Creativity and Faith...

[Dan Goodwin]

What part does faith play in your creative life?

I'm not talking exclusively about a spiritual or religious faith, though for some that's a significant element of creating, and life.

Do you have faith in your own abilities to create what you hope to create?

Do you have faith that given time, and space and the right attention that your creative projects will evolve exactly as they need to?

Do you have faith that there will be a receptive audience to what you create?

Do you have faith that you will always be able to create?

Share your thoughts to these questions and any other related ideas with us here...

[Susan Hosken]

DJ, I lost my creativity after I had a breakdown. All my creativity except my writing. I couldn't knit, cross stitch, couldn't garden or cook. Had to learn how to do it all over again. Getting a computer helped to switch it back on big time. WIth my mood swings I go into quiet times when I don't do my artist journals and I stop knitting. It is strange. It is definitely chemically driven the good old creativity.
Lots of love from susan in australia

[DJ]

Susan,
I'm so glad you regained your ability to create. All of your projects and the way you approach them is inspirational to us here at CCS. You seem so productive in your artistic activities that it's amazing that you go through quiet times when you stop knitting and don't journal.
I'm curious, Susan: When you go through quiet times, do you log on to CCS and talk with us? Or are you a bit too introspective to do that?
I don't want to miss having you around and discussing things with you, even if you aren't creating then. :-)
DJ

[Susan Hosken]

DJ, The greatest blessing of getting my computer is I do my emailing everyday. I am less into making comments on my quiet times but I am still in touch. My emailing friends and the sites I am on often inspire me in quiet and zippy times. I find it very healing and a great ministry. CCS has truly been life changing for me and still inspires me more than 2 years later.
Lots of love from susan in australia

[Dan Goodwin]

I agree with DJ, the sheer amount and variety of things you create is really inspiring Susan.

Dan

[Susan Hosken]

Dan,
How kind of you to remind me of how creative I now am in my life. I often forget!!!
That's what I love about CCS my friends here are always reminding me of how creative we all are and how we each inspire each other.
Lots of love from susan in australia

[Diane O]

Susan, your comment reminded me of the creative process I've had all my life. When things were stressful or unpleasant, I used my creativity as an escape whether it was writing, drawing or playing the piano. However, during super stressful events in my life, my creativity was numbed and it completely shut down. Being an artist means being sensitive I think, more so than the non-artists, so everything is felt much more acutely, good and bad. Anyway, I believe being creative is sometimes a survival tactic. But now I think I'm getting into another topic!

[Dan Goodwin]

We each create for so many different reasons...

Sometimes we fear getting lost in creating, sometimes we create to escape the fear of everyday life. Different ways creativity and fear become intertwined.

Creating is good therapy, there's no doubt!

[DJ]

I wonder if any studies have been done on stress and creative flow?
I'm sure the habits of creating under stress are as varied as the artists that experience it, since stress affects all of us to varying degrees.
Could there be solutions/ techniques to deal with "block under stress"?

For me, personally, over the past few months, there were instances where I somehow defied the feelings of stress and walked into my studio to paint right in the face of the monster.
I felt extremely rebellious to do so, and yes, fearful, as if I was walking into a lion's den as Daniel experienced.
I wanted to create so badly, that I just had to have faith that I could spit in the face of whatever was pressing on me at the time, and I could make art anyway.
Afterwards, I emerged from the studio elated in triumph, and grew stronger in that faith.
(Of course, when I create, I am fully aware that I am not alone. :-)

[Dan Goodwin]

DJ, when you say "I wanted to create so badly", can you explain that more, what it feels like, where it comes from?

[Doreen]

I think one develops faith from experience. What experience has taught me is that I am creative and that we all are creative. One needs to just create. (Get off your butt) Through experience, I have learned that other people accept me as a creative person.
The abundance of projects that are offered me, clients that ask for my work is validating. There are usually high and low periods of creating, but there always seems to be something going on.
Usually more than a few projects which means if I get "blocked" somewhere, I move on to something else and back to the other when the "opening" occurs.
This faith that has developed has been a guide and a knowing that if I put in the time, something will come out of it, or it will lead to something else. It's all a journey, a creative journey if you want, and it's our choice which path to take. The real issue is to walk (or dance :-) the path.
The question, "Do you have faith that you will always be able to create?" is answered with a YES.
I think even if I lost the use of my hands, I would figure out how to create in some other way... although that is a scary thought........

[jane]

i totally agree with you Doreen. faith, as in spiritual as well, has highs and lows.. times when we wonder if anyone is listening, watching, times when we shout out to be heard or understood... and that transfers to our creative lives too.

I know, in my head, that I am a creative being and i DO carry that throughout everything i do - at work, at home and when out and about if only by observing and being mindful. I dont have a fear that i will lose my creativity and i no longer worry about whether anyone "gets" it or me... I just know that its there and you cant take that out of my head! It may all go quiet for a while whilst i regroup, readjust or move forwards... but its always there.

I remember reading about hostages and how they coped with their internment... even how they coped with torture... and they all, everyone of them, said that whatever was going on outside, or around them - they kept their "faith" (for each of them different) strong within them - cos no-one could reach that and remove it..... thats how i feel about my creative and spiritual life.... and i think they are interlinked....

xx

[Ang Monsoon]

"thats how i feel about my creative and spiritual life....and i think they are interlinked..." I can relate to Jane's words on this. My art work has helped me, call it therapy if you like, and friends on CCS have said it has helped them. If my work helps someone out there then I've faith in my creativity. Once created it exists forever as long as it is needed. Even if I'm unable to create something else then I've fulfilled my calling. I like to see myself as "in service" nowadays to create and turn light back into the world, to help others & myself. I'd call it faith because I don't need to search any longer to find "what" I should be doing. That is something that perplexed me in the past. Now I have faith that if live in service to creativity, good will come of it.

"Lord make me an instrument
Of thy peace, where there is hatred,
Let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that
I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we
Are pardoned, and it is in dying
That we are born to eternal life."

St. Francis

Synchronicity again- I just reached for "The Tibetan Book of Living & Dying" & turned to this page, as if my hand was guided. Feelin' a bit emotional tonight, and feel I'm in the right place, in this debate with you guys.

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