
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vil det være meget farligt for mig at nærme mig den mørke sti
04:41
of assumption, particularly given the circumstance
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af antagelser, især givet omstændigheden
04:44
that I'm in right now in my career.
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jeg befinder mig i, i min karriere lige nu.
04:46
Which is -- you know, like check it out,
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Som er -- hør her:
04:49
I'm pretty young, I'm only about 40 years old.
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Jeg er forholdsvis ung, jeg er kun omkring 40 år gammel.
04:51
I still have maybe another four decades of work left in me.
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Jeg har måske stadig 4 årtiers arbejde tilbage i mig.
04:54
And it's exceedingly likely that anything I write from this point forward
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Og det er meget sandsynligt at alt hvad jeg skriver fra nu af
04:59
is going to be judged by the world as the work that came after
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vil blive bedømt af verdenen, som arbejdet der kom efter
05:02
the freakish success of my last book, right?
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min forrige bogs umådelige succes.
05:05
I should just put it bluntly, because we're all sort of friends here now --
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Jeg vil sige det direkte, nu vi alle er blevet venner --
05:09
it's exceedingly likely that my greatest success is behind me.
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Det er ret sandsynligt at min største succes ligger bag mig.
05:13
So Jesus, what a thought!
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Åh, Jesus, hvilken tanke!
05:16
That's the kind of thought that could lead a person
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Det er den slags tanker der kan få en person til
05:18
to start drinking gin at nine o'clock in the morning,
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at drikke gin klokken 9 om morgenen
05:21
and I don't want to go there.
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og det har jeg ikke lyst til.
05:24
(Laughter)
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(Latter)
05:25
I would prefer to keep doing this work that I love.
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Jeg vil foretrække at fortsætte med det arbejder som jeg elsker.
05:27
And so, the question becomes, how?
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Og spørgsmålet bliver så: hvordan?
05:31
And so, it seems to me, upon a lot of reflection,
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Det virker på mig som om, efter megen refleksion,
05:33
that the way that I have to work now, in order to continue writing,
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at måden jeg skal arbejde på nu, for at fortsætte med at skrive,
05:37
is that I have to create some sort of protective psychological construct, right?
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er at jeg må skabe en slags beskyttende psykologisk konstruktion.
05:41
I have to sort of find some way to have a safe distance
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Jeg bliver nødt til på en måde at finde en sikkerhedsafstand
05:44
between me, as I am writing, and my very natural anxiety
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mellem mig når jeg skriver og min meget naturlige angst
05:49
about what the reaction to that writing is going to be, from now on.
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omkring hvad reaktionen på mine skriverier bliver.
05:53
And, as I've been looking over the last year for models for how to do that
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Det sidste år har jeg kigget på modeller for hvordan det kan gøres.
05:57
I've been sort of looking across time,
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Jeg har skuet over tid
05:59
and I've been trying to find other societies
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og prøvet at finde andre samfund
06:01
to see if they might have had better and saner ideas than we have
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for at se om de måske havde bedre og mere sunde idéer end vi har
06:05
about how to help creative people, sort of manage
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om hvordan man hjælper kreative folk med at håndtere
06:08
the inherent emotional risks of creativity.
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kreativitetens arvelige følelsesmæssige risici.
06:11
And that search has led me to ancient Greece and ancient Rome.
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Og den søgen har før mig til antikkens Grækenland og antikkens Rom
06:16
So stay with me, because it does circle around and back.
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Så lyt efter, for jeg skal nok få sløjfe på historien.
06:19
But, ancient Greece and ancient Rome --
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Men i Antikkens Grækenland og Antikkens Rom
06:21
people did not happen to believe that creativity
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var det sådan, at folk ikke troede at kreativitet
06:24
came from human beings back then, O.K.?
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kom fra menneskene.
06:26
People believed that creativity was this divine attendant spirit
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Folk troede at kreativitet was den guddommelige ledsagende ånd
06:30
that came to human beings from some distant and unknowable source,
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som kom til mennesker fra en fjern og ukendt kilde,
06:34
for distant and unknowable reasons.
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af fjerne og ukendte grunde.
06:37
The Greeks famously called these divine attendant spirits of creativity "daemons."
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Grækerne kaldte disse guddommelige ledsagende ånder for "dæmoner".
