CREATION IS DIVINE

If you believe in any sort of higher power, creation as an act of divinity is not that tall of an ask. The very first story in the Bible, as a low-hanging fruit (pun) example, is the creation story. This is no coincidence. Our first interaction with this divine text is one of creation. The oldest story that we have, Homer’s Odyssey, begins with the invocation to the Muse, asking for Something Beyond to aid the journey. Creation is a divine act.

God created something from nothing. This act breaks logic and science, which states somewhere, I believe, the second law of thermodynamics: energy cannot be created or destroyed. Creation brings about something that did not exist before into the world. OK, so you say that the paint from the can just got thrown down on the page, arranged in a particular way, that is all painting is. On one level, I may agree with you, but what about the significance and meaning that painting brings to its audience? I have been drawn to tears looking at a painting on multiple occasions. This arrangement created emotion and added to the human experience. Those Legos are arranged in a particular way such that they bring joy ot the user. Something happened there that did not exist before. How is this not divine?

Let us explore the converse. One of the greatest poems ever written, Dante’s Inferno, describes the center of hell not as a fiery cave, but an ice-cold layer. Satan is frozen in ice. Inaction and non-creation. Very little movement. I have heard that the opposite of love is not hatred, but indifference. At least hatred is an action. Non-creation and stagnation are the Devil’s work.

One of my favorite phrases of late is ‘The Kingdom of God is Within’. Based on the above conversation, creation, and therefore divinity, is within us. All we have to do is bring it out.

LEGOS: a love story

Legos are the perfect symbol of the shift to a culture of consumption that we have found ourselves in. Instead of the beloved rectangle and square, and single brick shapes (in a total of 5 colors), we now have specialty sets for the kids to build. That is great for following directions, and the end product does look beautiful. But the Star Wars X-Wing fighter used to be creatively represented by making due with what we had, envisioning the shape, and executing that thought on the Lego table. And then adjusting the shape from there.

In my studio, which I share with my children, there are thousands of Lego pieces. Some of which are assembled cars, boats, houses that reside on shevles, never to be played with again. Once again, it really does look neat having the Batmobile and a Jeep sitting on the shelf.

But I am most proud of the multicolored tower that my son and daughter worked together on that sits on the Lego table. This one came from their minds. Granted, it is orthogonal and nothing architecturally crazy, but the thought that they put into it is incredible. The details inside include parts from various sets, some of which make perfect sense, and some of it is a bit of a stretch. But that is the entire point. And they tinker and play and add and subtract from the basic set. It is more organic than the endorsed sets. In the end, what are we teaching our kids? To follow directions or to make their own rules? That is not such a black and white answer, but I tend to think that seeing what new minds can create is the better path.

consumption /kən-sŭmp′shən/

We obviously consume too much in our society.

Just look at the screen time we spend on a daily basis. And when I say we, I mean me. Last week, I averaged 4 hours on my phone a day. In my defense, some of this is not doom-scrolling or social media time. I listen to podcasts and music that take up most of the battery life. But not all. I am not thinking about or analyzing the content that I take in.

My thesis is to shift our focus from mind-numbingly consuming media to consuming it with the intent to inform our creation.

When we are consuming things without intent, we are not creating. That is just a fact. One cannot watch the Kardashians and paint the Mona Lisa at the same time.

I am not asking to go into a cave and create your work. You have to consume as a part of the system. That is just how things work. If you do not consume, in fact, you will die. But we live in an age of over-consumption. Obesity is now the number one killer in America. We are over-consuming our bodies to death with junk food, and over-consuming our souls with junk media.

I think a good question to ask yourself as you consume is: Is this informing my goals, or is it taking away from them? And sometimes you just need an escape from things. Everything that you consume need not be Tolstoy or nonfiction or bland material. Just shift the mentality to consume with intention.

create /krē-āt′/ (verb)

I think a couple of definitions would be helpful. What does it mean to create? I would propose to the reader that we use this one: “to manifest an idea or feeling from your mind to reality”. Manifest is an extremely important part of this definition. I have had countless ideas never executed upon. They all died in my head, a graveyard museum filled with works of art and engineering. Make means action. Even if it is just getting it on a sketchpad, a voice memo, or a journal that no one will see. The process of having an idea leave your body may be the better definition of what I am trying to portray.

We are too passive in today’s society. The Others tell us what to think and how to act, even what to do. This leads to manipulation and the death of sovereignty. Creation means that we can think and act for ourselves. We do not need to be told what to do - we can do it for ourselves.

This idea can be physical as well. An idea of running a 5k, of lifting a weight, a dance, or making love. These all require us to be proactive. Far too often, we are told that creativity itself is something that should be reserved to the fine arts. That if I can’t draw a banana or a circle or the Mona Lisa that I am not creative. Fuck that. Every person alive has the ability to create. It is our God given right; I would argue that it is what separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. Even AI, our lord and savior. I believe it is not only our right, it is our duty to create, our obigation to this gift bestowed upon us.

CAVEATS AND INTENTION

Let me get this out of the way, up front just so we are in agreement with this project:

This is my opinion. Although I may come back with academic studies, this is not a scientific body of work. Also, I am working out this opinion as I head forward into the fray. So fact checking is going to be a pointless exercise.

I am not perfect, nor is this work. My opinions are probably mostly wrong. And I do not practice what I preach on a daily basis, although it is getting better. Part of that is a self-value and Catholic guilt stemmed from my work life balance situation of my own family. I need to get over that.

A basic outline will be followed but I am going to organically explore topics. There may be some jumping back and forth.

The intent of this project is to motivate one or more persons to live life more creatively. I dedicate this work to my children, who hopefully will benefit from this. Maybe one day they can look back and read this as a parent themselves, and it will help them in some form. This is also my permission slip to explore the life that I have always wanted to live.

HELLO, WORLD

This is a project that has been on my mind for quite some time, although I did not know how to quite get all the thoughts down out of my head. On a recent trip back home, my mentor mentioned in conversation that the biggest differentiator between the folks that are in the upper echelon of their respective fields and the remaining folks comes down to two factors: education and digging deeper.

This will be an attempt at a treatise, the thesis being an equation: create > consume. Create more than consume. Now, more than any time in history, I think this is critical for humanity as we move forward. I think it is critical for the individual and the collective. Creation takes on many forms, which I would like to explore. Who knows will this will lead to, but at least it is an execution…

I intend to explore the topic of creation, give historical and modern context, and discuss what creation means as a father and someone who rediscovered its power later in life. If I impact one person towards a better version of themselves, it will be worth the effort. Even if that someone is me. No formal structure, just an exploration. Onward.