It's Everywhere

Since I began working on this blog is has been interesting to see how my mind has focused on little things that I probably would not have noticed before, and I think, "Wow, that's really cool I should blog about that." Well, I have had several of those instances lately and this is just one of them.

I think people can sometimes have this idea that creativity is something that is reserved for a select few "special" people, in "special" situations. I don't know that I have ever thought that word for word, but sometimes I miss just how important creativity is for everyone. Imagination is what makes life livable and so no matter what life may bring, you bring your imagination.

Ethan and I were at Wal-Mart the other day picking up the essentials, (chips, soda, milk, Lucky Charms, and oranges) and the way out of the parking lot we pulled up on one of those all to common drifters sitting on his bags by the curb, getting ready to pull up a sign that I assumed was going to say something like, "Will work for food", or "Denver", or "Homeless Veteran." But what happened next made my day. As we pulled up he flashed a huge grin and held up a cardboard sign with the words "SMILE."

Smile, not please feel sorry for me, please give me something, please help. Just smile. Ethan I turned around and went back to give him an orange, for which he was grateful, and I had a chance to talk with him a little while. But, what struck me most was his creativity. I again realized that creativity is something that God has put in each and every one of us, no matter who we are, and although we pervert it and try to make it our own, there is still a piece of it that has that glimpse of what He desires it to be.

Creativity 02

Alright. I could probably write books about the things that are going through my head today after having sat through so many different discussions, from so many different (well, kind of different) viewpoints, but that would make a really long blog post and reading page after page of computer screen text is both taxing on the eyes and the head, so there will be plenty of thoughts for many blogs to come.

First off I want to respond to a question Serenity had about one of the points from William Downs that I posted yesterday. Towards the beginning of his talk he made the statement that the arts, in someways, are really the least creative thing we do. The point that he was making is that creativity is seeing things that other people do not see and being able to apply that creativity in new ways. He was also talking specifically about here in America, and about how institutions, or organizations, or governments, or anything like that have such a control on what gets widely seen by people, that the art being made today is tailored to an audience and can get watered down.

I'm just telling you what he said. "The interviews and commentaries contained on this blog are the opinion of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the view of ORAN6E, its employees, affiliates, relatives, neighbors, dogs, cats, or goldfish."

So, what are my thoughts?

Like I said, I don't really know where to start, but lets go with this. The title of the symposium that I went to was "Do Institutions Stifle Creative Thinking?" and like one of the last speakers, my immediate response was "Heck ya they do." But after listening to what people were saying and comments from people in the audience I came to realize something. People use the term "institutions" like they are empty buildings, or charters on pieces of paper, when in reality an institution is people and how we think. So what that means is that institutions do not stifle creativity, people stifle creativity. And no matter how hard we try, as humans we will always stifle creativity. It comes down to this. Sin stifles creativity. The falleness of man stifles creativity. The limitations on our human thinking stifles creativity.

But there is hope.

I believe that God wants desperately to pour out His endless, meaningful creativity on us. Well, not so much on us, because creativity is something that we do. I think what He wants to do is pour his creativity through us. And take off the limitations that our sinful nature impose. I am not saying that there have not been great, creative things in the past, but they come in pockets, in individuals. What would happen if a group of people, say the church, began living and breathing in a place of God centered creativity. Then, I think we would have to redefine our understanding of creativity, of art, of inspiration, of collaboration - of living.

Creativity 01

Here are some points from a lecture that I just attended by a gentleman named William Missouri Downs. Like most things there is a lot of dirt to dig through to get to the gold, but here are some points that are applicable to this blog.

In no particular order.

The arts are probably the least creative thing in America.
Creativity is seeing things that other people do not see.
We don't teach creativity we teach techniques.
Students do not want questions they only want answers.
Once ideas are elemenated creativity is elemenated.
If failure is not an option creativity is not an option.

Most of these points are things that I will talk about in the future on this blog, but is was good here them from other angles. Check back later and I will give a rundown of the talk by Ken Robinson.
Caleb

Sent from my BlackBerry

Imagination (the real post)

This is the post that was going to go with the picture below, but to type all this with my little blackberry buttons would get rather uncomfortable. So here's the real post.

When I was thinking of a title for this blog, I used my favorite tool of vocabulary expansion to try and find some great, meaningful substitution for the word "creativity". After reading through all the other wonderful synonyms - cleverness, genius, ingenuity, inspiration, inventiveness, originality, resourcefulness, talent, vision. - I realized that the word I wanted was "imagination".

Here is why.

Imagination is really what makes the world turn. It is our imaginations that take the fluid, broken thoughts in our minds, and make them shareable, meaningful words or actions. Faith is a wonderful thing but it is our imaginations that are able to bring faith into action. I believe this is why Jesus said the only way to enter the Kingdom of Heaven is like a child. You see a child lives in their imagination. I child can be anything they want to be, because they have not learned yet that they can't. As we grow we are "learned" out of our imaginations. It is the same way with faith. We used to believe that if someone did not have an arm or a leg, God could give them a new one. Then we met someone without an arm or leg and we "learned" to put our faith in a box. So I think we should all come to that place of being "born again" (maybe for a 4th or 5th time) so that our imaginations can shape our actions, and not let our imaginations be shaped by what we already know, or think we know.