In Flaum's Finding Your Howl, he tells a story of a wolf that is bred in captivity and loses his howl. Mumon, the main wolf knows that he has to howl or else his species will go extinct. Out of hunger, he goes after a deer and is scared at the raw power that he has exerted upon the deer. After a while, he pursues this intrinsic power and keeps going with it. Eventually the old Mumon dies and he finally finds his howl. I think he explains the moral best by saying,
"For the cage to drop away it has to die, and this means that we have to die with it because, for reasons beyond our control, we have become identified with the cage and are one with it."
A great quote I like to think of from time to time would have to be
"Shit happens,
and it's awesome"
-Andrew W.K.
As a creative person, I think it is important to realize that there are good times in life and there are bad times. I think one has to look at all of these as just experiences, however. Not good, not bad, just experiences. As a creative person, you need to draw from every single experience, not just a good one or a bad one. While I may not be the most positive person all the time, I rarely fail to see an experience to be learned from.
Some of the best songs ever written were written from probably the lowest points in musicians lives. At the same time, some are written from the greatest times in peoples' lives. So it really makes you think, it's not about how sad he is or how ecstatic he is, it's about how many experiences he has in life. While I do not think that one should use good or bad to describe an experience, I think that there should be some size aspect to experience. Eating a bowl of cereal in the morning, is not much of an experience. Winning the Superbowl is. The size of the experience is what makes an impact on your life. (and thus creative work)
When Andrew W.K. says "shit" in this quote, it is assumed he's talking about bad stuff. I like to think of it as just everything. Everything happens, and it is awesome. Within this context, you take away a more positive meaning of the quote. It makes me think, "Life is awesome, experience it." If you view take away all of your experiences you can do nothing but grow as a person.
Once you let go of "good" or "bad" experiences and take them all in as just experiences. You are able to draw from those experiences and learn a lot about yourself. Once you kill off the old you, you are able to find your howl within.
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