A Creative Look At Creativity
Creativity fuels the changes we see all around us. The rapid rise of computers that once filled an entire building to ones that now fit in our hands is just one example. The newest airliner will be made of carbon fiber, not wood or metal of previous eras.
Graphic programs, web pages, video productions, and digital photography have unleashed color, combinations, and images not possible just decades ago. We all benefit from someone’s creativity on a daily basis.
We recognize the results of creativity but where does creativity come from? Does everyone have it? Can we nurture it? If we do not have it today, can we generate it in time? If we have it now, can we lose it? In this approach to the topic of creativity, I will examine a number of components that contribute to or take away from the river that flows toward the never before seen or done: the result of creativity.
First is the element of need. Without that thread, creativity is seldom woven into anything. But need comes in many different colors. Need may be the doctor who is faced with an accident victim and utilizes an ink pen and a plastic bag to perform a tracheotomy and apply a lifesaving tourniquet when there is no doctor’s bag. Need may be an empty page with a deadline for a book that becomes the next bestseller.
Whatever the shade of “need,” it is one of the necessary components. Thus those with the deepest sense of need can be those with a seeming fountain of creativity if the other parts of creativity are also a part of the puzzle. Creativity generally does not flow from those who are satisfied with the way things are.
But need without hope produces desperation. Hope is a bit more elusive than need. Hope by definition says there is an answer to the question even though it is not known as soon as the need is. This hope factor often grows from previous needs that found answers. Thus hope can grow out of need.
Those who have the highest levels of hope are not afraid to attempt the seemingly impossible because of the creativity that has answered the need before. Their previous success also builds the persistence factor that can ultimately produce the creativity.
One of the key enemies of hope is the worry and fear that often march together, destroying everything in their path. These two have often combined to produce “writer’s block,” or a giant blank instead of a creative answer. These also drain the creative juices and leave nothing for the answers that “need” requires.
Worry and fear can also be accompanied by sorrow or guilt. These are also effective enemies of creativity. Many an artist, writer, or inventor has had a creative streak ended by a personal tragedy or experience. In fact, any intense emotion that overwhelms a person can silence the creative voice within.
In one sense, creativity can be a long term attribute of a person if they have developed enough life skills for stability. It does not mean that their life is easy, just that they have developed disciplines that safeguard creativity. Creativity needs dedicated worry-free time. Last minute, rushed results seldom reach the creative heights that worry-free time makes possible.
Discipline also enables creativity to go from mere words to results. I have visited numerous people in jail who had a creative capacity but no discipline in their lives. Their art, songs, poems, and other creative adventures (gifts) will never be seen because they lacked the disciplines in key areas of life. For some of them their creativity had been their ticket through the early years of life. At some point the free pass ended and without any disciplines in life they fell into an easy way to make a living: crime.
Tying creativity to a gift or talent someone may have is another concept that needs to be examined. As has already been discussed, a gift by itself would not survive the enemies of creativity. People can also mistake someone’s ability as a gift when in fact it was through hard work and dedication that they nurtured the ability people now see.
So what is the point of the issues we have examined? You. Your place, position, and purpose in life will include some areas where creativity will be needed. If you can answer the call for creativity, you can turn a problem into progress or a dead end into an uncharted path.
To know where you stand, we must ask some key questions:
Do you see needs that are not being met? Do you think about them enough to explore some possible solutions?
Do some of those needs move you to action? Have you ever experimented with some new possibilities?
Is there enough hope in you to attempt to be a part of a creative solution to the need or do you want to give up before you start?
Can you take a disciplined approach to the need and provide yourself with worry-free time to work on it? If you do have an idea, can you take the seed of creativity and bring it to its full fruit?
If you have been creative in the past, have obstacles gotten in the way? Has the previous discussion helped you to recognize some of your enemies to creativity?
With a disciplined approach, could you see yourself being more creative? What might be your first project?
Lastly, I believe there can be a spiritual element that impacts the direction that creativity can take. Being a firm believer that history can teach us, we see that new areas of expression can be extremely positive and admired for generations (Leonardo da Vinci) or abhorred with equal intensity (Adolf Hitler) forever. An honest look at the words of Jesus will show us why we can see these two extremes of creativity.
“I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (Jn 10:9-10, emphasis mine). This helps us to understand why we see such a range in people’s “creativity.”
Jesus’ teaching can impact creativity in another way. Putting his ways into practice gives us a stability that can protect whatever creativity we currently have. “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock” (Mt 7:24-25).
Christ’s teaching can also raise the level of need if we adopt his passions and concerns. The first item printed on the newly invented printing press was a Bible. My most creative endeavors in the teaching/preaching realm come from a passion to see people understand and be able to apply the teachings of Christ. Thus I have broken, built, and displayed countless “items” while teaching or preaching, hoping that they will take the words and make them real to the listener.
Now it is your turn. We each live in a specific location with unique opportunities for something “new and different.” It could be a cure, a humorous relief, or a project that is someday admired in a museum that is birthing in your heart right now. Go create; we may all be glad you did.
