Our linear, Western minds always think we have it all figured out. The truth is (since creative process is the central theme of life), we don’t. Somehow, it’d be nice to find a way to shift away from the mind’s desire to stay on some sort of safe, linear track…..and embrace (and enjoy!) the creative ride of unexpected possibility.
Social Change
The way we see the world either limits or enlarges the scope of our own being.
The oscillation in human consciousness that moves from the center of the soul to the far edges of the known universe does not stop anywhere but travels outward and inward continuously, forming one field of perception. And at the heart of this process…there is a quiet but constant reciprocity; the great mystery in the geography of perception is that the way you see the world will either enlarge or limit the scope of your own being.
Susan Griffin, Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy
Inspiration vs. information
In addition to being delighted by our new president-elect, I am delighted by the creative visions and voices that have emerged throughout the campaign and afterwards. People are on fire. I love it. Early on before the primaries, the syndicated columnist and political commentator Mark Shields pointed out a major difference between Hillary and Barack: Information versus inspiration. “If you’re looking for information, you want Hillary; if you’re looking for inspiration you want Obama.” In my opinion, inspiration is much more important than information.
Information is dry, dead. There is no energy to it. You can always have information. You can’t always have inspiration. Inspiration must be cultivated. We have to continually create conditions where inspiration can live, breathe, and thrive. And without inspiration, we have nothing. No change, no life, no transformation, no creativity. Life is flat, one-dimensional. Nothing happens without it.
Since you’ve probably already read Alice Walker’s letter to Obama that has been floating around the internet, I’ll just provide some of my favorite snippets: “…you [Barack] alone are not responsible for bringing the world back to balance…cultivate happiness in your own life…We are used to seeing men in the White House soon become juiceless and as white-haired as the building; we notice their wives and children looking strained and stressed. They soon have smiles so lacking in joy that they remind us of scissors.” (love that line!) She ends with: “And your smiles, with which we watch you do gracious battle with unjust characterizations, distortions and lies, is that expression of healthy self-worth, spirit and soul, that, kept happy and free and relaxed, can find an answering smile in all of us, lighting our way, and brightening the world.”
This is inspiration. It’s passed from one person to the next. May it continue to thrive.
Creative emergence is non-linear
There are two forces at work, as complexity science demonstrates: habit and creativity. Nature has laws that perpetuate existing patterns and forms (habits), but nature also evolves, bringing forth ever new and unexpected possibilities through a non-linear process called creative emergence.
-Joan Borysenko, The Huffington Post
Every year I’m drawn to attend the annual Bioneers conference, where social activists, environmentalists, and scientists gather to share inspiration and information. Bioneers look to the natural world for innovative solutions to human problems. (In the last decade, this process has become a science called “biomimicry.” for the latest on biomimicking sharks, among other things.)
While the bioneers study the natural world for solutions to environmental and scientific problems, we can also look to nature for guidance on human development and evolution. For example, one important quality of our natural world is that it is “generatively” creative, i.e., always evolving by bringing forth new and unexpected possibilities. That’s what we humans want to do, as well. We are naturally creative beings, immersed in a non-linear process of creative emergence, just like the natural world. The difference is that we humans have this innately creative process at the core of our being, while trying to live in a linear world.
It may sound kind of challenging, but I’m sure we can do it…let the creative emerge, as it naturally wants to.
Spaciousness creates real change
This coming winter I’m teaching Psychology of Metaphor at the Institute of Imaginal Studies. In December of 2006, I was interviewing with the Director of IIS and he asked me what I wanted to teach. I found myself blurting out, “Metaphor.” But the truth was, I didn’t know anything about metaphor as an academic subject, and I’m certainly not a linguist. Spirit was speaking through me…Spirit knew that developing and teaching a class on metaphor would open up a whole new world for me. And it has done that.
We typically think of metaphors as simply being some sort of slick linguistic device, but what a metaphor does is link two unlike things together in a way where we are able to get a new perspective or understanding about the matter. When we are exploring something new or unknown, we have to use metaphorical language because it’s the only way we can describe our experience. (For example, we may describe life as a journey, or refer to a relationship as being “in over my head.”) Metaphors bring us into what I call aesthetic space or third space, where we can see deeper connections, gaining fresh wisdom from the association. Metaphors create aesthetic space and aesthetic space is necessary for human development. In short, without aesthetic space we can’t grow and evolve.
In graduate school I was fascinated by a book titled Free Spaces: The Source of Democratic Change in America. In their book, authors Sara Evans and Harry Boyte talk about how political movements are formed by having “free spaces” (voluntary associations from churches to social clubs to civic groups) where people can congregate, connect and talk with one another. When you think about it, the only way new things can come in to our lives is if we have the space to receive it. Space is actually what creates real change, don’t you think?