The ego loves having the upper hand. It wants to be superior. It wants to be the giver not the asker. Most of us hate asking for help, and in doing so we fortify our aloofness and separateness and we strengthen our ego. When we miss the opportunity to ask we also miss the opportunity for connection. Asking forces us into humility. It forces us to make connections and share a bond. It allows us to dissolve our ego and submit to the force of universal love. If viewed from this light, we then begin to see asking as a form of yoga. Thus the practice in the East of monks and yogis being required to beg for food makes lot of sense.
For artists and creative people if we accept that humility and connection is the key to the creative process, then this talk by Amanda Palmer is of great importance. It shows that one possible future for the creative process may be with freeing art up to be open source. This may require the artist to pass the hat around and ask for donations. The creative process would then truly become a deeper yogic journey.
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