06:42
Socrates, famously, believed that he had a daemon
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Sokrates mente han havde en dæmon
06:45
who spoke wisdom to him from afar.
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som gav ham visdom.
06:48
The Romans had the same idea,
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Romerne havde den samme forestilling,
06:49
but they called that sort of disembodied creative spirit a genius.
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men de kaldte den slags kreative ånd for et geni.
06:54
Which is great, because the Romans did not actually think
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Hvilket er godt, for romerne mente faktisk ikke
06:57
that a genius was a particularly clever individual.
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at et geni var et specielt klogt individ.
06:59
They believed that a genius was this, sort of magical divine entity,
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De troede, at et geni var en slags magisk guddommelig enhed,
07:03
who was believed to literally live in the walls
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som boede i væggene
07:07
of an artist's studio, kind of like Dobby the house elf,
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i en kunstners bolig, lige som husalfen Dobby,
07:11
and who would come out and sort of invisibly assist the artist with their work
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og som ville komme ud og usynligt assistere kunstneren i sit arbejde
07:15
and would shape the outcome of that work.
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og hjælpe med at forme resultatet af arbejdet.
07:18
So brilliant -- there it is, right there, that distance that I'm talking about --
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Så brilliant -- der er dén, den distance jeg talte om --
07:21
that psychological construct to protect you from the results of your work.
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den psykologiske konstruktion der hjælper en med at at beskytte sig mod resultaterne af sit arbejde.
07:26
And everyone knew that this is how it functioned, right?
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Og alle vidste at det var sådan det fungerede.
07:29
So the ancient artist was protected from certain things,
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Så antikkens kunstnere var beskyttet mod visse ting,
07:32
like, for example, too much narcissism, right?
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for eksempel for meget narcissisme.
07:34
If your work was brilliant you couldn't take all the credit for it,
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Hvis dit arbejde var smukt, kunne du ikke tage al æren for det,
07:37
everybody knew that you had this disembodied genius who had helped you.
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alle vidste at man havde det et geni havde hjulpet en.
07:41
If your work bombed, not entirely your fault, you know?
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Hvis dit arbejde var en fiasko, så var det ikke helt din skyld.
07:45
Everyone knew your genius was kind of lame.
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Alle vidste at dit geni var lidt lamt.
07:48
And this is how people thought about creativity in the West for a really long time.
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Og det var sådan folk betragtede kreativitet i Vesten i meget lang tid.
07:53
And then the Renaissance came and everything changed,
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Så kom renæssancen og alting blev ændret
07:55
and we had this big idea, and the big idea was
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vi fik den her store idé og den store idé gik ud på
07:57
let's put the individual human being at the center of the universe
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at sætte det individuelle menneske som centrum i universet
08:01
above all gods and mysteries, and there's no more room
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over alle guder og mysterier og der er ikke plads til
08:03
for mystical creatures who take dictation from the divine.
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mystiske skabninger som dikteres af det guddommelige.
08:06
And it's the beginning of rational humanism,
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Det er begyndelsen på rationel humanisme,
08:09
and people started to believe that creativity
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og folk begyndte at tro, at kreativitet
08:11
came completely from the self of the individual.
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udelukkende kom fra selvet i individet.
08:13
And for the first time in history,
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For første gang i historien,
08:16
you start to hear people referring to this or that artist as being a genius
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begynder man at høre folk referere til denne eller hin kunstner som værende et geni
08:21
rather than having a genius.
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i stedet for at have et geni.
08:22
And I got to tell you, I think that was a huge error.
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Jeg må sige, at jeg synes det er en kæmpe fejl.
08:26
You know, I think that allowing somebody, one mere person
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Jeg tror det at tillade nogen, blot en enkelt person
08:30
to believe that he or she is like, the vessel,
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at tro, at hun eller hun er fartøjet
08:33
you know, like the font and the essence and the source
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kilden og essensen
08:35
of all divine, creative, unknowable, eternal mystery
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til al guddommelig, kreativ, evig mystik
08:39
is just a smidge too much responsibility to put on one fragile, human psyche.
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er en smule for stort et ansvar at placere på et enkelt menneskes psyke.
08:45
It's like asking somebody to swallow the sun.
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Det er som at bede nogen om at sluge solen.
08:48
It just completely warps and distorts egos,
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Det fuldstændig bøjer og forvrænger egoer
08:51
and it creates all these unmanageable expectations about performance.
