Creativity

I have been thinking a lot lately about the value of creativity in my life. As I have been pursuing writing and painting, I find that I get lost in the process of creation, so much so that I lose track of time and become immersed in the task before me. I totally forget myself. Any worries or stresses from the outside world melt away as I focus on what wants to come forth from my heart or hand.

My question to myself is – can I be in a creative mode in whatever I do? Is creation limited to the arts only, or are there other ways to create? As I ponder this question, it seems that we are called as humans to be continuously creating. My soul wants and needs to express itself. I am called to bring forth my unique self.   In a way creation equals life. When I don’t create I become dead inside, lifeless and depressed.

But what is creation and how does it relate to the Being vs Doing that I talked about last week?  To create something is defined as 1) to bring something into existence and 2) to produce something through imaginative skill. For me, intuition, dreams, and ideas are the principle means of creation. These thoughts usually pop up when I am in the Being mode. When I am daydreaming, resting, sitting in nature, dreaming – these are the times when ideas surface and when my intuition is most active.

The Doing phase of creation is then to bring those ideas into reality. I write the words on the page, put paint on a canvas, put the notes into a score, add a new spice to a recipe, or apply a new method to something I have done a thousand times. I spend time and effort into birthing something new or producing something from my thoughts.

There are as many ways to create as there are human beings. In the meditative painting course I took, we were all creating a green Tara figure. There were hundreds of participants, and hundreds of green Tara paintings. There were no two paintings that were alike. Each person brought forth her own interpretation and created a unique painting.

 Human beings are constantly creating. The difficulty for me lies in the idea that something has to be perfect or even good, in order for it to be creative. In the past, I haven’t considered myself to be creative, because my painting isn’t good, my writing isn’t perfect, or my ideas aren’t accepted. I haven’t considered myself to be creative because my creations aren’t as good as someone else’s creations

But I do paint, I do write, I do have different ideas. Whatever comes from my heart and soul is creative. It doesn’t matter whether it is good or bad. What matters is that it comes forth and in the coming forth, it brings joy into my life. Whether I can actually translate the picture in my head into words on a page or an image on a canvas is irrelevant. What matters is that I am making the effort to birth something new, to express my soul. It is not made to be judged or critiqued. It is made because it is my soul that is calling forth creation.

The picture that I am using today is the second Tara that I created. It is not a fine work of art. It will never hang in a museum. It is flawed and primitive. But it was created by my own hand, and I proudly hung it in my office as a daily inspiration that I am a creative person. I use it as a reminder that creating something is an act of prayer. It is an act of connecting with the Divine to birth something new and unique to my own Soul’s journey. Creation then becomes  my sole purpose in life. When I am in a state of creative flow, I am in tune with myself and with the Divine. The more I can act on the creative impulse – whether it is through art or the way I express love – the more I am expressing the impulse of the Divine. I become then, a co-creator of the universe, a partner in the holy dance of creation.