CORE CREATIVITY - Part 2
Creativity: A Way Out Limitation
Let’s get something straight here. I’m not talking about “Painting your way to Paradise”, or “Composing your way to Companionship” or “Writing your way to wealth” (although these are all possible). I’m talking about core creativity, the same power that brought everything that exists into existence, and still does so. The wonderful thing is: you have this same power. Oh yes, you do. If you’re thinking only God has this power, then let’s remember who was made in God’s image and likeness? That would be us, and that includes you.
How do you know this? Well, if you can imagine anything, then you have this power. “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” is talking about two things “our likeness” refers to similar appearance and other characteristics. “Make man (human beings) in our image”, however is talking about the act of creation. Anything you’ve ever created, was first created in your image, that is, with the imaging faculty of your mind. There is nothing that exists, that was not created first in an image.
However, most people do not relate to life in this way. The most common approach is to see the world as a static creation. It’s all done. Everything they see around them is all there is, and all that’s going to be. So life is reduced to a manipulation of, and a competition for finite resources.
But this is a false idea: if everything that exists was finite. We humans would have used it all up hundreds of years ago. Not only that, we’d have never gotten beyond the horse and buggy, the slide rule, and whisky-and-pliers dentistry! So the truth is there are always new forms appearing, new methods, new devices, new ideas. And these all originate in our imagination — the seat of our creative power.
Why is all this so important? Because neglect of this power is what keeps many people in small-scaled and unfulfilled lives. Scientists have estimated that the average person uses only ten-percent of their brain power. Ten percent! While the other 90 precedent is untapped. What is this other 90%? Mathematical skill? Nope, fits nicely in the ten percent. Languages? Uh-uh, that’s covered too. Playing the piano? Fit’s in the lower 10 as well. Brain surgery? It’s gotta be that! It’s so hard! Yes, I would imagine brain surgery is one of the hardest things to learn. But the fact that it can be learned means that it’s a collection of facts (however complicated), which are knowable, and anything knowable goes into the ten percent.
So the remaining 90? Get ready. Drum roll!
And the envelope please…………
It’s our creative ability (ah, but you’d already guessed that, hadn’t you?). This is this the untapped remainder of our brain power. And it’s HUGE! I’m talking Grand Canyon size! This is where Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, where Beethoven conceived his nine symphonies, where Steve Jobs envisioned the iPod, where Ghandi saw freedom for his people, where Oprah dreamed a television empire, and where Barack Obama held the bold vision of a black President of the United States. Imagine that! John Lennon’s “Imagine” is a beautiful, inspiring song, but people often take it as fanciful, wishful thinking. But I believe if everyone took it seriously, and really held the vision that it offers, the world could be a very different place. (Oh, by the way. There’s more to “holding the vision” than just a trendy, New Age slogan, but I’ll get more into that in a later post.)
Now I’m going to tell you something that may surprise you. You already do use this power (and so does everyone else). You may not have come up with the next great political slogan, or the perfect cheesecake recipe, but you use your creative power constantly. But if you are unaware of this fact, then this means you are doing so unconsciously. And therein lies the problem.
You see, when we create in this non-deliberate manner, we rarely get what we truly want in life. It’s sort of like buying a car without choosing any of the options. We get what someone else decided we should have.
I don’t want to be influenced
I’m not down with your congruence
The real power is in deliberate creation — choosing and holding onto your image, and not wavering or letting go until it manifests into reality. What’s that? Isn’t action also required? You’re correct. But there’s a fine line between action and forcing, which paradoxically can delay or even block the manifestation. There’s trick to this that can seem almost like alchemy to the observer, but it’s a skill that can be learned.
Next: The dance between deliberate creation and allowing.
