This is a paradox I stumble on over & over. The answer is to think & feel nothing. There is a graphic I did that reflects the paradox --- I decided to use it for the album cover of "S_in_the_S_is" since it is the state of mind I find myself trying to reach while creating the album. It hasn't been released yet.
Black & white are opposites, and one repeatedly gets encapsulated within the other in the illustration. Like when you try to sort through the question posted in the title, you keep going back & forth between opposites...ignoring the gut feeling IS going with the gut feeling. One entity IS its opposite.
This brings me closer to explaining the meaning of "S_in_the_S_is." S is my initial, so it represents me. The S is in something, and the S is that something at the same time. I am in it, and I am it. I am what I am in.
Also, two S's form an infinity symbol if you flip one of them & place it directly on top of the other...this represents the infinite nature of the paradox described.
Another branch of this concept/illustration is this:
Say white & black represent yin & yang, yin being a passive act & yang being an aggressive act. Say for instance you carry out an aggressive act (yang). But your decision to carry out that act was made via a passive (yin) process...So what you did was yang, but it was encapsulated within yin. So your act was both yin & yang at the same time.
So in the illustration, you see white & black circles interacting. They're encapsulated within a black ellipse, then a white ellipse, then a black one again, and the rest takes place in your imagination once the core concept is illustrated.
-----on thinking & feeling nothing-----
This is the state in which you have the most potential to think & feel. In this empty state, you have the most potential to be filled. You are more likely to eat when your stomach is totally empty than when it is half full --- so when it is totally empty, it has more potential to be filled than when it is half full.
Creativity is the artful balance between thinking & feeling. Thinking & feeling nothing creates the greatest potential for creative success. Starting at zero always creates the most potential. Think of throwing a punch. The punch is less powerful if you start it with your arm stretched halfway out than if your arm is not stretched at all.
Also, the zero point is what allows you to transverse between different moods & mindsets, which is what I had to do to achieve the range & bracket of styles explored on "S_in_the_S_is." To enter a brand new [creative] mindset completely, you must get rid of pre-existing mindsets & start at zero.
Any artist of any kind will tell you that the greatest artistic moments "just happen." Especially timing between improvising musicians. When you try to calculate [thinking] moments like that, they don't work. Same with abstract paintings or anything else. A perfect example of this musical timing is at 5:48 in the following video when Miles Davis plays a trill and the drummer plays a roll at the same time. If you listen for other moments like that, it is obvious that they are not merely coincidence.
TIMING AT 5:48
