Dear Shambles/Steve, Fine piece. To add to it, or modify it, I think it is important to find a role for the critical voice as well -- the problem with adults is not just that they are over-critical, it is that they don't know when to bring the critical voice in, and when not. If you pretend that you are going to be purely creative, it won't work, or not for very long. The guilt part will come in, or you will start mimicking infantile behaviour. What needs to be found is a rhythm and/or a ritual that acknowledges both. For instance, John Stuart Mill, who was repressed as hell, used to do two drafts of everything -- the first draft was purely creative, hell for leather, anything that came into his mind; and the second draft was the critical mind. One method used by a friend of mine (who is not yet completely schizo) is to turn himself into two people -- the left brain guy for an hour, and then the right brain guy for an hour, and so on. I am sure most of the people on this thread have some version of this (maybe unconscious) that they use.

Yours, Peter T.