Accepting Destruction in the Process of Creation
Learn about the process of destruction & creation. Inside this article includes a guided meditation, ritual, and journaling prompts!
There are moments in life when it feels like everything is falling apart all around you. Doors slam shut, bridges burn, things change catastrophically, and you feel like you have no ground left to stand on. It is easy, then, to look at change as the enemy: especially for those of us who are neurodivergent and truly struggle with change. It feels like an ending. But, much like the tarot card Death, destruction is wildly misunderstood, and underappreciated: as destruction walks hand-in-hand with creation.
Volcanic eruption allows cooling lava to develop into rich, mineral-dense soil for plant life. Stars collapse into brilliant scatterings of elements that are redistributed throughout the galaxy. The earth’s surface is an ever-shifting canvas, destroying and creating mountain ranges, valleys, and rivers with the same forces. And these forces of destruction and creation are not just present in nature: they are present in us, too.
Destruction does not have to be catastrophic, intense, or elaborate. You destroy without even realizing it: you destroy the blankness of a sheet of paper when you write down your to-do list or start a new sketch. You destroy food while cooking and eating, creating energy for your body. When you visualize something in your mind, you are destroying whatever you were thinking about or visualizing before. In this same train of thought, destruction does not have to be negative, either: the destruction of toxins in our body, through our liver and kidneys, is absolutely a positive thing. So, how do we harness the energies of destruction to unleash our full creative potential?
We must first, of course, accept that destruction is all part of the process. Many of us may have trouble letting things go – we feel the need to pile on all responsibility until it becomes too much to bear. We refuse to make room for things that truly matter to us, so we allow ourselves to sit with superficial parts of our lives that would be much more freeing if we simply… let go. If we destroyed them.
And then, there may be some of us too scared to create with our destruction. Those of us who believe that destruction, without creation, is the only way to survive – afraid to let our guard down; afraid to create and enjoy our creations in fear we will someday have to tear them down with our own hands.
But there is no reason to be afraid. Destruction and creation are part of a cycle – the ouroborus, the snake eating itself. Destruction does not have to mean permanent loss. Creation does not have to end in pain. We can reconcile these two forces to our advantage – and forge the life we were meant to live.
Guided Meditation
Quick trigger warning: In this meditation I will be walking through the visualization of destruction, of breaking things, etc. If this feels too intense for you, please feel free to discontinue the meditation, if necessary.
As you settle into your seat, into a comfortable position, I want you to take a deep breath in… and out… and gently close your eyes.
As you join me here tonight in this meditation, I want to remind you that you are safe, you are welcome, and you are loved. Take another deep breath in… hold it for just a few moments… and exhale through your mouth. Shake off the jitters of the day; wiggle your shoulders a little, stomp your feet a few times on the ground. Release any pent up energies you may be having.
Now, I want you to imagine yourself inside of a simplistic art museum. The floor beneath you is a golden, wooden color – and the gallery around you is completely devoid of people, aside from yourself.
You find your eyes wandering to the paintings on the wall in the square room – at first glance, they look simple. Unfamiliar. But as you step closer – your steps echoing through the empty hall – you notice these paintings are of you. Your life. Through your eyes, no less – every failure, every victory, painted before you with impressive brush strokes.
You can see many different styles, textures, and eras of art within these paintings – some colorful, some drab. But they are all of you.
As you sit among this museum of your life, you are filled with the urge to change. To create something more. You have to take matters into your own hands.
Feeling overwhelmed with this urge, you begin to dismount one of the paintings from its position on the wall. Your fingers trace the intricate, golden, swirling details of the painting’s frame – and, within a frame of a second, you smash the painting onto the ground, splintering into several pieces.
You cannot help but feel a sense of loss – the painting was beautiful, after all – but you must carry on. There are more paintings to work on.
One by one, you pull each painting down and destroy them. Some, you put your fist through. Some, you chuck onto the ground. Others, you bend and snap with a simple flick of your wrist.
When you are done, there is nothing but a pile of canvas and wood before you. Your forehead is slick with sweat, and your chest is heaving. The guilt you felt before, with the first painting, is now gone and replaced with vigor.
On your hands and knees now, you begin to rearrange the mess. You wrap canvas around broken, splintered frames; you orchestrate the pieces in a way that makes you feel more complete. More whole. Like you are finally able to tell your side of the story.
I want you now to visualize what this recycled sculpture of your life may look like: imagine yourself, building this from the rubble of your past. Cobble together pieces of scrap to create something that you can feel proud of; something that you can, wholeheartedly, without a doubt, claim as your own. Your own story, before your eyes.
Take a deep breath in… hold it for just a few moments… and breathe out through your mouth.
Stand before your creation in this museum of your life. What have you built? How do you feel after creating something from the destruction you wrought?
Keep your creation in mind as you take another deep breath in… roll your shoulders, wiggle your toes…. Breathe out through your mouth…. And come back to reality.
Ritual
Materials:
A piece of paper
Something to write or draw with
A lighter or match
A fire-proof dish or cauldron
For our ritual, we’ll be doing something simple: creating a sigil, and destroying it. For the purpose of this exercise, I ask that you don’t document this sigil – don’t take any photos, or copy it down anywhere. We will each be creating a new, personal sigil – one that we will be destroying almost immediately. Do not try to memorize the sigil, either – the purpose of this ritual is to create something with the intent that it will be destroyed forever; and pushing that energy out into the universe to create the life you wish to achieve; a life where you are comfortable with and can totally accept the process of destruction and creation.
To begin, I want you to recall the image of your sculpture from the meditation. As you visualize this sculpture, you may begin creating your sigil. It can be as complex or as simple as you like, although a more complex sigil will be much easier to destroy and forget about. You can create this sigil however you typically would – some will simply scribble, some will write down a word or intent and then use an alphabet wheel – whichever method is fine. If you are deciding to write down a word or intent for this sigil, you may choose something like “destruction and creation”, or whatever feels right to you.
Once you have your sigil ready, I want you to recall every process of destruction and creation you can think of – again, you may think back to stars exploding and casting elements all across the cosmos; you may think of a volcano erupting, and plants growing from the cooling lava. As these images of destruction and creation flow through your mind, destroy your sigil – light it on fire, and place it in your fire-proof dish.
Now, this energy of destruction and creation is expended, and should be moving congruently in your life.
In Closing
As you think about destruction and how it applies to your life, I want you to imagine a Rubik’s Cube: straight from the box, already solved, all colors matching up with each side perfectly. If you ever wish to practice, learn, and master to solve the Rubik’s Cube, you must first destroy its perfect state. What things in your life must be destroyed in order to provide you the opportunity to create, learn, grow, and live your life to its full potential?
Journaling Prompts:
What does your creative processes look like? Can you identify areas where you must destroy in order to create something new?
Now, look at your life in general (career, relationships, hobbies, etc). Where have you had to sacrifice or destroy opportunity in order to make room for the life you want to live? (For example, “destroying” a job offer or a potential love interest for something better aligned to you).