Ziran-Level Creativity
My personal rules for creating on Substack
Ziran.
It’s a Chinese word (自然).
And it’s counterintuitively pronounced, tsoo-rahn.
In its simplest definition, the word is translated, natural.
It’s kind of difficult to fully translate into English. So I’ve come up with this functional definition that seems to jive with the literature I’ve read about it:
as it is, naturally and spontaneously, in and of itself.
Here’s how I’ve come to visualize and understand ziran. Think of the pattern that a leaf or butterfly's wings naturally take…
…or the way tributaries and rivers naturally form…
…or the way bark seems to naturally grow on a tree.
Everything we see in nature just forms the way it does.
In the same way, we also form and grow... just as we are... just as we do.
I’m a creative guy by nature. Naturally and spontaneously, I just create. It’s in my DNA. And that last adverb feels pretty critical for me personally.
Spontaneous.
ChatGPT came in pretty clutch for me on defining the word.
The quality or condition of being impulsive or unplanned, where actions or behaviors occur naturally or without premeditation, often driven by immediate impulses or feelings rather than deliberate thought or planning.
In practical terms, spontaneity involves:
Unpredictable Action: Actions that arise suddenly, without prior preparation or external influence.
Naturalness: Responses or decisions that feel effortless, organic, or unforced, typically stemming from a person’s immediate desires or instincts.
Flexibility: The ability to adjust quickly to changing situations or to act without being constrained by rigid plans or expectations.
Fuck yeah. I love every bit of that. That’s also the definition of ziran-level creativity right there. Which got me thinking this morning. About how I want to show up in this community. My business brain wants to land on best practices and such. Which starts to feel like overthinking. Because ziran-level creativity is naturally unpredictable and flexible. It’s impulsive. Unplanned. Without premeditation. And so I wonder. What would it be like to just… ziran the shit out of this effort? It would look like the following for me. Seven perfectly me type of things.
Not thinking for more than a few minutes about what I want to write. And not tailoring what I write to what people want to read. (I’m not a platinum rule kind of guy like that.)
Not censoring myself at all. Not giving in to a single worry about what someone else might say. (Or not say.) But always, always energizing my sphere here with compassion and kindness and generosity of heart and spirit.
Drilling out one draft in one sitting. And then running my exact content through Grammarly or ChatGPT or whatever to check my spelling and grammar and punctuation.
Publishing that day.
Offering the opportunity for people to share and/or subscribe, but “secretly” giving zero fucks about who does so. (The “business” of getting other people to “like” you is mentally exhausting and psychologically debilitating. For me, at least. If you like my stuff, then yay for us both. Until you don’t anymore. Then… yay again for us both, I guess.)
Interacting with everyone as much as I can about whatever they do or don’t like. And taking their input to heart when it resonates. So I can grow.
Not taking myself seriously, but treating Substack like another playground where I get to go full 10-year-old-beast mode on the equipment.
All of that feels like the natural and spontaneous me. The ziran me. This all feels like the energy of ziran-level creativity.
So now I wonder. What will you give yourself permission to do today? What kind of ziran things are there about you that need to be recognized? To be released? To be rewarded?