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REACTIVE VS. CREATIVE.
Take a look at those words. They are made of the same exact letters. What a difference flipping a couple letters can be!
(This is a continuation of my last post – one based on a talk I gave at CEA in South Bend, IN recently.)
This is just a gut observation – not a scientific study or anything – but I feel like one of the larger shifts in society is that we are more reactive and less creative.
I am sure someone could build a case for the creative activities of the newer generations. That said, let’s look at “kids these days.” For one, kids are hyper-programmed. Instead of some made-up game in the yard, they are carted around to organized soccer and the like. They don’t need to creatively negotiate and collaborate and invent the rules of the game because there are adults present telling them their parameters. Meanwhile, time that would have been spent (”when I was a kid”) creatively making up stories with clay characters or plastic figures in the sandbox is now spent reacting to a video game screen.
How about adults? Here are some things I would consider creative: gardening, cooking, note writing, hospitality – not to mention the obvious areas of the arts. Have all of the “time saving” devices removed a level of creativity from our day to day?
The other thing that seems to happen as we grow older is we develop a set of filters. These filters tell us we aren’t creative. Now it is true some of us come by our creativity more easily, but this is still strange to me. In so many other areas of life there are clear differences in skill sets. My awful golf swing doesn’t keep me from playing. Bad driving doesn’t keep a whole lot of people off the streets! And pretty much anyone and everyone seem ready to be experts in politics, education and sports refereeing. Yet we don’t like putting ourselves out there creatively. Something says, “don’t do it.”
Stay tuned for some thoughts on how to get past those filters. Joel
I was off to Chicago the last couple of days to do photography for a fashion catalog client that I have had over the past few years. All went very well…they were long days with quite a few shots to accomplish but my crew pulled together (as usual) and the art director was pleased. Drove back late at night to Holland in the torrential rains the whole way but funny how when your faith is in the Lord he gets you home safely. Barry
I was recently at CEA (Christian Educators Association) in South Bend, Indiana, talking to a room full of teachers about making space in their lives to be creative, and making space in their classrooms for their kids to be creative. I began with this simple premise:
For me, it starts “in the beginning”. In the beginning God created. Then God made people. In God’s image. What do we know about God by that point? Well, God is creative and God is relational are two big ones that jump out to me. That serves as a starting point for me. It tells me that we are all creative. It tells me that we should do things in relation (for) others. That certainly is enough reason for me to want to make stuff. I’ll add that I find confirmation in this simple theological idea in that when I lose myself in creativity I find joy. I especially find joy when I share that creativity with others.
I see the joy of creating and of sharing the creation in my little girl. She dives into a drawing with 3 year-old abandon. Every drawing or sparkle-glue-blob is then designated for someone. Often it is folded up (wrapped) and presented as a birthday gift (I get my birthday celebrated weekly as a result).
Occasionally, these drawings get poked with holes or cut up or ripped up and I see 3 year-old abandon in destruction – but that’s the next part of Genesis, right?
For the moment, I’ll take pleasure in the “airplane” she created for my wife the other day, the giant turtle we drew together, and the tallest Noah’s Ark ever that she made in the tub with these awesome Discovery Toys shapes she sticks on the wall.
What I always ask the groups I talk with is this: what happens? What happens to that 3 year-old abandon? What causes the filters to go up? We’ll talk more about that in my next post. Joel
The experience at artprize was well worth the effort…as I met numerous new people who were quite appreciative regarding my painting. It is so encouraging to see Grand Rapids turn into an art mecca virtually overnight. Barry