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og det skaber uhåndterbare forventninger til evner.
08:55
And I think the pressure of that
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Jeg tror, at det pres
08:57
has been killing off our artists for the last 500 years.
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har slået vores kunstnere ihjel i de sidste 500 år.
09:00
And, if this is true,
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Og, hvis det er sandt
09:02
and I think it is true,
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og jeg tror det er sandt,
09:04
the question becomes, what now?
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så bliver spørgmålet: hvad nu?
09:07
Can we do this differently?
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Kan vi gøre det anderledes?
09:09
Maybe go back to some more ancient understanding
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Måske gå tilbage til antikkens forståelse
09:12
about the relationship between humans and the creative mystery.
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af forholdet mellem mennesker og det kreative mysterium.
09:17
Maybe not.
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Måske ikke.
09:18
Maybe we can't just erase 500 years of rational humanistic thought
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Måske kan vi ikke bare slette 500 års rationel humanistisk tanke
09:22
in one 18 minute speech.
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i løbet af en 18 minutters tale.
09:24
And there's probably people in this audience
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Der er sandsynligvis folk blandt det her publikum
09:27
who would raise really legitimate scientific suspicions
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som ville rejse nogle helt legitime videnskabelige mistanker
09:31
about the notion of, basically fairies
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omkring dette begreb om alfer
09:33
who follow people around rubbing fairy juice on their projects and stuff.
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der følger efter folk og smører deres projekter ind i alfe-saft og den slags.
09:38
I'm not, probably, going to bring you all along with me on this.
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Jeg vil formentlig ikke få jer alle med på den her ide.
09:43
But the question that I kind of want to pose is --
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Men spørgsmålet jeg vil stille er:
09:45
you know, why not?
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hvorfor ikke?
09:48
Why not think about it this way?
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Hvorfor ikke betragte det på denne måde?
09:49
Because it makes as much sense as anything else I have ever heard
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Fordi det giver lige så meget mening, som alt andet jeg nogensinde har hørt
09:54
in terms of explaining the utter maddening capriciousness
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omkring forklaringen af den fuldstændige gale uforudsigelighed
09:58
of the creative process.
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i den kreative proces.
09:59
A process which, as anybody who has ever tried to make something --
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En proces, som hvem som helst der nogensinde har prøvet at skabe noget --
10:02
which is to say basically everyone here ---
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hvilket betyder alle der er tilstede her i salen --
10:04
knows does not always behave rationally.
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ved ikke altid opfører sig rationelt.
10:07
And, in fact, can sometimes feel downright paranormal.
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Faktisk kan den i visse tilfælde føles direkte paranormal.
10:12
I had this encounter recently where I met the extraordinary American poet Ruth Stone,
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Jeg oplevede dette da jeg for nylig mødte den uovertrufne amerikanske poet Ruth Stone
10:18
who's now in her 90s, but she's been a poet her entire life
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som nu er over 90 år gammel, men har været poet hele sit liv.
10:20
and she told me that when she was growing up in rural Virginia,
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3230
Hun fortalte mig, at da hun voksede op på landet i Virginia
10:24
she would be out working in the fields,
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1601
var hun ude at arbejde i marken
10:25
and she said she would feel and hear a poem
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3157
og hun sagde at hun kunne høre og føle et digt
10:28
coming at her from over the landscape.
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2007
komme imod hende, bevægende sig henover landskabet.
10:30
And she said it was like a thunderous train of air.
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3157
Hun sagde det føltes som et tordnende tog af luft
10:34
And it would come barreling down at her over the landscape.
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Og det ville komme susende mod hende, henover landskabet.
10:36
And she felt it coming, because it would shake the earth under her feet.
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Hun ville føle det komme, fordi jorden ville ryste under hendes fødder.
10:39
She knew that she had only one thing to do at that point,
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Hun vidste at når dette skete, så var der kun var een ting at gøre
10:43
and that was to, in her words, "run like hell."
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og det var, med hendes egne ord "at løbe som ind i helvede"
10:45
And she would run like hell to the house
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Så hun løb "som ind i helvede" til huset
10:46
and she would be getting chased by this poem,
201
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blev jagtet af det her digt
10:48
and the whole deal was that she had to get to a piece of paper and a pencil
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og idéen var at hun skulle finde et stykke papir og en blyant
10:51
fast enough so that when it thundered through her, she could collect it
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3068
så hurtigt som muligt, så når digtet tordnede gennem hende, så kunne hun opfange det
10:54
and grab it on the page.
