It is common for people to pigeonhole creativity into a specific type of activity such as art, invention, or innovation. It is also common for people to say that there are creative “types” out there, those that seem to be inherently more creative than others. But from my own perspective, all of human activities share some component of creativity. Furthermore, when you take the perspective that creativity is our natural state, we can begin to see how it works on various levels of human existence, including our sensorial bodies, our conscious self-aware minds, and our ineffable and far-reaching spirits. In this two-part post, I will look at how creativity manifests in art, science, and religion and how these three broad human activities can be tied to our physical bodies, our minds, and our spirits.
My working definition of creativity is as follows: 1) to connect with the world and 2) to affect the world in a meaningful way. Connecting with the world involves transcending habit and experiencing in a way that is fresh and enlivening, making way for what I call, ” the experience of insight.” Affecting the world in a meaningful way involves taking the experience of insight and translating it in some way so that it can be shared with others. Affecting the world in a meaningful way is what I call “manifestation.” Together the experience of insight and manifestation lead individuals and collaborative groups to bring new and enlivening things into the world.
Furthermore, as human beings we have three basic ways through which we engage the world. Those ways are 1) our senses 2) our thoughts (including thoughts about how we perceive ourselves) and 3) our spirit (our direct transrational, trans-sensorial connection with the world around us). The reality is that these three ways of engaging the world are happening all the time, but experientially, we tend to notice one of them as dominant in any given situation. For example, when we are eating, we are engaging the world in a primarily sensorial manner, when we are taking a test, or mulling something over in our head, we are using our thoughts, and when we are in meditation, or witnessing the birth of a child, or the death of a loved one, our experience tends to be more spiritual.
Next time I will tie this whole thing together, showing the web of interconnectedness between art, science, and religion that occurs in every creative undertaking. Stay tuned!