How to see creativity and spirituality as a matched set
I have found that two experiences in life are a matched set. Creativity and spirituality.
Where you find spirituality you will find creativity. And vice versa.
The more open I open to growing deeper, and to receiving wisdom, the less my analytical mind can operate, and the more the other side of my brain, the side that moves intuitively, that sees wonder in the dawn, that feels inspired to add spice to the soup, and sees possibility in desperate circumstances begins to operate. My spirituality spawns creativity. Or would that be creativity spawns spirituality?
Creative but not spiritual?
I wonder, is there such a thing as someone who is creative but not spiritual? Musically talented but not given to daily prayer, a gourmet chef but not interested in matters of the spirit like the meaning of life? Gifted when sitting before a canvas, but not thinking about the source of Love or what happens after death?
I have spent swaths of my life pondering profound questions of life but I cannot sew, paint or sculpt. Does that make me spiritual but not creative? I know people who sew, paint and sculpt who never talk about Divine intervention in their endeavors. Does that exclude them from the ‘spiritual?’
What about creative spirituality? Does creative spirituality mean that we can make up, or create, our own spiritual path? Or that there is a message from God in our art and music?
I don’t believe this is an either/or question. To think of it this way is an example of dualistic thinking. (To read more, check out Yearning and Lust as Dualistic Thinking)
If you had to choose either ‘creative’ or ‘spiritual’ to describe yourself, which word fits you most closely? Don’t overthink this. One approach would be to ask which summer camp you would choose if you had to spend a week at one or the other – a music or art camp or a silent retreat at a zen monastery?
Your answer to this question does not preclude my premise that humans are both creative as well as spiritual beings, but it does illustrate our diversity in appetite as well as expression. And for most of us, comfort and familiarity with dualistic thinking and communication.
What is the difference between creativity and spirituality?
Creativity is focused on ‘doing’ or producing something that is beautiful or provocative to the eye, ear, or palette.
An artist sees, touches, and feels things differently than someone who has never developed their creative potential.
Creativity is also a mindset, a way of observing life from different perspectives and allowing for diversity in expression.
Thus you may enjoy French cuisine and wear retro fashion to a rock concert and your neighbor wears a tux to the symphony before going out for hot dogs. There is no one box for creative expression.
On the other hand, spirituality is about ‘being.’ If you self-identify more as a monk instead of an artist you may be drawn to meditation, prayer, and reflection and be comfortable with silence and solitude.
I love to go on retreat by the ocean and listen to the waves crash against the rocks. I get up before sunrise just to be in the mystery of the coming of the Light. I live in a world of questions, and the older I get, the more the questions have no answers.
And I am learning to be comfortable just ‘living the questions.’
The problem of dualism
My circle of relationships included people with day jobs like farming, construction, and daycare and who seemed to live a double life practicing the flute or writing haiku on the weekends. They didn’t see themselves as artists any more than I thought of myself as a writer. I did not make my living publishing books (a “doing”). The trouble is,
I wasn’t living like a monk either, sitting in meditation most of the day and rising in the night for prayer.
Do you see how dualistic thinking quickly leads to judgment and blame?
Although I am contemplative by nature I have an inner artist in the same way that I have an inner child and an inner mountain climber. I can talk about these ‘parts’ as if they were separate and distinct and yet I am one. I am whole.
Some questions for further thought
I am whole. And I am part. — Part of a greater whole of all creation. I have inherited thoughts and feelings, innate wiring that impacts my perceptions, and desires. Not only that, I have been shaped and formed by the trees I sit under, the carrots I eat, and the sun overhead. I am all. I am nothing. Tich Naht Hahn calls it “interbeing.” And that comes as close as any word to my understanding of creation.
So what are you to make of my reflective ramblings? I don’t know. Perhaps if I offer you some questions you will explore your own life and discover something about yourself you hadn’t thought about before.
How do you express your creativity?
How do you live into your spirituality?
Do you experience these as separate or conjoined?
How do they reflect a full and meaningful life for you?
You may find it helpful to journal these questions. And I would love to hear your responses.
[Photo credits from Unsplash: messy-creativity-Alice-Dietrich; kneading-bread-Julian-Hochgesang; dualism-face-and-hands-Elijah-Hiett; crystal-ball-Yeshi-Kangrang; cup-of-tea-yaopey-yong]
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