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1501
og få det ned på papiret.
10:56
And other times she wouldn't be fast enough,
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643530
1955
Andre gange var hun ikke hurtig nok
10:58
so she'd be running and running and running, and she wouldn't get to the house
206
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3327
og så måtte hun løbe og løbe og løbe og hun nåede ikke til huset
11:01
and the poem would barrel through her and she would miss it
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2838
og digtet ville passere durk igennem hende og hun ville misse det
11:04
and she said it would continue on across the landscape,
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og hun sagde at det forsvandet videre henover landskabet
11:06
looking, as she put it "for another poet."
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på udkig efter "en anden poet."
11:09
And then there were these times --
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2370
Så var der de gange --
11:12
this is the piece I never forgot --
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det er den her del jeg aldrig glemte --
11:14
she said that there were moments where she would almost miss it, right?
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hun sagde der var tidspunkter, hvor hun næsten missede digtet.
11:17
So, she's running to the house and she's looking for the paper
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Så hun løber hen til huset og leder efter papir
11:20
and the poem passes through her,
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og digtet går lige igennem hende
11:22
and she grabs a pencil just as it's going through her,
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2934
hun får i en blyant lige som det går gennem hende,
11:25
and then she said, it was like she would reach out with her other hand
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og så rækker hun ud efter det med sin anden hånd
11:27
and she would catch it.
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1707
og fanger det.
11:29
She would catch the poem by its tail,
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2281
Hun fanger digtet i dets hale
11:31
and she would pull it backwards into her body
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2778
and hun trækker det baglæns gennem sin krop
11:34
as she was transcribing on the page.
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mens hun skriver det på papiret.
11:36
And in these instances, the poem would come up on the page perfect and intact
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4855
Ved disse lejligheder, viste digtet sig perfekt og intakt på papiret
11:41
but backwards, from the last word to the first.
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3405
men baglæns, fra det sidste ord til det første.
11:44
(Laughter)
223
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1712
(Latter)
11:46
So when I heard that I was like -- that's uncanny,
224
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4717
Da jeg hørte det, tænkte jeg: mystisk,
11:50
that's exactly what my creative process is like.
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2501
Det er præcis sådan min kreative process er.
11:53
(Laughter)
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3613
(Latter)
11:57
That's not at all what my creative process is -- I'm not the pipeline!
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3066
Det er ikke kun sådan min kreative process foregår.
12:00
I'm a mule, and the way that I have to work
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1854
Jeg er et mulddyr og måden jeg må arbejde på
12:01
is that I have to get up at the same time every day,
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er at jeg bliver nødt til at stå op samme tid hver dag
12:03
and sweat and labor and barrel through it really awkwardly.
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2797
og svede og arbejde mig igennem det hele rigtig akavet.
12:06
But even I, in my mulishness,
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3000
Men selv jeg, i al min mulddyragtighed,
12:09
even I have brushed up against that thing, at times.
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3868
selv jeg, har til tider, strejfet den proces.
12:13
And I would imagine that a lot of you have too.
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Jeg forestiller mig, at en masse af jer også har prøvet.
12:15
You know, even I have had work or ideas come through me from a source
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3609
Selv jeg har haft arbejde eller idéer som kom til mig fra en kilde
12:18
that I honestly cannot identify.
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som jeg helt ærligt ikke kan identificere.
12:21
And what is that thing?
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Og hvad er det for en ting?
12:22
And how are we to relate to it in a way that will not make us lose our minds,
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Hvordan skal vi forholde os til det på en måde, der ikke gør os sindssyge
12:26
but, in fact, might actually keep us sane?
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2886
men faktisk holder os nede på jorden?
12:29
And for me, the best contemporary example that I have of how to do that
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For mig er det bedste eksempel på hvordan man gør det
12:33
is the musician Tom Waits,
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2332
musikeren Tom Waits,
12:35
who I got to interview several years ago on a magazine assignment.
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4541
som jeg fik lov til at interviewe til et blad for adskillige år siden.
12:40
And we were talking about this,
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1249
Vi talte om emnet
12:41
and you know, Tom, for most of his life he was pretty much the embodiment
243
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3713
og Tom har i det meste af sit liv været personificeringen
12:45
of the tormented contemporary modern artist,
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1924
af nutidens lidende, moderne kunstner
12:47
trying to control and manage and dominate
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2623
der forsøger at kontrollere og håndtere og dominere
12:50
these sort of uncontrollable creative impulses
246
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2474
disse ukontrollerbare kreative impulser
12:52
that were totally internalized.
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1887
der var totalt internaliseret.
12:54
But then he got older, he got calmer,
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2005
Men da han blev ældre, blev han mere rolig
12:56
and one day he was driving down the freeway in Los Angeles he told me,
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2923
og han fortalte om en dag han kørte ad motorvejen i Los Angeles
12:59
and this is when it all changed for him.
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1840
og det var dér, at det hele ændrede sig for ham.
13:01
And he's speeding along, and all of a sudden
251
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1991
Som han kører derudaf, hører han pludselig
13:03
he hears this little fragment of melody,
252
770364
3741
et lille fragment af en melodi
13:06
that comes into his head as inspiration often comes, elusive and tantalizing,
253
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4029
der kommer ind i hans hoved, som inspiration ofte gør det: flygtig og fristende -
13:10
and he wants it, you know, it's gorgeous,
254
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2128
og han vil have den, den er pragtfuld
13:13
and he longs for it, but he has no way to get it.
255
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2071
og han længes efter den, men kan på ingen måde få fat i den.
13:15
He doesn't have a piece of paper, he doesn't have a pencil,
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1868
Han har ikke et stykke papir, han har ikke en blyant
13:17
he doesn't have a tape recorder.
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1451
han har ikke en båndoptager.
13:18
So he starts to feel all of that old anxiety start to rise in him
258
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2968
Han begynder at føle al den gamle angst begynde at vokse i ham
13:21
like, "I'm going to lose this thing,
259
788620
1991
"Jeg vil miste den her ting,
13:23
and then I'm going to be haunted by this song forever.
260
790611
1920
og så vil jeg blive hjemsøgt af den her sang forevigt.
13:25
I'm not good enough, and I can't do it."
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1771
Jeg er ikke god nok og jeg kan ikke finde ud af det."
13:27
And instead of panicking, he just stopped.
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2392
Og i stedet for at gå i panik, stoppede han blot.
13:29
He just stopped that whole mental process
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1748
Stoppede hele den mentale proces
13:31
and he did something completely novel.
264
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2155
og gjorde noget helt nyt.
13:33
He just looked up at the sky, and he said,
265
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2722
Han kiggede blot op i himlen og sagde:
13:36
"Excuse me, can you not see that I'm driving?"
266
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3014
"Undskyld mig, kan du ikke se jeg kører bil?"
13:39
(Laughter)
267
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3701
(Latter)
13:42
"Do I look like I can write down a song right now?
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2734
"Ser det ud som om jeg kan skrive en sang ned lige nu?
13:45
If you really want to exist, come back at a more opportune moment
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3845
Hvis du virkelig gerne vil eksistere så kom tilbage i et mere opportunt øjeblik
13:49
when I can take care of you.
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når jeg kan tage mig af dig.
13:51
Otherwise, go bother somebody else today.
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3077
Ellers, så find en anden at irritere i dag.
13:54
Go bother Leonard Cohen."
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3296
Irritér Leonard Cohen."
13:57
And his whole work process changed after that.
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3132
Hele hans arbejdsproces ændrede sig efter den oplevelse.
14:00
Not the work, the work was still oftentimes as dark as ever.
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3608
Ikke værkerne, værkerne var stadig så mørke som nogensinde før.
14:04
But the process, and the heavy anxiety around it
275
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3059
Men processen og den tunge angst omkring den
14:07
was released when he took the genie, the genius out of him
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2986
blev forløst da han tog geniet ud af sig selv
14:10
where it was causing nothing but trouble, and released it kind of back where it came from,
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3371
hvor det ikke forårsagede andet end problemer og slap det løs tilbage hvor det kom fra
14:13
and realized that this didn't have to be this internalized, tormented thing.
278
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og indså at det ikke behøvede at være denne internaliserede pinte ting.
