Thoughts on Creativity

First off, I'm kinda sick of this design...Dillon, will you renovate please?

Late night stream of consciousness…I’m here trying to seize this fleeting piece of inspiration because of something I’ve been thinking about lately. I recently listened to a best-selling author talk about the creative process. She spoke of the common plight of the creative person (writer, musician, etc.) and the neurosis they experience that is unique to such a profession. She spoke of how we should recognize creativity as something outside ourselves. She talked about ancient Greece where they believed that creativity came not from within a person but from an outside force, a “daemon," some sort of spirit that bestows creative ideas upon humans. The Romans had a similar concept, and the being to which they attributed inspiration was called a “genius.” At that time, one was not a genius, one had a genius. She explained that post-Enlightenment humanism led to this concept that the divine was within us, not some mystical spirit who told us its ideas. She then explained that this was why artists began to go crazy, because their identity was wrapped up in whether or not they have “writer’s block,” and was why so many lack the courage to even try something creatively oriented, because of fear of rejection or fear of not having inspiration. Her conclusion was that we should take on the perspective of the ancient Greeks and Romans and try to understand our inspiration as something outside ourselves. (Here's a link in case anyone wants to actually watch it themselves: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html)

On one hand, although I enjoyed reading her book, I thought she came off a little flaky. She wavered between trying not to sound crazy but then advocated inventing some sort of fairy or god or whatever onto which you could project the source of your creative inspiration. One the other hand, I agree with her that I sometimes experience some transcendent moments that result in a need to express. I felt the urge to write tonight not because I believe a “daemon” or a “genius” was channeling me but because I was given the ability to do so by the Creator. Creative energy does not come from any other external source except for His Spirit and that which has been bestowed on us.

In light of that, I do feel the feeling she describes- a transcendence, a moment of coalescence when the universe stops turning and you connect with something. Or moments when you feel something so intensely that you could not begin to describe it, but you must try. So instead of looking at this as an outside spirit which is not Him, I am going to assume that it’s either a) me- my emotions and deep inner yearnings that ultimately exist because He created me and gave me the ability to feel and yearn the way I do…or b) it’s a prompting by His Spirit in which case I want to move with Him into the dance. Either way, it comes from Hashem, whether directly or indirectly.


Master of the Universe, Creator of all, I thank you for giving us this chance. I know that any creative work done from myself, for myself or for the accolades of my fellow humans will be empty and finite, but I also believe that if You can baptize my creativity, then I could partner with you to create inside of Your creativity. I have not yet even the conceptualization of what to do, but sometimes I have such a passion and motivation to CREATE- to craft, to paint, to dance, to make music with my hands and lips, to birth something new, to breathe my own life into something in the same way You breathed life into me. In that way, You breathed life into everything and also have given me dignity in that I actually have something to offer that is unique to me. And may it all be for Your glory, for Your purposes, that I could fit into Your process of redeeming that which You created perfectly in the beginning and will continue to bring back to the place that You intended. Your kingdom, Your righteous, may it be found within me. And may You breathe Your life into me that what comes from my brain, my lips, my hands, and wherever my feet take me would bring You glory and reveal Your beauty and truth. I want to come into what You are doing and bring what I have. My hands are open, my heart is waiting. Breath life into me with wind like a hurricane.