Creating
I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. Michelangelo
Gregg’s Reflection
When I encounter an atheist, this is how I describe God: I think every created thing, every song ever written, every painting, every building, every idea, comes from tapping into a flow of energy from another dimension. (And I haven’t found anyone disagreeing.) John Lennon said he never wrote a song, he just tapped into the source. As a Christian, I call that energy Grace, and the source God. Living School faculty Cynthia Bourgeault says,
We are downloading the eternal into the now. There is tremendous exchange between the realms.
In the ‘90’s, my brother Travis and I studied Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline, and went about turning our business into a learning organization using Senge’s work as a road map. I encountered my mentor Dr Charlotte Roberts, one of Senge’s partners at Innovation Associates, when we brought her down to teach Leadership and Personal Mastery to our team.
Charlotte has remained a mentor to me to this day. As I said in my post on Setting Intentions, She defines Personal Mastery in this way:
Personal mastery is the discipline of employment and engagement of self to create desired results in a consistent fashion. What do we mean by employment? Employment means I literally take action. However, I can employ myself in my work and not be engaged. Engagement means I bring my passion, my energy, and my full self to the work.
The tool of Personal Mastery is the tension chart. We used this tool to build our business through three rounds of visioning, and I created my second career and calling using this tool.
Senge created Robert Fritz with developing the discipline of Personal Mastery. After selling the business, I studied with Fritz three years, getting certified as a Structural Organizational Consultant. In Your Life as Art, Fritz tells us:
Building and maintaining structural tension in our lives takes two skills: Envisioning the results you want, and evaluating your current reality objectively. Structural tension is a way of life.
Orientation is a way of describing where you spend most of your time...Structural tension is not only a technique, but also a way of life that is deeply integrated within. It is internalized and assimilated into the consciousness. The more deeply internalized, the more you are able to negotiate the currents….As you begin to internalize structural tension, the mechanics and orientation feed each other as you move towards mastering your creative process.
As you internalize the vision and the current reality, structural tension becomes a more powerful dynamic force. Your actions become more motivated, and you become more inventive about your process. It seems as if your whole being is aligned and working together on behalf of the full manifestation of the vision.
Fritz speaks about the mystical dimension to internalizing structural tension. He tells us,
Coincidences begin to occur regularly….Things begin to fall into place as if the universe were on your side, helping to move you toward your goals...No matter how skeptical you may be, it will happen anyway...When structural tension is internalized, strange and wonderful things can happen that help you create your vision.
As you wade deeper into creating, another wonderful idea I learned from Charlotte Roberts was ‘What wants to happen?’ I recently asked Charlotte to expand on this idea which I have used hundreds of times in my coaching and consulting. She said:
It comes from Meg Wheatley as a way to get folks to think about living systems. Because they’re alive, living systems are in constant change and chaos with strange attractors that redirect intention and attention. Living systems oscillate between chaos and order. So to plan the future of your org or family, you have to look out in the environment and inside human consciousness to see trends of what is trying to emerge. Our conversation about hate that is all over the planet — what wants to happen? Another world war? The fight against evil? Avoiding being personally responsible by having a “Strong” leader?
A key piece of structural work is learning to see reality clearly. I find that has been a tremendous help in my spiritual journey, as contemplation gave me ‘eyes to see’ more deeply into reality, and to realize the distortions in which I had been living. If you misdiagnose reality, you will be very unlikely to reach the vision you seek. The Iceberg is a great analogy for a full comprehension of reality:
Come along on a journey into Creating, from Scripture, the saints and mystics, to the modern ideas of Rick Rubin and Robert Fritz. Blessings.
Creating
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Journaling Prompts
How would life change if you began to set a clear vision of a desired future, and took an unflinching look at the reality vis a vis that vision? How do you keep from falling into a victim mentality, where all power is in the circumstances, and you are powerless to create change? What do you desire to create in your life over the next season?
Scripture
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light”, and their was light.
Genesis 1:1-2
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
Psalm 139:13-14
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding not one can fathom!
Isaiah 40:28
Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.
Jeremiah 32:17
He builds his lofty palace in the heavens and sets its foundation on the earth; he calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land—the Lord is his name.
Amos 9:6
For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Romans 11:36
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here!
2 Corinthians 5:17
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10
For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.
