The Tentacled Mind

Every artist has a special kind of mind. A reaching mind. A searching mind. A mind that catches the subtle hints of intrigue within the guises of the mundane. Whether your craft involves visual artwork or literary wordplay, you have experienced this mind. You may call it your muse, or perhaps your inspiration. Some people may label it the creative process, random thinking, or acute eccentricity. Others may even go so far as to say it is some manageable level of an unquiet mind, a focused mania if you will. Call it what you want, just know that it is there, and if you are a creative soul, you have it. I call it the Tentacled Mind.

You never know when the Tentacled Mind will reach out, or where it will reach into. But it is always searching for the magic that most of the world overlooks. It looks constantly without sleeping for the thin places where worlds shimmer and the what-could-be's sometimes walk through. It takes note of the floating leaf that others pass by because it sees the creature, invisible to most, that is carrying it on a non-existent wind. It causes you to look foolish as you blankly stare off into space while talking to a co-worker. They don't see what you do. The world is brighter in your mind's eye, and you are transfixed by the prismatic reflections of the possibilities you have been shown. The knowledge that what you will soon create is only a shimmer away is both frightening and freeing. And create you must. The Tentacled Mind will rarley let you rest once it has grabbed onto some wonder and dangled it before your eyes.


There are moments when the Tentacled Mind reaches into brilliant pockets of light and brings before you wondrous joys that must be painted. Prose that delights the tongue like honeysuckle nectar and must be spoken. Rapturous stories that bring you back to the child you know you once were and always long to be that must be put to page. You know these patches of light are so close that is is almost unbearable not to hold them fully. So you do your best to show them to the world in whatever creative way you can.

Then there are the times when the Tentacled Mind reaches into the dark depths and pulls nightmares back toward you. Shadowy images that taint your soul because they shed their dark light on your own. Thoughts that make you question "Where did that come from?", because though it resembled  your own voice in your head, its message goes against every reasoning impulse within your conscious. Half-awake visions that start while you are dreaming but continue for a few heart-stopping steps when you wake before dissipating in front of your eyes. Most people would then say, "Oh, it was just a bad dream". But you know better and whisper "Oh, it was so close" in your darkened room. And you must share these as well, if only to warn those who choose not to see...to see with the Tentacled Mind.

So, what is your experience with the reaching mind of the artist? What wonders do you see? How do you share your visions? I hope you do share your thoughts, either here with me or in your own special way. Because holding it in can only lead to more frantic reaching into both shadow and light.

Come walk along the pier with me...and see the things we've come to see.

Musing, as always...

~Eric~