It Never Dies

A colleague recently said "my creativity died for awhile, but I think its coming back to life". This stuck in my mind because so many people think they lose their creativity, sometimes considered their muse. 

But the reality is that creativity never dies. Its always inherent in each and every one of us. What dies is our desire to bring it forth within ourselves. 

I consider creativity to be a force all its own. We joke and say "the force is with us" without ever realizing that its true. This transcendent ability permeates us all. Many turn their backs on it. Some only use it in small limited ways. Others consider it their life goal to make it a part of themselves in every facet of their being.
"But Grey, all this metaphysical crap doesn't help me to understand it."

Your right, it doesn't. We tend to cloak mysterious powers in mysterious language. But it is a simple fact that the most mysterious things in our universe tend to be right in front of our eyes the whole time. The problem is, that its so commonplace that we totally forget it exists. 

Take for example a house you live in. How often do you give consideration to those who lived in it before you? Or how about those who may live in it after you are long gone? The house is so commonplace that we give it no consideration at all except to say "I live here, its my space".

The result? The house becomes so ordinary that we do not consider it to have its own life that stretches before we arrived and after we are gone. 

Creativity is so ordinary, that we have forgotten its a part of all us. We forget to look at where it came from within us or where it can take us in the years to come. So what do we do instead? We create mysticism around it and use unusual terms because its the only way we can grasp something that is right before our very nose.

What does that leave us with? Is it mystical or is it commonplace? Is it both? The answer is yes. 

Yes it is a mystical power. I tend to think that a lot of religions have crept up because ourselves misinterpreted that creativity early on to be something godly. Its not, its us. Its who we are and what we can be if we just open our eyes and start using it. 

There are many ways to do this. Many paths to the same goal of attaining the highest level of creativity we can. I attain it by refusing to see the commonplace around me. I try to always see my world through a lens of strangeness. 

This is something that most of us are taught absolutely not to do. From our very early years we are told in a million ways to blend in, be like everyone else, wish for the things everyone else has. 

"Do you see that blue tree?" 

"Are you crazy? There is no blue tree"

"But I see it. Can't you?"

"No, and you need to have your head examined if you do."

When I was in high school, there was a boy in my theater class who told everyone he was from Mars. It wasn't just a fantasy. He told everyone the same thing and refused to acknowledge he was not a Martian. He was shunned, he was labeled a trouble maker, he was sent to counseling many times. And everyone around him learned once again that looking at the world in a different way was inherently evil and we should never do it. I liked that boy. His reality taught me a lot about my reality and it taught me to not fear the unusual. 

Now that I am in my 50's, I surround myself with the unusual and try very hard to stop my mind in its tracks when it refuses to consider another path. 

This is the first step towards a truly creative path in life.  From here all doors open up to us. 

"Is it really that simple?" 

Yes, it really is. Its like going through a revolving door where you exit on the other side and there is a whole new world waiting for you. 

When I release my inherent belief in a static universe where nothing changes, I have nothing to weigh down my ability to process ideas. The result is that I am more creative, produce more and use my imagination constantly. 

Consider again that house I mentioned earlier. When your mind is static, you see only the house you live in and your place within it. When your mind is open, you look at the house in a whole new way because you think to yourself, what will this house retain of me when I am gone? What of this house is retained from those who came before me? 

Now extend that, what will this neighborhood look like a hundred years from now? What did it look like a hundred years ago? Let this  permeate everything about you and your outlook at on life. 

This is where not only the creative path lays, but surrounding yourself with this mystical force that so many do not understand. 

To live a static life of comfort where nothing changes? Or to live a wild life where everything around you does, could and will change. This is reality. Its so real that its right in front of you and you close your eyes to it. 

We strive so hard to keep everything stagnant that we totally lose our ability to leap off the cliff and challenge the world. What happens to our world and everyone's world if we change our point of view and eliminate the static universe? 

We then have the ability to reinvent the universe and ourselves within it. That is creativity. 

~Grey~