The unconscious and creative work

The unconscious does not work on request — it works on what has been given to it and returns results on its own schedule, which is why experienced makers have learned to prepare their questions carefully and then wait. Dreams, distraction, the half-awake state before full consciousness assembles itself — these are the hours when material rises from depths the directed mind cannot reach. To take the unconscious seriously as a creative collaborator is to organize your working life around its rhythms rather than insisting it conform to yours.