Hebrews 3:4
Ancient Writings
Because God has made us for Himself, our hearts are restless until they rest in him.
St. Augustine
The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. Whatever you think you can do, or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, power and grace.
And in this he showed me a little thing, the quantity of a hazel nut, lying in the palm of my hand, as it seemed. And it was as round as any ball. I looked upon it with the eye of my understanding, and thought, ‘What may this be?’ And it was answered generally thus, ‘It is all that is made.’ I marveled how it might last, for I thought it might suddenly have fallen to nothing for littleness. And I was answered in my understanding: It lasts and ever shall, for God loves it. And so have all things their beginning by the love of God.
In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it. The second that God loves it. And the third, that God keeps it.
Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love
I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free. Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it. The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.
Michelangelo, who felt the sculptor's job is to reveal the statue that is already present in the stone. Michelangelo's most famous sculpture is David, which was carved from marble that his contemporaries considered to be "unworkable".
Modern Writings
I understood that every flower created by Him is beautiful, that the brilliance of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do not lessen the perfume of the violet or the sweet simplicity of the daisy. I understood that if all the lowly flowers wished to be roses, nature would no longer be enamelled with lovely hues. And so it is in the world of souls, our Lord's living garden.
St. Thérèse of Lisieux, who considered her self a little wildflower on Jesus’ path
I’ve come to appreciate that one of the gifts of artists is the ability to see the world as it really is….If we could only see reality more as it is, it would become obvious what we need to do. We would do exactly what is required of us, right now, right here.
Peter Senge, Introduction to Synchronicity by Jaworski
You can’t use up creativity, the more you use, the more you have.
Maya Angelou
You can be cautious or you can be creative, but there’s no such thing as a cautious creative.
George Lois, Influential Ad Creative
Creation is thus God's presence in creatures. The Greek Orthodox theologian Philip Sherrard has written that "Creation is nothing less than the manifestation of God's hidden Being." This means that we and all other creatures live by a sanctity that is inexpressibly intimate, for to every creature, the gift of life is a portion of the breath and spirit of God.
Wendell Berry, Christianity and the Survival of Creation, pg. 308.
The genius of a composer is found in the notes of his music; but analyzing the notes will not reveal his genius. The poet's greatness is contained in his words; yet the study of his words will not disclose his inspiration. God reveals himself in creation; but scrutinize creation as minutely as you wish, you will not find God, any more than you will find the soul through careful examination of your body.”
Anthony de Mello, Awakening: Conversations with the Masters
There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns.
Edward De Bono, Maltese Physician & Author
True happiness comes from the joy of deeds well done, the zest of creating things new.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Aviator
Creation is a process that is still happening and we’re in on it! We are a part of this endless creativity of God.
Richard Rohr
Once we know that the entire physical world around us, all of creation, is both the hiding place and the revelation place for God, this world becomes home, safe, enchanted, offering grace to any who look deeply. I call that deep and calm seeing contemplation.
Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ
Two thousand years ago marks the human incarnation of God in Jesus, but before that there was the first and original incarnation through light, water, land, sun, moon, stars, plants, trees, fruit, birds, serpents, cattle, fish, and “every kind of wild beast” according to the creation story in Genesis 1:3–25. This was the “Cosmic Christ” through whom “God has let us know the mystery of his purpose, the hidden plan he so kindly made from the beginning in Christ” (see Ephesians 1:9–10). Christ is not Jesus’ last name; it’s the title for his life’s purpose.
Richard Rohr, “Creation as the Body of God,” Radical Grace 23, no. 2, p. 3
We are downloading the eternal into the now. There is tremendous exchange between the realms.
Cynthia Bourgeault, Living School Teaching
The psyche has admittance to a universal wisdom deeper than what we can come up with in our conscious mind. It provides a far less limited view. An oceanic source.
We don't know how it works and we don't know why it works, yet many artists tap into something beyond themselves without recognizing the process at play, purely through accessing the subconscious.
Isolated places like a forest, a monastery, or a sailboat in the middle of the ocean are fine locations to receive direct transmissions from the universe.
If instead you want to tune in to the collective consciousness, you might sit in a busy spot with people coming and going and experience Source as filtered through humanity. This secondhand approach is no less valid.
Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being, p. 64, 69
Our thoughts, feelings, processes, and unconscious beliefs have an energy that is hidden in the work. This unseen, unmeasurable force gives each piece its magnetism. A completed project is only made up of our intention and our experiments around it. Remove intention and all that's left is the ornamental shell.
Though the artist may have a number of goals and motivations, there is only one intention. This is the grand gesture of the work.
It is not an exercise of thought, a goal to be set, or a means of commodification. It is a truth that lives inside you. Through your living it, that truth becomes embedded in the work. If the work doesn't represent who you are and what you're living, how can it hold an energetic charge?
Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being, p. 94
Our work embodies a higher purpose. Whether we know it or not, we're a conduit for the universe. Material is allowed through us. If we are a clear channel, our intention reflects the intention of the cosmos.
Most creators think of themselves as the conductor of the orchestra. If we zoom out of our small view of reality, we function more as an instrumentalist in a much larger symphony the universe is orchestrating.
Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being, p. 95
To see what no human has seen before, to know what no human has known before, to create as no human has created before, it may be necessary to see as if through eyes that have never seen, know through a mind that has never thought, create with hands that have never been trained.
This is beginner's mind one of the most difficult states of being to dwell in for an artist, precisely because it involves letting go of what our experiences have taught us.
Beginner's mind is starting from a pure childlike place of not knowing. Living in the moment with as few fixed beliefs as possible. Seeing things for what they are as presented. Tuning in to what enlivens us in the moment instead of what we think will work. And making our decisions accordingly.
Any preconceived ideas and accepted conventions limit what's possible.
We tend to believe that the more we know, the more clearly we can see the possibilities available. This is not the case. The impossible only becomes accessible when experience has not taught us limits.
There's a great power in not knowing. When faced with a challenging task, we may tell ourselves it's too difficult, it's not worth the effort, it's not the way things are done, it's not likely to work, or it's not likely to work for us.
If we approach a task with ignorance, it can remove the barricade of knowledge blocking progress.
Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being, p. 120
In the first phase of the creative process, we are to be completely open, collecting anything we find of interest. We call this the Seed phase. We’re looking for potential starting points that, with love and care, can grow into something beautiful!
Collecting seeds doesn’t involve a tremendous amount of effort, It’s more a receiving of a transmission. As with meditation, our engagement in the process is what allows the result. In this phase, the artist’s work is to collect seeds, plant them, water them with attention, and see if they take root. The appropriate seed will reveal itself over time.
It’s helpful to think of the work as bigger than us. To cultivate a sense of awe and wonder at what’s possible, and recognize that this productivity is not generated by our hand alone.
Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way Of Being p. 143-146
How do we measure success? Success occurs in the privacy of the soul. It comes in the moment you decide to release the work, before exposure to a single opinion. When you’ve done all you can to bring out the work’s greatest potential. When you’re pleased and ready to let go.
Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way Of Being p. 219
Robert Fritz, Your life as Art. I created this summary of the first two chapters to give you a taste of his work.
Art has the ability to bring order out of chaos. When you live your life as art, you open yourself to the spark you had when you were young...You can live quite nicely, move through life with ease, and have a sense that everything is going fairly well, and yet feel the lack of something important. I have seen so many lose the spark as they moved to middle age and beyond.
Change will be thrust upon you with greater and greater force until you let go….Change is often a kind of death followed by a resurrection. To create something new, something old must end.
Life itself is a creation, a work in progress, unfolding and revealing itself even as it is being created…..We are not always sensitive to the music, but the music is always there, ready to be heard.
The creative process fuses wisdom, spiritual depth, practical and strategic thought, learning, reaching, searching, discovery, imagination, structure, spontaneity, and passion into a total way of life that is rich with possibilities and experience….It is a play of forces, some of which we control and many of which we do not. It is an adventure and a journey, a state of being and unfoldment, human and Divine, timely and timeless.
What do serial creators have in common?
Clarity of vision and the ability to invent a means to serve that vision was central to each of these creators. The overall direction of your life tends to be a long term creation.
Therefore, a more formal and structured process is necessary to succeed….As we explore your life as art, we need to develop the skills of improvisation and the discipline of form and structure. These seemingly opposite approaches actually feed each other to the enrichment of both. Good strategy begins with easier steps that can generate a quick start, followed by more involved steps that deepen and broaden the project, followed by more complex steps that enable us to do those things that would have been highly unlikely or even impossible before the earlier steps were taken. One thing leads to another, and over time a life is built.
