"At the highest levels of awareness, intention (Spirit) started you on a path toward your destiny. Creativity intends you towards continued creativity to create and co-create anything you direct your power of intention toward. Creative energy is a part of you; it originates in the life-giving Spirit that intends you." –--Wayne Dyer
Let us consider the spiritual principle of creativity and the creative process. This principle flows naturally out of being centered in the knowledge of the unity of all things, recognizing that "It's all God!" Our essence is Spirit and as such, we realize it is our nature to be creative. Let's look more deeply at our beliefs about the spiritual truths of creativity.
We have ideas about what it means to be a creative person We call someone an artist and think it makes them unique and unlike us. We are afraid to claim our own creativity. We deny our own inner voice and say, "I can't draw, write, paint, sing, etc. I'm not an artist."
Sarah Ban Breathnach writes, "Most of us feel uncomfortable thinking of ourselves as artists, but we are. We think artists write novels, paint pictures, choreograph ballets, act on Broadway, throw pots, and shoot feature films.
"An artist is merely someone with good listening skills who accesses the creative energy of the Universe to bring forth something on the material plane that wasn't here before. It was a part of Spirit before we could see it as a book, a painting, a ballet, a film. So it is with creating an authentic life. With every choice, every day, you are creating a unique work of art. Something only you can do. Something beautiful and ephemeral. The reason you were born was to leave your own indelible mark on your personal world. This is your authenticity."
Creativity and Consciousness
"Create" comes from the Latin word "Kere," which means to grow or cause to grow. Creation is "anything created; especially something original created by the imagination." And creativity is the ability to create.
Physicist Amit Goswami, author of The Cosmic Dancers and the Self-Aware Universe: How Consciousness Creates the Material World, defines consciousness as--that which is the ground of all being. It is original, self-contained, and constitutive of all that exists, of everything.
"Consciousness is what creates the physical world. There is no external reality separate from and independent of it. What is important to recognized is that it self-referentially expresses in us. We are that consciousness. Our individual consciousness is a part of the same Mind that conceived and fashioned our universe. We need to give up our ingrained assumption that there is an objective reality "out there" independent of consciousness, and realize our interconnectedness with the universe."
As we have expanded our understanding of God, we realize that the word "consciousness," as Dr. Goswami uses it, is an excellent definition for Spirit. And since we are created in the image and likeness of God, "We are that consciousness.
Dr. Goswami continues, "Understanding that external reality is not fixed, but can assume new forms through the play of human consciousness, brings meaning back into our lives. From a materialistic perspective, nothing about our subjective experience is viewed as real. . .under the emerging world view that consciousness is the ground of being, meaning comes back. In this new paradigm, free will, responsibility, values, creativity, and spirituality all assume an essential role. What flows from this change of perspective is a revitalization, or what I like to call a "re-enchantment" of the individual."
Each of us has created our own way of being in the world. Each day we choose to dress a certain way, to speak and express ourselves, to act the way we desire and we choose our thoughts and values. We may not realize it, but we are free to choose something new each day. Our individual life is our canvas and we have access to a palette filled with abundance.
The Creative Process
Creativity is rarely neat, clean, or what we call orderly. Often it appears messy, confused and abstract. In a broader view, we see it is passionate, expressive and mysterious.
Iyanla Vanzant notes, "Webster defines 'process' as a natural phenomena marked by gradual changes that lead toward a particular result. That is a very apt description of life. We experience a little and change. We discover a little more about life, ourselves and people, and change some more. The result we are seeking is remembering who we are. In order to remember that, we must know who we are not.
"Life is the process of recognizing who we are not. . . The conditions and experiences we face do not define us. They remind us of who we are and who we want to be. They also remind us of what we are thinking about ourselves. If we think we should be punished, we will be. Each of us is in the process of remembering we are divine, miraculous, powerful manifestations of life. We learn the truth of this each time we fall down and get up, experience loss and recover, make a choice and change our minds."
