The Creative Act: A Way of Being

Rubin’s career includes some of the most popular and groundbreaking music acts from the 1980s to the present day. J. Freedom du Lac, writing for The Washington Post, states: “You may not have heard of Rick Rubin, but you've definitely heard Rick Rubin, whose variety-pack soundtrack has become inescapable” (Freedom du Lac, J. “The ‘Song Doctor’ Is in.” The Washington Post, 2006). Rubin fashioned himself as a behind-the-scenes guru for musical artists, appropriately naming the production studio in his Malibu home “Shangri-La,” after the fictional and mystical utopia of James Hilton’s Lost Horizon (1933). The name of his studio also indicates the loose connection between mysticism, Zen Buddhist Philosophy, and Rubin’s worldview. While Rubin never explicitly states the impact of Eastern spiritual and religious thought on his creative approach, he embodies these practices in his daily and professional life. In a 60 Minutes interview with Anderson Cooper, Rubin can be seen meditating or lying down with his eyes closed and feet bare while listening to an artist perform a recording (“Rick Rubin: The 60 Minutes Interview.” YouTube, uploaded by 60 Minutes, 2023). J. Freedom du Lac details a similar image of Rubin “in a meditative state, his eyes sealed,” in his article (Freedom du Lac).