While this is organic development it is not mindless development. There is conscious thought, decisions, building, discipline, work, and commitment expressed in every stage of growth….In our own lives, some aspirations require a clear strategy….The best design in the world is useless unless we act upon it.
Often people plan but don’t act because they think they must be perfect before they act. They become paralyzed by the concept of perfection. In the practical life of the creator, adequate is adequate. Imperfect plans make films, build buildings, even fly rockets to the moon.
Planning is needed, but so is action….Your first actions put you in touch with the real world and form a feedback system….If you are in motion you you can more easily change direction than if you are standing still.
Let’s say we had high ambition but somewhere in our psyche we also had a deep-seated fear that if we succeeded something bad would happen...Success may cause unintended negative consequences….The right mechanics and spirit coupled with an unsuitable orientation will not succeed, even if you initially reach your goals.
One of the major shifts of orientation is from reacting or responding to circumstances to being generative and independent of those circumstances...We are taught that circumstances are the power in our lives and we should just learn how to deal...In the creative orientation, circumstances are not the dominant force. You are. Yes, circumstances are a factor, but are only the starting point….This shift from a circumstantial to a creative orientation is essential if you want to create your life as art.
There are those whose entire adult lives center around how they were victimized as children. But, they can’t live the lives they want from within the victim orientation. While many have suffered tragic pasts, not everyone who has is limited by the past. Yet they can learn how to go beyond the past and live in the present….Now is the only moment you have in which to create the future….The creative process is a fact of the current moment. You can’t go back in the past and create. And while you can prepare for the future now, you can’t reach into the future to create. The creative process happens in real time. The orientation that is needed is one in which we live in the present.
Some people have a flash of insight. They suddenly know exactly what they want. This is very rare. More often, ideas begin as little seeds, and then grow to a full vision of the result you desire. The vision of the outcome develops gradually over time.
For painters, the vision is both in the back of their minds and in the forefront of their focus. Likewise, when you create your life as art, your vision will be in the back of your mind. But also, you will at times focus directly on the vision with laser-like intensity.
Creators of all kinds learn to use contrast and discrepancy in their creative process. The major contrast they use is between their vision of the final result, and the current state of the project. When they do this, not only are they setting up a tension, they are setting up a structure
The spirit of structural tension comes from two of the most powerful forces there are in life: love and truth. The reason you create a result that you care about is that you love it enough to see it exist.
Try this Internal/External Exercise I learned from Fritz in the Fundamentals of Structural Thinking course:
Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and relax. Imagine that you have created many of your major goals, and imagine how you will experience life at that point. Use this thought experiment to define the inner experience you want to create.
Get a clear sense of your desired end result on the level of your inner experience. Focus on that experience. You may have a picture and a feeling tone, and a sense of the internal state that you want, whether it's visual or experiential. The main focus here is that you know what type of internal experience you would like to create.
Focus on your current internal experience in your life and begin to create structural tension between the desired state and your current state. Hold that structural tension for a few moments and as you do, realize that you are turning this over to your mind. You are giving your mind the job of producing this internal state in your life, no matter what the outward circumstances.
Hold that tension for a few moments more (10 seconds).
Take a deep breath, relax your focus, and when you're ready, open your eyes.
The Inner Sketch. While we have both an internal and an external life, our internal life is the far more important of the two. One can have wonderful surroundings, an affluent life style, good career opportunities, and other wonderful things in life, and still suffer insecurity, depression, lethargy, and hopelessness. On the other hand, one might not enjoy any of the benefits of a good material life, and still have peace of mind, involvement with life, and a sense of hope. External and internal conditions are independent from each other. And while we would want favorable conditions for both, let's understand that the internal counts more heavily than does the external in our overall experience of life.
How do you want your life to be far into the future from an internal perspective? What will be important to you? As you begin to form a picture of your future self, here are some things to consider: Your state of being, your level of interest in what you may be doing, the love you have in your life, your involvement with others, the way you spend your time, your health, your sense of direction, your relationship with yourself, your relationship with your circle of friends and community. You might consider other factors of your internal life, such as your sense of spiritual fulfillment, your sense of commitment to your deepest values, your sense of direction, and your sense of place.