More on creativity

I’ve always wanted to be a writer.

I have written, of course. In my professional life, I’ve penned legal documents and memos, organizational reports, and consulting recommendations. I’ve authored detailed plans for strategic planning and captured the consensus of conflicted parties in mediation. I have published a few professional articles and authored a substantial portion of a legal reference book and edited its updates over a seven year period. And if you’re reading this, you’ve seen my Substacks.

But I cannot fully claim the title of writer . . . yet, even though the dream remains.

How can anyone create something truly new and unique? Journalists do it by capturing the story that is unfolding in real time around them. Historians do it through careful research and uncovering new perspectives to shine light on the past. Fiction writers plumb the depths of their imaginations to bring us stories that trigger new pleasures, inspirations, or even terrors.

In every category, creativity pushes itself forward as that one force that leads to productivity. And before you comment, let me hasten to add that I’ve read countless works on how to write. The most frequent recommendation is to simply do it. Sit down and write. Something. Anything. Do it consistently. Eventually, you will come up with something worth rewriting and editing and writing again.

In her book, The Call to Create: Celebrating Acts of Imagination, Dr. Linda Leonard gives credence to that work ethic. Yet, she stops along the way to acknowledge the barriers to creativity.

In the beginning of transformation — whether in personal life or in creative work — people sometimes feel alone, lost, and disoriented. When we create, we enter into uncharted territory. We may fear that imagination will fail us or that we will not be able to find the trail markers that we need to write, paint, choreograph, or create the next phase in our daily lives . . .

The anxiety that can seize us in the wilderness when we fear to enter or when we are lost in dense forest as darkness descends it like the anxiety that can overwhelm us at the start of creative life. I may fear that I have nothing to contribute or that I will not be able to express my vision in an inspiring and beautiful way. But if I dare to put that first word down on paper or take the first step on a new phase of my life, I feel the flow of fantasy and imagination arising from unknown places within, a force far more powerful than my mistrusting mind and as potent as the mysterious moods of nature . . .

If there was ever a time in our history, we need creative wisdom now. In an earlier post, I wrote of my discovery of the elements of creativity that are readily within our grasp. Often those elements have already been ordered or set in front of us as examples to explore as we build on them to create something new.

Yet, good things aren’t necessarily the exclusive ancestors to fresh ideas and innovative solutions. Sometimes our greatest sparks of creativity are generated in glimpses of chaos and disorder. Indeed, even negative experiences can be instructive in building insight and desire to move to a better place. Dr Leonard continues:

Finding heart and passion within oneself is at the core of creative life and bids us to develop the courage to be compassionate with ourselves and others as we create. Responding to the call to create is not an isolated act. Creativity entails conversations with all beings in the wild and wondrous weaving of relationships that is the cosmos.

I am troubled by the madness of the world around us. It’s chaos. We would find it easy to walk away and resign ourselves to the defeat of the human spirit suffocated by the mire and negativity that seems to explode exponentially.

Sunrise over the garbage heap. AI generated.

Until we remember that we have the God-given ability to create . . . from order and from chaos. Remember Dr. Leonard’s phrase: the call to create is not an isolated act.

If I was meant to be a writer, I must connect with others. If you are to be a painter or a composer, your inspiration and drive must push beyond your personal needs. If we are to be architects for a better world, we must pull together the elements around us to tell new stories, plant new ideas, and unveil greater visions. And if you are already creating, thanks in advance for sharing those talents with the rest of us. As has often been said, we are better together.

Put that first word on paper, that first stroke of brush to the canvas, that first note on the musical staff. And between words and strokes and notes, converse with others. That give-and-take is the glue of creation. And quite possibly the key to a better world for us all.