THE CREATIVE SPARK AND CREATIVE EXPRESSION
The creative spark, the song in our souls, needs some tangible expression. We are physical beings, and so it is not enough to simply pay attention to those longings.
The song in our soul can take on a tangible expression through music, writing, reading, dance, woodworking, falling to our knees, reaching out to someone in need, taking pride in your work…the possibilities are endless!
The power of language, of art, of music, is in making the invisible become visible.
Have you ever had a moving experience, but once the moment has passed, wondered if it was all in your imagination? Just a weird hallucination?
If we do not take the time to give expression to those longings, even the most beautiful songs can become stifled.
Creative expression is the oxygen for the true and noble longings in our souls. Don’t let those longings fade away.
The Origin of Creative Work
Picture this: After you’ve procured your food, water, and shelter, you think about the buffalo hide that needs tanning, or the berries that need picking. There is always more to do, yet there is something else that pulls at you. You want to capture in a drawing – on a cave wall – that magnificent hunt you witnessed several moons ago.
Why are we so inclined to think that those early cave drawings were a result of boredom, as though creativity is something that springs up only when we are at our ease and have empty time on our hands?
What if that creative spark pulls at us even when we are elbows deep in dishes, or about to take on the biggest legal case of our career? If creativity is a yearning in our soul, even the most chaotic life circumstances cannot silence it.
It may even be that the best art is created in the chaos of life, under intense pressure. This, in my experience, has been the art that speaks to me more than the art that is created by those who have the luxury of time and money.
Creative work is NOT a result of boredom, but rather a call to express the longing in our soul – even in the midst of chaos.
What Stories Do For Us
I think most creative work tells a story – a house or a piece of furniture tells the story of a builder, of a tree that grew strong in a forest. A fairytale makes invisible thoughts become visible. A song gives voice to the stories in our souls that language can’t do justice to.
Creative work is…
A miner that digs beneath the earth’s surface, searching for precious jewels.
A knight in shining armour that drives out the shadows from our minds, bringing out most hidden questions into the light.
A lantern that is lit on a cold and dark night, casting light over old forgotten manuscripts.
Creative work – whether we are the maker or the consumer – are tools to use in the excavation of reality.
The best creative work aids us in our search for truth.