14:17
It could be this peculiar, wondrous, bizarre collaboration
279
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3744
Det kunne være det her pudsige, vidunderlige, bizarre samarbejde -
14:20
kind of conversation between Tom and the strange, external thing
280
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4132
en slags samtale mellem Tom og den underlige, eksterne ting
14:25
that was not quite Tom.
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2376
der ikke helt var Tom.
14:27
So when I heard that story it started to shift a little bit
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2706
Da jeg havde hørt denne historie, begyndte det at ændre en lille smule
14:30
the way that I worked too, and it already saved me once.
283
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2629
på måden jeg arbejdede og det har allerede reddet mig en enkelt gang.
14:32
This idea, it saved me when I was in the middle of writing "Eat, Pray, Love,"
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3331
Denne idé reddede mig mens jeg var midt i at skrive "Eat, Pray, Love"
14:36
and I fell into one of those, sort of pits of despair
285
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2588
og jeg faldt i en af disse fortvivlelsens grave,
14:38
that we all fall into when we're working on something and it's not coming
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3341
som vi alle falder i når vi arbejder på noget og det ikke kommer til een
14:42
and you start to think this is going to be a disaster,
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2242
og man begynder at tænke det vil blive en katastrofe,
14:44
this is going to be the worst book ever written.
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1761
det her bliver den værste bog nogensinde skrevet.
14:46
Not just bad, but the worst book ever written.
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2147
Ikke bare dårlig, men den værste bog nogensinde skrevet.
14:48
And I started to think I should just dump this project.
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3962
Jeg begyndte at tænke jeg bare skulle droppe projektet.
14:52
But then I remembered Tom talking to the open air
291
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3075
Men så huskede jeg Tom talende ud i den tomme luft
14:55
and I tried it.
292
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2048
og jeg prøvede det.
14:57
So I just lifted my face up from the manuscript
293
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2492
Så jeg løftede mit hoved op fra manuskriptet
14:59
and I directed my comments to an empty corner of the room.
294
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2930
og sendte mine kommentarer til et tomt hjørne af rummet.
15:02
And I said aloud, "Listen you, thing,
295
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3578
Og jeg sagde højt: "Hør, du dér!
15:06
you and I both know that if this book isn't brilliant
296
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3198
både du og jeg ved, at hvis denne bog ikke er brilliant,
15:09
that is not entirely my fault, right?
297
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1801
så er det ikke udelukkende min skyld, vel?
15:11
Because you can see that I am putting everything I have into this,
298
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3327
For du kan se, at jeg lægger alt hvad jeg har ind i det her.
15:14
I don't have any more than this.
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1368
Jeg har ikke mere.
15:15
So if you want it to be better, then you've got to show up and do your part of the deal.
300
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3226
Så hvis du ønsker at den skal være bedre, så bliver du nødt til at vise dig og fuldføre din del af aftalen.
15:19
O.K. But if you don't do that, you know what, the hell with it.
301
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2994
OK? Men hvis du ikke gør det, ved du så hvad? Til helvede med det!
15:22
I'm going to keep writing anyway because that's my job.
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2936
Jeg fortsætter med at skrive alligevel, for det er mit job.
15:25
And I would please like the record to reflect today
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1899
Og jeg ønsker at skemaet skal afspejle at jeg i dag
15:26
that I showed up for my part of the job."
304
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2300
mødte op til min del af jobbet."
15:29
(Laughter)
305
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3698
(Latter)
15:32
Because --
306
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2087
Fordi --
15:35
(Applause)
307
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2074
(Bifald)
15:37
in the end it's like this, O.K. --
308
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2172
for i sidste ende er det sådan at --
15:39
centuries ago in the deserts of North Africa,
309
926522
2401
århundreder siden i Nord Afrikas ørkener
15:41
people used to gather for these moonlight dances of sacred dance and music
310
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4667
plejede folk at samles for måneskins-fester med hellig dans og musik
15:46
that would go on for hours and hours, until dawn.
311
933590
2704
der fortsatte time efter time, til daggry.
15:49
And they were always magnificent, because the dancers were professionals
312
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3027
De var altid storslåede, for danserne var profesionelle
15:52
and they were terrific, right?
313
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1174
og de var fabelagtige, ok?
15:53
But every once in a while, very rarely, something would happen,
314
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3818
Men engang i mellem, meget sjældent, skete der noget
15:57
and one of these performers would actually become transcendent.
