Looking To History
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)
History is ripe
with examples of those who channeled a creative insight that changed the
world. A postal clerk envisioned a theory of relativity in his spare time,
long before we were capable of even conceiving a way to prove his theories.
A poor camel driver had a vision, and in a few centuries the armies of those
who believed Mohammed’s vision had conquered an arc of the world from
Spain to India. Da Vinci, Galileo, Columbus, Newton, Napoleon, Einstein,
Picasso, DeMille…the list is impressive because the names are so
universally recognized. From every walk of life and every conceivable avenue
of human achievement we recognize the names of the great, ostensibly because
of what they achieved. In truth, it is not so much that they achieved it,
but that they were first able to conceive of a possibility or a
solution to a problem that made them into giants as creative thinkers, inspired
to implement their imaginative visions.
G.N.M. Tyrrell, an early British investigator of inspiration, writes in
The Personality of Man: “…those creations of the human
mind which have borne preeminently the stamp of originality and greatness,
have not come from within the region of consciousness. They have come from
beyond consciousness…” This “breaking though” of
sudden insight and inspiration is creativity. Almost everyone has experienced
some form of this—whether a sudden “knowing” of where
to look for the mistake in balancing their checkbook or when faced with
a complex project or assignment. Whether it is called our inner voice, Spirit,
our higher self, it is undoubtedly recognized as creativity, inspiration
and imagination focused into an action.
Inevitably these revelations were historically usurped as mystical by a
church that demanded absolute power. Any such creative insights falling
outside of accepted dogma, and which could not be exploited for the church’s
immediate advantage, were labeled as insanity or heresy. This was especially
true in the case of philosophical, political or scientific revelations that
directly contradicted by existing church teaching. For instance, when Galileo
was able to offer scientific proof through the mathematic calculation regarding
his [heretical] view of the solar system, he was still convicted [rather
thinly] by ignoring his evidence as to the validity of his discovery and
prosecuted by the fact that he had to have first had the thought
that contradicted Church teachings in order to pursue his theories. Truth
though, once introduced, has a way of irresistibly rising again and again
until at last it is accepted. (There is an old adage about truth and invention.
It is said that first, everyone ignores it. Then they debunk it and persecute
it. Finally, everyone claims to have believed it all along.)
In the age of the Industrial Revolution, when technology and science were
outpacing the ability of the Church to adapt, there was less public outcry
to the evils of invention and free thinking (creativity). The citizenry—for
all the detriments such as pollution and working conditions—were by
and large immensely aided by the advances spawned through these creative
imaginings that were being tried out. Indeed, the whole era seemed to compose
itself around “modern thinkers,” who were usually the elite,
upper classes who had the time and inclination to pursue innovation and
inspiration.
These are examples on a large scale. The smaller scale of the working poor,
peasant or tenant labor has always maintained a degree of applied creativity
in order to survive. Somewhere in time, one of our human ancestors must
have mused about combining smaller animal pelts to form a larger one that
could serve as a coat or a blanket. From there, the idea of a sharp bone
fragment and sinew stitching emerged. The European so-called Gypsies survived
through their own flexibility and creativity, determining how to do what
the people around them couldn’t or didn’t want to do, and performing
those services. When even that was not enough to garner tolerance or acceptance,
they put their houses on wheels so they would never be seen as attempting
to settle or to overstay their welcome and thus risk reprisals. In the United
States, from the original settlers to the early westward pioneers, to the
depression era generations and beyond, into the migrant workers and homeless
of today…necessity has oft times proven to be the mother of invention.
Whether necessity, or idle musing or obsessive curiosity, the common link
among all types of creativity, is that it must begin with a thought.
The idea must first be conceived before it can be brought into existence.
We may not care to explore abject poverty or dire physical circumstances
to test the “necessity” theory of instigating creativity. We
may neither have the luxury of inordinate idle time and finances to sponsor
our musings, nor the personality make-up to incessantly pursue a seemingly
inconsequential paradigm. Yet in our everyday lives, each of us would inevitably
benefit from the ability to be more creative in our thinking, and undoubtedly
most of us would be happier and healthier if we were able to invoke a more
creative approach to living.
Continued in Part 2. Click Here.