1.1 When Your Page is Blank, but You Must Write
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The Components of Creativity
This blog was born out of two deaths in 2021: my three-year-old granddaughter, Millie, and my faith. It is a travelogue of my second journey in search of meaning. Its primary intended audience is – me. You see, only as I write do I get a good glimpse of what I think, and only as I review it in black and white do I understand what I believe. That is my goal: to come face-to-face with what I genuinely think. My secondary goal is to leave a record of this exploration for my grandchildren and their children, hoping it may benefit them one day. It is not my intention to offend or convince but to merely think out loud. I hope it will be of some help to you.
As a catalyst for my thinking, I engaged John's account of his friend Jesus and read it as one would “a Rorschach reading or inkblot interpretation,” as Crossan said, “which is when an ancient text means whatever your modern mind decides it means.” I trusted myself to interpret.
CHAPTER 1
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.
To better grasp this, I think of the components of creativity: the creator, his creativity, and his creation. I can imagine an architect holding his plans, representing his initial intention, and then looking at his completed building, representing the final creation. The architect always had the building with him - it was a part of him from the start, and the plans accurately reflected his initial intention.
For John, God was the architect, and the word was his intention. Again and again, I pondered these two verses regarding a creator, his intentions, and his creation.
Contending questions from my past understanding began to emerge. Isn’t John saying that Jesus was at the beginning with God? Doesn’t he mean that Jesus had been in physical form in some faraway place with God? Additionally, wasn’t the intention to have him serve as a redeemer, paying the price for the sins of all men so that we could one day go to heaven? Accepting that Jesus was in the creator’s consciousness at the beginning or in the original intention, as the building was with the architect, became more comprehensible. Perhaps the intention was to have a physical human living out of his spiritual consciousness to demonstrate how God originally planned for all of us to live. Let's set those aside and watch as John’s story unfolds.
The Creation Equation
For now, let's take a minute to revisit the architect and understand the process behind creating a building. The building first existed in the architect's consciousness. He then used his intelligence and creative energy to translate and convert his ideas into written plans. Finally, those plans were executed to create the completed building. The architect's vision was transformed into a tangible reality throughout this process. Our consciousness becomes intelligible as it is translated through our intelligence and only becomes a completed creation after being combined with our energy. Developing that a bit, it could be said that the only limits to the intention within one’s consciousness (one’s creativity) are one’s intelligence and energy. (Intention + intelligence + energy = one’s creation)
For now, let's take a minute to revisit the architect and understand the process behind creating a building. The building first existed in the architect's consciousness. He then used his intelligence and creative energy to translate and convert his ideas into written plans. Finally, those plans were executed to create the completed building. The architect's vision was transformed into a tangible reality throughout this process. Our consciousness becomes intelligible as it is translated through our intelligence and only becomes a completed creation after being combined with our energy. Developing that a bit, it could be said that intelligence and energy are the only limits to the intention within one’s consciousness (creativity). (Intention + intelligence + energy = one’s creation)
As we move to the next verse, consider the creation of the universe as an ongoing creative process and remember the keywords consciousness, intelligence, and energy.
3 All things came into being through him. And without him, not one thing came into being that has come into being.
All things came into being this way, and only this way, through the creative process of the creator. Also, there is only one creator and one creative life force through which all creation came and continues to come. More questions arise for us to consider. Am I a part of that creation? Is my life a part of the ongoing creative process, or could it be? Is the same life force continually creating within me and from me?
If you have doubts about the ongoing creative process, look at what scientists say about this Continual Creativity in our bodies.
““There are trillions of cells in your body, but the cells that you have today are not all the exact same cells that you had yesterday. Over time, cells age and become damaged, so your body’s cells are constantly replicating, creating their own replacements.””
As one gets older, it's easier to look back on life and see the effects of this ongoing creative process: our children, our careers, relationships, the impact we’ve had on other people, our health, etc. The current status of each is primarily the result of our actions in the past. After we look back and see what creativity has produced within and from us, an epiphany occurs as we shift our focus forward and envision what still could be created within and from us. Regardless of age, we are still part of an ongoing creative process.
What beliefs do we currently hold about our lives? Is the future already written, and we’re trapped by fate and defined by the past? Are we destined to keep recycling this past? Or are we a partner in the creation of our future?
In the ancient text, the heroes learned to translate their consciousness into an "inner voice" and, further, into a vision with actionable steps. In his imagination, Noah saw the ark, and Abraham saw his numerous offspring. With each step of “faith,” their consciousness became a reality, reinforcing their faith practice and creating a virtuous cycle.
In her book Eastern Body, Western Mind, Anodea Judith says, "No matter how abstract or specific our vision is, it can only begin with changes we make in our own lives. To create change, we need to be able to imagine it.” My notes in the margin of her book on 11-29-2022. “This is the piece that is so often missing! Our vision is more than a wish, hope, or idea. It must be developed within the imagination, constantly refined with more specifics, until it becomes a clear picture. From this picture, goals materialize, goals that direct our daily activities.
“This clear vision, when regularly focused on, generates energy that moves us forward toward our goals and attracts those things that assist us. This process is greatly intensified by using an image, sign, or symbol (maybe a picture or video) to represent the vision. This process creates a “magnetic force” that draws you to the vision and those things that can aid in its accomplishment.””
One might think I am trying to rewrite scripture and take God out of the picture. Another might argue that I'm trying to insert God into their agnosticism. In the words that are most comfortable to me, I would say that God is the picture, the source, the vision, the inner voice, and the energy. Nonetheless, let’s set aside the semantics and consider that these biblical heroes were not trying to be characters in scripture or start and reinforce any religion. They were ordinary people trying to comprehend the meaning of life and live it - and so are we.
Key Takeaways
The cells in your body replicate – old cells die and new cells are born. Your consciousness continually unfolds –outdated ideas fade away, and new ideas arise. You have a part to play in directing these changes.
Your tomorrow exists in your imagination today. Find it, refine it, and create it.
We will consider these ideas more as we go along, but next week, we will see what insights arise from verses four through nine of John's story about his friend, Jesus.
