Abstract

In a recent study on artistic creativity, artists from several fields were interviewed regarding their subjective experiences of the creative process.1 In addition to various psychological and behavioral phenomena, the artists reported feelings of connectedness with something beyond themselves, of dissolution of personal boundaries, of absorption in the artwork, and of timelessness, awe, and joy. For the past half-century, psychoanalytical writers on art have used the concept “oceanic feeling” to designate similar experiences of oneness, limitlessness, and elation in creativity. Despite its long-term use, the concept still lacks precision—due perhaps to the elusiveness and ineffability of the very experience it..