315
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3512
og en af disse performere blev faktisk transcendente.
16:00
And I know you know what I'm talking about,
316
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2284
I ved hvad jeg snakker om,
16:02
because I know you've all seen, at some point in your life, a performance like this.
317
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3954
fordi jeg ved, I alle har set, på et eller andet tidspunkt i livet, en sådan performance.
16:06
It was like time would stop,
318
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2095
Det var som om at tiden stod stille
16:08
and the dancer would sort of step through some kind of portal
319
956158
2375
og danseren på en eller anden måde trådt igennem en slags portal
16:11
and he wasn't doing anything different than he had ever done, 1,000 nights before,
320
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4491
og han gjorde intet anderledes end han havde gjort før, de tusinde foregående nætter,
16:15
but everything would align.
321
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1751
men alt ville falde på plads.
16:17
And all of a sudden, he would no longer appear to be merely human.
322
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3032
Lige pludselig ville han ikke længere fremstå som blot et menneske.
16:20
He would be lit from within, and lit from below
323
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2534
Han ville være lyst op indefra og lyst op nedefra
16:23
and all lit up on fire with divinity.
324
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3790
og alt lyst op i guddommelighedens ild.
16:26
And when this happened, back then,
325
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2145
Og når dette skete dengang,
16:29
people knew it for what it was, you know, they called it by its name.
326
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4216
vidste folk hvad det var, de kaldte dét dets navn.
16:33
They would put their hands together and they would start to chant,
327
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2632
De ville klappe i hænderne og begynde at messe:
16:35
"Allah, Allah, Allah, God, God, God."
328
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4100
"Allah, Allah, Allah, Gud, Gud, Gud"
16:40
That's God, you know.
329
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3102
Det er gud.
16:43
Curious historical footnote --
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2680
En interessant historisk fodnote --
16:45
when the Moors invaded southern Spain, they took this custom with them
331
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4841
Da Maurerne invaderede det sydlige Spanien, tog de denne skik med dem
16:50
and the pronunciation changed over the centuries
332
997847
2245
og udtalen ændrede sig over århundreder
16:52
from "Allah, Allah, Allah," to "Olé, olé, olé,"
333
1000092
2865
fra "Allah, Allah, Allah" til "Olé, Olé, Olé"
16:55
which you still hear in bullfights and in flamenco dances.
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som man stadig hører ved tyrefægter-kampe og i flamenco danse,
16:58
In Spain, when a performer has done something impossible and magic,
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I Spanien, når en kunstner har gjort noget umuligt og magisk,
17:02
"Allah, olé, olé, Allah, magnificent, bravo,"
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"Allah, Olé, Olé, Allah, storslået, bravo,"
17:05
incomprehensible, there it is -- a glimpse of God.
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uforståeligt, dér er det -- et glimt af Gud.
17:09
Which is great, because we need that.
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Hvilket er fantatisk, for vi har brug for det.
17:11
But, the tricky bit comes the next morning,
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Men den besværlige del kommer næste morgen,
17:15
for the dancer himself, when he wakes up
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når danseren vågner op
17:18
and discovers that it's Tuesday at 11 a.m., and he's no longer a glimpse of God.
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og opdager at det er tirsdag kl 11.00 og at han ikke længere er et glimt af Gud.
17:22
He's just an aging mortal with really bad knees,
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Han er blot en aldrende dødelig med virkeligt dårlige knæ
17:25
and maybe he's never going to ascend to that height again.
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og måske vil han aldrig stige til den højde igen.
17:29
And maybe nobody will ever chant God's name again as he spins,
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Måske er der aldrig nogen der vil messe Guds navn igen mens han danser -
17:33
and what is he then to do with the rest of his life?
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og hvad skal han så gøre med resten af sit liv?
17:36
This is hard.
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Det er hårdt.
17:37
This is one of the most painful reconciliations to make
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Det er en af de mest smertefulde forsoninger man kan lave
17:40
in a creative life.
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i et kreativt liv.
17:42
But maybe it doesn't have to be quite so full of anguish
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Men måske behøves det ikke at være helt så fyldt af smerte
17:45
if you never happened to believe, in the first place,
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Hvis du i første omgang ikke troede på
17:49
that the most extraordinary aspects of your being came from you.
