

Charles Bukowski on the Ideal Conditions and Myths of Creativity, Illustrated - hkimura
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/10/04/charles-bukowski-air-and-light-and-time-and-space/

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jonnathanson
This is great advice, particularly to the sort of people who are always
waiting for the "freedom" to pursue whatever it is they're trying to pursue.
You have to make your own time, and you have to be persistent as hell. The
right time will never present itself. The universe will never press a cosmic
pause button on all of your life's distractions and needs.

Consider:

\- Bukowski spent many years trying to get published, failed, developed a
severe drinking problem, and took up a progression of itinerant jobs. But he
gave writing another shot while lying in a hospital bed, having nearly drunk
himself to death. At the time, he was working in a post office.

\- Albert Einstein failed to land a prestigious academic position and took up
a day job as an assistant patent examiner. He and his friends pursued
scientific projects on nights and weekends.

\- _Harry Potter_ author J.K. Rowling created her famous series as a single,
working mother on welfare. She worked out of train stations and coffee shops,
often on the verge of homelessness.

\- Actor Jack Nicholson went on over 300 auditions before landing his first
significant role.

\- Johnny Depp spent his days as a telemarketer, selling office supplies. He
carved out nights and weekends to practice his craft and look for
opportunities.

\- Joseph Heller, author of _Catch-22_ , worked at an advertising agency by
day. Three hours a night, for eight years straight, he worked on his book
before submitting it to a publisher.

Only the very fortunate have the ability to drop everything and pursue their
creative dreams. Everyone else has to pay the bills somehow, and carve out the
"right time" when and where they can.

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ca98am79
This is great. It's also why I think "fuck you money" is BS. Just as he says
in the poem - you'll create even if you're on welfare.

I hear so many people saying once they get enough money they'll finally have
the time for the things they really want to do. Just do it now, you only live
once.

~~~
InclinedPlane
Poverty is not a hurdle to creativity but it's foolish to say that it doesn't
affect the realm of possibilities. You can't build a new rocketship if you are
on welfare (Elon Musk). You can't architect buildings if you lack the money to
acquire the necessary formal education and certifications. You can't build
electronics if you lack the money to own a soldering iron.

Yes, you can do other things, but maybe those other things won't be as
fulfilling, as profound, or as meaningful.

Consider that if Newton, Galileo, Michelangelo, or Da Vinci were born into
poverty we might never have heard of them.

Certainly many people use the excuse of not having the time or the money to
follow their passions, but that doesn't mean it's never a factor.

~~~
freyrs3
> You can't build a new rocketship if you are on welfare (Elon Musk).

Sure you can, just not it in a single step. Even Elon Musk had to use PayPal
as a stepping stone to bankroll his real ambitions.

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crazygringo
It amuses me when people create a 'sanitized' image of Bukowski. Let's not
forget that this is a guy who cheated on his women and beat them, the latter
even on video [1].

He was immature to an extreme degree. One of his popular quotes begins:

> _" If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don’t even start. This
> could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your
> mind..."_

That's not a recipe for happiness, and certainly not sanity. Or anything good
at all. I'm not sure it's best to take advice from someone who woke up every
morning by vomiting to get over last night's drinking.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8KJiay6EI0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8KJiay6EI0)

~~~
hamai
If we're going to judge people's contributions by personal issues they have,
nothing is of use anymore, including your advice.

How can we be sure everyone is "pure" before we consider their creations?
Unless we all start living in a magic reality tv show, that is...

~~~
crazygringo
Normally I'd agree that ad hominem attacks are just that.

But in Bukowski's case, his life _was_ his art. His personal issues _were_ his
art.

It's not like he had a few minor issues while he was writing beautiful sonnets
about birds, where the issues have no bearing. His writing is about how he
cheats on women, how he beat them, how he drank himself sick, basically about
how he was just an a * * hole to people. He glorified it (your interpretation
may vary as to this, but it is certainly read that way by many people).

Plenty of people appreciate Bukowski's honesty in his writing, but the idea
that one should take _advice_ from him... on _anything_... boggles the mind.
Before anyone goes defending him, make sure you've read some of his stuff
first.

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bitwize
...if you're in software you're going to create on your little sister's beater
of a laptop with the My Little Pony stickers on it.

One of the truly awe-inspiring things about the early hackers is that many of
them worked without benefit of a real humming computer in front of them; they
programmed with _pencil and paper_ until the opportunity to buy or bargain for
a bit of time on The Computer with which to test what they've written came
along. It didn't matter, and nothing could stop them. Hackers gonna hack.

~~~
brianmcdonough
I'm still using a pencil and paper.

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ferdo
Obligatory. I'm guessing this is from mid-80's:

[http://allpoetry.com/poem/8509517-16-bit-Intel-8088-chip-
by-...](http://allpoetry.com/poem/8509517-16-bit-Intel-8088-chip-by-
Charles_Bukowski)

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Pro_bity
Silicon Valley is a culture that celebrates extremes. Extreme ideas, extreme
hours, extreme success, extreme failure. People do a ton of everything or a
lot of nothing, but something is being done. The point Bukowski always made
was to be doing "it", what ever "it" is. Because if you are indeed doing "it",
then "it" is a extreme act.

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shahar2k
there is a donation link on this page, but the content is stolen from
www.zenpencil.com very blatantly.

~~~
kingnight
At least it has a text only version? Who wants to read a poem in a comic. (but
yeah, I agree, hosting the whole comic...)

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kingnight
He was pretty into computers at the time —

[http://realitystudio.org/bibliographic-bunker/charles-
bukows...](http://realitystudio.org/bibliographic-bunker/charles-bukowski-
william-burroughs-and-the-computer/)

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brianmcdonough
The same goes for software design as far as I can tell. But no amount of
effort can make up for a deep well of imagination.

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benched
Once, I saved up and bought myself a long sabbatical. It was the most
productive time of my life.

