Artistic Mind is a contemporary term for nous. Although nous has been interpreted in numerous ways, ours aligns with the Greek word νοῦς (British pronunciation n aʊ s), understood as an extraordinary flow state in which infinitely generative fields of potential become available.

Noetic sage Ted Falconar refers directly to the “infinite playing fields” of nous as a vivid wonderland in which existential patterns lying beyond the confines of conceptual language are accessed. Film-maker David Lynch has spoken of “an ocean of pure, vibrant consciousness”, a field that unfolds and grows as you enliven it. Buckminster Fuller recognizes it as “a creativity that is a priori to the integrity of the universe”. Other titles have been bestowed on it at different times  including “the Mystery”, “the Imaginal”, “the Unknown”, the “Liminal”, the “Collective Unconscious” and “the Dream”. Shared by all these understandings is a state of awareness in which an ecstatic dissolution of commonly held tensions and contradictions is experienced.

Unmediated visions, synaesthetic sensations and gestalt feelings can, and do, arise spontaneously from nous. This flow state can also be purposefully collaborated with through active imagination, contemplation, self-reflection, art-making, and embodiment practices.