I Close My Eyes in Order to See!

Robert Fritz begins in his book, Creating, saying, “Many of us have the suspicion  that there is much more to life than what we have been led to expect. Perhaps our lives are filled with secret possibilities—possibilities that there are dimensions to ourselves, depths of our being, and heights to our aspirations that are lurking just below the surface.”

We each have the urge to do something that matters to us. Perhaps we exist only  as shadows of our future selves, and this subtle yet persistent force nagging at our consciousness—to be a creator, to be one who brings into existence creations that previously lived only in our inner thoughts.

This deep longing to create resides within the soul of humanity. Beyond our basic instincts for survival which includes fulfilling such needs as food, warmth,water, and air— we also have a natural instinct for building, organizing,  forming, and creating.

Webster defines creativity as ” creative ability; artistic or intellectual inventiveness.” Webster tells us that the word  create means ” to originate; to bring into being from nothing: to cause to exist. In other words, when we talk about creating we are talking about causality—that is causing something to exist that did not previously exist.

The creative process has had more impact, power and influence than any other process in history. Consider all of the inventions, the arts, architecture, and the amazing technological age we now live in as a result of the creative process.We have experienced so much innovation and growth in our lifetime.

It is the reason why research scientists once teamed up with school age children to consider ways to save the California coast from slipping off into the ocean. In many educational environments, the creative process of art, music, dance and drama are seen as nice extracurricular activities that broadens a child’s horizons. Too many times educators are forced into thinking that learning to create is more “fluff” rather than being the centerpiece of education.

” To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” Joseph Chilton Pearce

As the world becomes more competitive—it would be an error to misunderstand the power of the creative process not only in the world but in our individual lives as well. The creative process —a power able to generate new technologies,medical breakthroughs, transportation, film, music, painting, fashion, cuisine, robotics, healthier lives and environments and so much more.

” Why should we all use our creative power? Because there is nothing that makes people so generous, joyful, lively, bold and compassionate, so indifferent, to fighting and the accumulation of objects and money. ” Brenda Ueland

Can creativity be taught? Can creating be learned? Yes. Creativity is a skill that can be learned and mastered by people from all walks of life and from all backgrounds. One can learn to create just as easily as they can learn to  drive their car, swim, or work on a computer.When creative skills are used in music, painting or acting or dance—the result is art. When creative skills are used in technology—the result is innovation and invention. When creative skills are used in business—the results are production. When creative skills are used in relationship—the results are a deep and abiding love. When creative skills are used to build a life—the results are increased vitality, adventure and expansion. Creating can be just as important to the  manager as it is to the  artist, just as powerful to the organization as to the individual.

” You need to claim the events of your life to make yourself yours.” Anne-Wilson Schaef

When your life itself becomes the subject matter of the creative process, a very different experience of life opens to you. Suddenly you are involved with life at it’s very essence. When this happens, your experience of time changes. Tastes, colors, touches, and sounds are experienced more deeply. You begin to experience important life events as having more vitality and life, while being able to appreciate small events as lovely and poetic and precious. You may even discover that you love your life even though you may not have loved all the events that have transpired in your life. These newly deepened experiences are the outgrowth of living life at a different level of involvement. Awareness of the creative processes can produce amazing results. Each of our lives can benefit from more involvement in the creative processes. Perhaps your life is filled with secret possibilities that you never until now imagined.

” Creativity is God’s gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God.” Julia Cameron

Recommended Readings:

Vein of Gold, Julia Cameron, Another great book designed to inspire the artist in everyone and present tasks to involve the reader in “”inner play”" that can lead to artistic growth.

The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron. One of my very favorite books,this is the seminal book on the subject of creativity.

Creating, Robert Fritz, A practical guide to the creative process and how to use it  to create anything from a work of art , a loving relationship, or a more fulfilling life.

Creativity, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, This book is a first hand account about creativity from  the history of people who have lived with creative experiences in their own lives.

Felipe's path on a country journey!

” I have always known that I would take this road,but yesterday I did not know that it would be today.“Narihara

Life is a journey. Alongwith any journey comes the desire to want to write it down. As author Christina Baldwin states,” writing makes a map, and there is something about a journey that begs to have its passage marked.” For some their entire lives are recorded on the pages of a diary, for others images and colors reveal to the rest of the world what transpired through their artistic images. However we choose to express our ideas, we bear witness to our experiences, we share our questions and the insights that come from questioning.

My teaching life was spent in this quest to assist others in expressing ideas as they came to pass.  Ideas expressed in both art and in written words. It made for an extraordinary life spent over three decades with young people in several high schools with others who shared both the love of learning, teaching and a concern for the students under our supervision.

What was realized in addition to how incredible all of these devoted people were was that we also share a spiritual journey like a trip we are all taking together. You may be in a bookstore, in a restaurant or sitting somewhere reading this on your  smart phone or computer. Whatever else you are doing or identify yourself as doing, you are somewhere in the middle of your own spiritual quest. This spiritual quest is that part of life which is the path within the path. “Spirituality is the sacred center out of which all life comes,” including dreaded Mondays,rainy days in all their glorious details.

During the many years of teaching, sometimes life got in the way of a lesson plan. Oftentimes life was too much to bear for the young people or myself and upsets and “time out” from the curriculum was necessary. More often than not when things began moving into a new direction, as an educator you had to think on your feet. This approach is one of a  “reflective practitioner.” What was discovered that “inner whispers” oftentimes lead me in the direction that worked.

Imagine walking down a path and experiencing other people along the way, participating in everything along the way. You notice your actions both near and far, you interact with people and deal with obstacles and upsets. This is the “walker” or the action part of you living your life.

Now imagine a mirrored path running parallel to this path you are walking. This mirrored path reflects your feelings, thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs about whatever is happening in your life. This is the “watcher” or the reflective self.

We each have this capacity of a dual life.Together these two selves ( walker/watcher, action/reflection) create consciousness: the awareness of ourselves within our own existence. Consciousness is  like a second birth and is our ability to reflect and wonder. Consciousness is our life’s companion, the company that each of us keep with ourselves. There came a time in my art teaching career that making the art was coupled with writing about making the art. The depth of knowledge revealed to both myself and my students  was phenomenal.

Writing allows us to sort, act and reflect on paper. This written documentation over time allows us to respect the mind, to choose among and to harness our thoughts and to change the content of who we think we are. That is the most amazing part of this shared spiritual journey that we can experience shifts in who we think we are, followed by a corresponding change in what we believe ourselves capable of doing. This site will offer structures for making this journey. The paths will lead in and out and around creating a spiral. My own spiral lead me in and out of many books, to many teachers, experimenting with many forms of art, writing, affirmations, meditation and prayer. Your path will  be different than mine. This is not a prescription for one particular way, instead allowing for different seekers.

Through writing we connect our journeys to a multitude of life travelers, we learn from each other and yet we have to make our own way. This shared  journey shared may look like many ways to make art. In reality it is more about the many ways we can make our lives into a work of art. Here’s is sharing our journey in creating lives that up until now we only dreamed about.

Recommended Reading:

1. Life’s Companion, Journal Writing as a Spiritual Quest by Christina Baldwin.
2. Simple Abundance, A Day Book of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach
3. The Artist’s Way, A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron