Kae Tempest - On Connection

WILLIAM BLAKE

This is a book about connection. About how immersion in creativity can bring us closer to each other and help us cultivate greater self-awareness. About how fine-tuning the ability to feel a creative connection can help us develop our empathy and establish a deeper relationship between ourselves and the world.

I understand that even calling for connection and universality is problematic in a time of such division. Whether its Black Lives Matter or All Lives Matter, trans rights or terf rights, anti-vax or vaccinate, this is a time to take sides. And the stakes are high. Calling for togetherness risks minimising the necessity of people fighting for basic rights and freedoms. There are good reasons for the canyons that have opened up between us.

I do not believe that our differences dont matter or that we are all the same. I acknowledge the social, historical, economic and political context of our differences and how they impact upon our lives. I also think that beneath our direct lived experiences and our inherited or ancestral experiences beneath our unique cultures and identities there is commonality, and I believe that this is something we can all access through creativity.

Creativity encourages connection. And connection to true, uncomfortable self allows us to take responsibility for our impact on other people, rather than going blindly through life in a disconnected buzz of one day into the next, taking what we can from every encounter with no further thought possible than my survival, my kids survival, my survival, my kids survival.

/

Over the course of the following chapters, I will write in praise of creativity, in praise of music and theatre, and in praise of gathering to feel together. I understand that what humans need, more than the opportunity to attend a concert or act in a play, is access to secure affordable housing, safe and fair working conditions, healthcare, readily available fresh, non-toxic food and water, and an environment for their families to grow up in that is not violent, dangerous or traumatic. But it is also my understanding that, right beside these basic requirements, humans have always needed and will always need to play, to create, to reflect and release.

I will use these terms to explore my ideas: creativity, connection and creative connection.

Creativity is the ability to feel wonder and the desire to respond to what we find startling. Or, more simply, creativity is any act of love. Any act of making. It is usually applied to art-making, but it can also be applied to anything you do that requires your focus, skill and ingenuity. It takes creativity to dress well, for example. To parent. To paint a windowsill. To give someone you love your full attention.

Connection is the feeling of landing in the present tense. Fully immersed in whatever occupies you, paying close attention to the details of experience. Characterised by an awareness of your minuteness in the scheme of things. A feeling of being absolutely located. Right here. Regardless of whether that right here is agitated or calm, joyous or painful.

Creative connection is the use of creativity to access and feel connection and get yourself and those with you in the moment into a more connected space.

It could be that connection to another, deeper world is most easily experienced by artists. But really, anyone whos ever meditated, prayed, studied the stars, cooked an important meal for people they love, thrown a punch, received one, built something with their hands, learned a skill because they had no choice, been in service to others, volunteered their time, found themselves at the edge of their sanity or at the edge of their experience, accepted a difficult truth, put themselves second, genuinely gone out of their way for somebody else, has felt it. Connection is not the sole domain of artists, but art is a good way of understanding the fruit of that other place where commonality begins.

When I refer to the reader, I may be referring to the person who engages with text, music or artworks, but I am also referring to the person engaging with friends, strangers, lovers and the world around them. The reader is the gate that has to open to let the meaning through.

When I refer to the writer, I may be referring to a writer of text or music, but also to the author of experience. The part of you that creates the narrative of your existence and that is constantly trying to find any thread strong enough to pull you through the blank pages of one day into the next.

/

James Joyce told me once: In the particular is contained the universal. I appreciated the advice. It taught me that the closer attention I pay to my particular, the better chance I have of reaching you in yours.

Ive been getting on the mic for twenty years now, desperate for every opportunity to speak and be heard. Along the way, Ive walked into a lot of rooms and thought to myself, Man, I dont know how its going to happen tonight. Ive felt myself judged. Felt myself the wrong person for the occasion. Ive looked out at crowds and judged them. Been faced with people who I know are not my people, and thought, Theres no way you and I are going to get there together. And time and time again Ive been proven wrong.

I have spent twenty years with a pen in my hand. Twenty years studying the art of words spoken in places to people. Everything I have seen, I have seen through the lens of my creativity; it has been the primary function of my life.

I will discuss writing, reading and performance here because its what I know to be true. I will be referring to these things specifically, but by referring to them, I will also be referring to the bigger themes of who we are, how we live, and how we might open ourselves to others.

Empathy is remembering that everybody has a story. Multiple stories. And remembering to make space to hear someone elses story before immediately telling your own.

I love people so much. Every time Im close to the edge, I am brought back into focus by paying deliberate attention to the people I encounter every day.

Yes, I write for others like me. Others who dont fit, have never fitted. Dykes like me. Who realise theres nothing to be gained from even trying to fit, and eventually have just had to find their own way through.

Others who give a shit about the world.

Others who see the beauty first and are driven to witness the carnage.

Others who see the carnage first and are driven to witness the beauty.

But also, for those who have always fitted.

For those who dont give a shit about anything.

For those whove never seen the beauty anywhere. And even less, the carnage. Just outline things and passing time.

People who share my beliefs and people who find them fucking ridiculous.

Everyone. All the time. No matter what.