All Truth Teachers have taught a natural process of growth. Ernest Holmes observes, "Jesus said: 'When ye pray, believe that ye have and ye shall receive.' He did not say believe and you will immediately have. He did not deny the natural law of evolution and growth. Nature operates according to a law of logical sequence." As we make new choices, we course correct and our lives change and grow.
Holmes continued, "Conscious thought is the starting point of every new creation. Trained thought is far more powerful than untrained. This is one of the great secrets of Mental Science. The Subjective Law knows only to obey. It can do nothing else. . .The idea of a successful life will create success. This idea will find form in the outer world of the one who holds to it with conviction. It must first become established in the conscious mind. It will then transmit itself into a subjective embodiment and when this happens, success will become habitual."
Another truth teaching is all events are neutral and impersonal, at the same time they are a screen for the projection of our thoughts and beliefs. By being willing to own our projection, we can discover where our beliefs are out of alignment with our spiritual nature. It is important to pay attention to these areas, for they are what need to be neutralized. It is important to remember when we pray, everything that happens following the prayer is part of the demonstration. If we are praying for success, and find we are reacting to situations with ideas or statements about failure, then we know we have a belief in failure that must be removed. Affirm there is only Success in God and because you are a jewel on the web of God's life, within you is also success. It is simply your nature to be successful. Remember the event is neutral, you are Divine!
Art and Mystical Experience
Webster's defines "Artist" as a person who does anything very well, with a feeling for form, effect, etc. Art is defined as the human ability to make things. Gregg Levoy writes, "Art making, whether conjured by a stick in the dirt or generated by computers, is a primitive impulse, something we express instinctively. It draws out of us shapes, images, and memories that may not even belong to us personally, but that we can use to fashion a self-portrait and to engage in the process of self-discovery so essential to the discernment of a calling. . . We can use art to bring us in line with our callings. Through it, we can have access to timeless sources of wisdom in ourselves, deep drives, and memories of who we really are."
"Thomas Merton said, "Art attunes the soul to God." Because it brings us into present time and allows us a few blessed minutes or hours of self-forgetfulness, where we are wholly absorbed and fascinated, the creative act is a version of what Abraham Maslow called "peak experiences," and what others call "mystical experiences." When we become immersed in any creative activity, we bring on ourselves a sense of attention, of rapture, of departure from ego, from time and place. We see into the heart of things and get a glimpse of something that was previously hidden. In this way, the creative act is a mystical experience."
Art draws out of us our inner wisdom. The images we create (either through a traditional artistic medium or in our lives) are guides to our thoughts and our healing. Anna Halprin was a professional dancer, who started to use art and dance as a pathway to healing. She created and taught Psycho-Kinetic Visualization, in which people "dance a drawing" by putting into movement the images that well up from the unconscious. By making pictures they are literally drawing out messages and giving momentum to them. After drawing a life size picture of her body which contained a round, gray mass in the middle of her pelvis, she realized that she should call a doctor. She was diagnosed with colon cancer and had a colostomy. Three years later, she had a recurrence. She then knew, that she would have to make drastic changes in her life. It was time to course correct. By again drawing a picture, this time of her unhealed rage and dancing it out, she was able to connect with the healthy, vibrant woman inside her. The doctor was amazed, when she returned in three weeks and he found the cancer had completely disappeared.
We have subverted our creative nature into many areas. It shows up in our work, our homes, our clothes, and our sense of order. We say we are not artistic and then show our sense of beauty in the everyday areas of our lives. It is time to own and express our creative nature. First, be willing to know you are an artist. You have the human ability to make things.
Pilgrimage: Creativity
Journal focus: Start your Discovery Journal. Write about the ways you use creativity in your daily life.
Gratitude: Who are three people you are grateful to know?
What are three things or experiences you are grateful to have?
Intentions: Tell yourself you have a life mission and a silent partner (God) who's accessible at any moment you choose.
REV KRIS COLLINS is Minister of Sanctuary of Spiritual Living, Covina, A Science of Mind Center. www.SOMChurch.org
