It’s the Spirit (or Spirituality) of it…
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)
It has been said
that nature abhors a vacuum. So too, does the human mind. What Science cannot
prove or demonstrate inevitably falls into the realm of mysteries, of the
great unknowable; in other words, the realm of religion and spirituality.
When we talk of creativity, inevitably the word “inspiration”
arises. The word “inspiration” originates from the same word
as “spirit” and originally meant “the breath of divinity,”
literally a sort of “transfusion of Soul” received from God.
It is interesting that this divinical, religious meaning remains with us
in the form of unconscious or conscious ascribing of inspired creativity
as being limited to that of one “deserving.” That is, just as
the breath of God could only come to one who was holy and pure, we perpetuate
the notion that creativity is reserved for those selected few, gifted or
lucky ones. The fact that it is a gift from God is both a blessing and a
curse. On one hand it forgives and excuses those of us who are not creative,
and on the other hand it seems a cruel joke from the Creator to predeterminately
condemn or bless us.
However, unlike physical Science, with its foregone conclusions and limitations
based on physical/genetic factors, or the science of psychology, with its
careful meandering through spaces it cannot even adequately acknowledge
even to itself—the idea of a spiritual basis for understanding creativity
allows us all “a chance.” Depending on the degree and type of
religious and spiritual beliefs, one is capable of either “earning”
this inspired ability, to manifest it through the petitioning of God in
something akin to a “miracle,” or to develop and nurture a growing
ability to be creative through the claiming of a certain “divine manifesto”
whereby self knowledge, humility, faith, prayer, etc… bring us into
expanded capabilities.
The word “inspiration” signifies that sudden leap of insight
that cuts across and through categories, boundaries and the “normal”
step by step processes of reasoning, in other words, the creative moment.
Grudin contends that inspiration partakes partly from abandonment, or surrender
(of conscious control) and also partakes of assertion and authority. The
spiritual context then, at least as Grudin explains it, would require the
abandonment and/or surrender of self (ego, preconceptions…) while
asserting the authority of one’s inherent, spiritual right to manifest
intelligence or insight, to “receive the word of God,” to tap
into the universal consciousness et. al. The signifier here is not so much
the precise indicator or quality of Deity that is being ascribed to so much
as it is an acknowledgement of a higher source/power/intelligence itself.
Granted, a purely scientific explanation might cynically render such thinking
as mental gymnastics, temporarily short-circuiting the normal operation
of the ego and id so that the subconscious may be heard. More modern science
might describe the various synaptic relays and functions as a background
operation while our CPU was displaying alternate data. Either explanation
is unfit to bring us into a conscious, repeatable creative state. Despite
any aversions we may have, nearly all of the people recognized as being
creative do ascribe a certain amount of their ability to something other
than their own thinking or mental ability.
In The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, a book that has received
much following and coverage for it’s ability to enhance and promote
creativity, she writes, “There’s no getting around it. One must
attend to the spiritual. While many rebel, it is without a doubt that the
intangibles are inevitably linked to each other.”
Creativity is, “…the most hopeful source of transformation
for the good of all,” says Barron, in Creators On Creating (1997).
Based on the assemblage of interviews and observations with these men and
women who are known as “creators” in their field for both accomplishments
and endeavors, the underlying questions of what drive them and inspire them
remarkably mirror the questions traditionally asked of religion. Creativity
is put forth as a quest for meaning, an attempt to penetrate the mystery
of Being. Science is lauded as being fearlessly creative, because it had
been given the task of solving perpetual problems like disease, the structure
of the universe, etc… as well as incorporating its discovered knowledge
into daily lives (calculators, refrigerators, cars, etc.). Often the most
correct scientific solution is also the most aesthetic solution. “…What
is more evocative of the awe proclaimed by religion than to gaze at the
mysterious order of the universe that continues to unfold before us in ways
that reinforce a perfect design?”
Ken Wilbur, in The Spectrum Of Consciousness (1977), provokes us
with the concepts of “evolution” and “involution.”
Evolution is to unfold or open outward, while involution describes the drawing
inward. Wilbur uses the terms as describing either moving toward Spirit
or away from Spirit. Spirit is the One Creativity Identity that is manifested
individually among the different personalities of mankind.
Charles Schultz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip insisted that
he never used the word “work,” as in, “I go to work.”
or even, “I get to work.” He always insisted on saying, “I’m
going to the studio” or “I’m going to draw.” Schultz
said, “I always have the feeling that if I call it work then God is
going to take it away from me. That’s my spiritual superstition.”
Though it is a bit of spiritual superstition, Schultz touches on some things
echoed by many religious and spiritual leaders as well as many of the great
creative minds themselves. First, the acknowledgment of a divine power outside
themselves as the source of creativity; and second, acknowledgment and gratitude
for the gift. This is markedly different and a distinct departure from the
“original sin” and outlook of suffering that was imposed through
the religious doctrines that permeated many cultures.
Whatever one’s outlook or personal faith or belief system, there seems
to be, as we shall see, certainly more effective results in allying ourselves
with the premise that creativity has in its basis a purely spiritual aspect.
It certainly includes something that requires many of the similar prerequisites:
humility (a quieting of the conscious ego/self), self-knowledge (an understanding
of one’s own motives, patterns of thinking and “temptations”
or weaknesses), gratitude (knowledge of and appreciation for what is given),
and, of course, a willingness to admit to an intelligence or inspirational
force outside of oneself (outside of conscious control). Noted writer and
philosopher D.T. Suzuki insists, “Self knowledge is possible only
when scientific studies come to an end.”