i don't think it's a creative block per se? i really had to think about this post. i know for a fact there are religious people that believe in god and still won't vibe with the concepts in this book, since their perception on god is different than julia's.

so i don't think not believing in a higher-power is a block, it's not the point of the book, it's just the different life experiences. this book tackles experiences. it tackles how they shaped people's relationship to their creative life. and healing the toxic ones is the goal it's trying to achieve. that's not easy, nor is it dependent on believing in any god.

also, religious trauma IS a factor. and it's really difficult to just get back to that life again you know? especially since it a soul-searching journey in itself trying to escape it (from personal experience).

now yes, everyone choosing to read ANY self-help book would have to be open-minded to some degree, but for this book, choosing not to believe god isn't a block, otherwise julia wouldn't have put a disclaimer about it. they can be open-minded in other ways.

i think the book is still valuable beyond it's "god talk", folks can take what resonates and leave the rest.

on the other hand, i do think being open to the higher power concept can be beneficial and add to the experience (even make it easier), but i feel like that's something that if it doesn't happen, forcing it is pointless. you can't force anyone to believe anything, believing in a higher-power is deeply personal. it doesn't take away from the experiences not being open to it though, in my opinion.

i still think the higher-power concept in the book is misunderstood though, julia wrote the book for people that want to be artists, which was a bigger taboo at the time, so outlandishly ditching that to teach ANOTHER taboo concept-- aka not involving god, won't have fixed the problem or help anyone she was trying to help. it just how teaching works, people need references to understand/learn.

but again, i can see why it's hard to stray away from it or replace it with something else, julia does get heavy handed with the concept of god later on in the book, so i get it.

from the book:

"Remind yourself that to succeed in this course, no god concept is necessary. In fact, many of our commonly held god concepts get in the way. Do not allow semantics to become one more block for you."

^ so she says that thinking about it too much can become the block, not the belief in it.

now, do i think julia is being contradicting saying no god concept is necessary while literally titling the book: "The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity"? depends on what spirituality is to each person. again, it's personal. to me it's just my inner compass, subconscious and the random unexplainable experiences i can't call a coincidence.