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at de mest ekstraordinære aspekter af din tilværelse kom fra dig selv.
17:53
But maybe if you just believed that they were on loan to you
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Men måske du blot troede, at de var udlånt til dig
17:56
from some unimaginable source for some exquisite portion of your life
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fra en utænkelig kilde i en udsøgt del af dit liv
17:59
to be passed along when you're finished, with somebody else.
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og skulle videregives, når du er færdig, til en anden.
18:03
And, you know, if we think about it this way it starts to change everything.
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Hvis vi begynder at tænker på denne måde, vil det forandre alt.
18:08
This is how I've started to think,
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Det er sådan jeg er begyndt at tænke
18:10
and this is certainly how I've been thinking in the last few months
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og det er bestemt sådan jeg har tænkt de sidste par måneder
18:13
as I've been working on the book that will soon be published,
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mens jeg har arbejdet på bogen, der snart vil blive udgivet
18:16
as the dangerously, frighteningly over-anticipated follow up
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som den skræmmende alt for forventede efterfølger
18:20
to my freakish success.
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til min vanvittige success.
18:22
And what I have to, sort of keep telling myself
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Det jeg skal fortælle mig selv
18:25
when I get really psyched out about that,
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når jeg bliver rigtig urolig omkring det,
18:27
is, don't be afraid.
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er: vær ikke bange.
18:29
Don't be daunted.
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Vær ikke skræmt.
18:31
Just do your job.
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Bare gør dit arbejde.
18:33
Continue to show up for your piece of it, whatever that might be.
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Fortsæt med at møde op til din del af aftalen, hvad end den måtte være.
18:36
If your job is to dance, do your dance.
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Hvis dit job er at danse, så dans.
18:39
If the divine, cockeyed genius assigned to your case
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Hvis det guddommelige, skeløjede geni der er sat på din sag
18:43
decides to let some sort of wonderment be glimpsed, for just one moment
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beslutter sig for at lade en form for vidunder vise i blot et øjeblik
18:48
through your efforts, then "Olé!"
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i kraft af dine anstrengelser, så "Olé!"
18:50
And if not, do your dance anyhow.
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Hvis ikke - så gør dit job alligevel.
18:53
And "Olé!" to you, nonetheless.
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Og ikke desto mindre "Ole!" til dig også!
18:55
I believe this and I feel that we must teach it.
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Jeg tror på dette og at vi må videregive læren!
18:57
"Olé!" to you, nonetheless,
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"Olé!" til jer, ikke desto mindre,
18:59
just for having the sheer human love and stubbornness
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blot for den rene skære menneskelige kærlighed og stædighed
19:02
to keep showing up.
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til at dukke op.
19:04
Thank you.
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Tak
19:06
(Applause)
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(Bifald)
19:08
Thank you.
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Tak.
19:09
(Applause)
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(Bifald)
19:12
June Cohen: Olé!
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June Cohen: Ole!
19:14
(Applause)
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(Bifald)
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Elizabeth Gilbert - WriterThe author of 'Eat, Pray, Love,' Elizabeth Gilbert has thought long and hard about some big topics. Her fascinations: genius, creativity and how we get in our own way when it comes to both.
Why you should listen
Elizabeth Gilbert faced down a premidlife crisis by doing what we all secretly dream of -- running off for a year. Her travels through Italy, India and Indonesia resulted in the megabestselling and deeply beloved memoir Eat, Pray, Love, about her process of finding herself by leaving home.
She's a longtime magazine writer -- covering music and politics for Spin and GQ -- as well as a novelist and short-story writer. Her books include the story collection Pilgrims, the novel Stern Men (about lobster fishermen in Maine) and a biography of the woodsman Eustace Conway, called The Last American Man. Her work has been the basis for two movies so far (Coyote Ugly, based on her own tale of working at the famously raunchy bar in New York City), and Eat, Pray, Love, with the part of Gilbert played by Julia Roberts. Not bad for a year off.
In 2010, Elizabeth published Committed, a memoir exploring her ambivalent feelings about the institution of marriage. And her 2013 novel, The Signature of All Things, is "a sprawling tale of 19th century botanical exploration."
Gilbert also owns and runs the import shop Two Buttons in Frenchtown, New Jersey.
Elizabeth Gilbert | Speaker | TED.com