The ABCs: C is for (Radical) Creativity
Everything everywhere is always in the process of being created
In many spiritual traditions, there is a practice in which a selected scriptural passage becomes the theme for the week. At Radical Spirituality, we do the same thing, but in a radical way.
Each Sunday, I offer The ABC’s of Radical Spirituality, a single, simple word distilled from the common principles of all the world’s faith and wisdom teachings that serves as the exploration for the week. They are the roots of Radical Spirituality. And because I am that person, the words are in alphabetical order. We start with A and go to Z.
It’s a simple practice to get to the roots of what matters on our spiritual path. The best part is that you will get out of it what you put into it. If you just keep the word on a sticky-note on your computer, it will still work it’s magic. But to dig deeper, delve in, dive in, and see what you find.
C is for (Radical) Creativity
The creative process, like a spiritual journey, is intuitive, non-linear, and experiential. It points us toward our essential nature, which is a reflection of the boundless creativity of the universe. -John Daido Loori
The Cosmos is creative, constantly birthing the new: new galaxies, stars, beings, and events. In all traditions, this creative force is the essential aspect of the Divine, whether as a Creator God or as that ineffable source which generates or gives birth to all form (and is all form). That includes us. We are, by definition, creators. Every moment of our lives is our creation.
Embracing creativity is an essential part of our spiritual path. As we align with the creative energies of the Divine, we begin to see ourselves as co-creators with the ability to bring into existence that which did not exist before. As theologian and proponent of Creation Spirituality, Matthew Fox, explains, “Creativity is where the divine and the human meet.”
Creativity doesn’t just mean painting, dancing, or writing. While the creative process is a profound form of alignment with the Divine, creativity really refers to every action in our lives that involves the imagination, or the transformation of what is to what might be possible. Cooking a meal, tending a garden, building a business, raising children, or testing a scientific theory are all creative acts that bring into being that which didn’t exist until we created it. Like the Divine, we are bringing the world into existence moment by moment, through our creative imagination. But Creativity doesn’t stop there; it’s in every word, thought and deed of our daily lives. Every moment is a creative one.
Deeper Roots
From nothingness comes somethingness. That is the basis of all creation stories ever told whether in the Bible or the Daode Jing, the Vedas or the Qu’ran. There was nothing, and then God, the Dao, or whatever each tradition calls the Divine, “birthed” all things into existence. The Divine created, generated, emanated, or manifested what we experience. And, most importantly, it’s still happening. Always.
Christian mystic, Meister Eckhart, said very simply, “What does God do all day? God gives birth. From all eternity, God lies on a maternity bed giving birth.” He explains further: “Now God creates all things but does not stop creating. God forever creates and forever begins to create, and creatures are always being created and in the process of beginning to be created.”
In the Hebrew Bible, the very first words written are Beresheit bara Elohim, “In the beginning, God created.” It is the very foundation of existence. The names of God in the Hebrew bible are words that describe the creative processes of becoming and existence that happens anew every day.
The word for God’s creativity is Dabhar, which is often translated as “the word.” It was God’s word, or his creative imagination, that created the world. Words create reality, and in Genesis, God gives Adam the ability to name – or to give word to – all the beings of the earth. In naming them, Adam is also creating their reality.
In the Hindu Vedas, creation of the universe is explained as a force of energy from a Supreme Being, or, in another version, a lotus flower grew from Lord Vishnu's navel with Brahma sitting on it. Brahma separated the flower into three parts - the heavens, the Earth and the sky. Out of loneliness, Brahma split himself into two to create a male and a female. From this male and female all beings were created. Many indigenous traditions have similar creation myths.
Though there are no creator deities in the non-dual traditions of Daoism, and Buddhism, there are still emergence or creation stories. In Daoism, the Dao is seen a non-dual undifferentiated oneness without intention from which all things emerge, emanate, arise, or are generated. Yin and Yang, the masculine/ feminine or creative/receptive forces, emerged from the Dao, and from their interaction, “the ten thousand things” arise and are continually in processes of change and transformation. Buddhists believe the beginning of this world and of life is inconceivable since they have neither beginning nor end. Therefore, Buddhists and Daoists believe that the world was not created once upon a time, but that the world is created millions of times every second and will continue to do so by itself.
This last belief aligns with modern science. Cosmologists now have a theory called Cosmogenesis, which proposes that the Cosmos itself is always in the process of creation and transformation. In other words, the cosmos itself is in a process of continuous creation. In his book, The Great Work, Ecologist Thomas Berry describes it this way: “We now live not so much in a cosmos as in a cosmogenesis; that is, a universe ever coming into being through an irreversible sequence of transformations moving, in the larger arc of its development, from a lesser to a great order of complexity and from a lesser to great consciousness.”
Cosmologists now have a theory called Cosmogenesis, which proposes that the Cosmos itself is always in the process of creation and transformation.
This suggests that the world wasn’t simply created in a final form a few thousand years ago, as some sacred texts would assert, but is constantly evolving. Simple observation will tell us that world is nothing like what it was when the Bible, the Qu’ran or many other creation scriptures were written. It has changed! In many cases, very dramatically. Moreover, science tells us that world is a very different place now compared to when we homo sapiens, a new species, first appeared. All of this is to say that both science and religion agree that creativity is inherent in the Cosmos; everything in the Cosmos is in a state of constant creation and transformation from minute to minute. And so are we.
Our “always in the process of beginning to be created” is our constant “becoming.” From one moment to the next, we are changing, becoming something we were not before. It is never completed. This process is a creative one that includes our choices, our reactions, our actions, and our thoughts. Some say that every thought we have creates an energy in the universe. Many teachings tell us that every word and every action we make creates ripple effects in the cosmos. For some, it’s called Karma. Every action has a consequence, which in turn creates a new action and consequence, ad infinitum. We create the world with every word and every breath.
As co-creators with the Divine, we have a responsibility for our creations. When we realize that we really do create the world around us in both visible and invisible ways, we understand the awesomeness of that power. Our task, then, is to create well; to create lives worth living for ourselves and others, relationships that celebrate the creative expression of each being, communities that support life, healthy environments that help other beings thrive, and a world that is filled with beauty, love, and justice. If we do this, we are indeed “God’s work of art.” (Eph. 2:10)
Reflection Questions
What does Creativity mean to me?
How do I experience Creativity in myself? In others? In the world and cosmos?
What prevents me from being creative?
How can I cultivate creativity?
Simple Practice
Take a full day to notice your thoughts, words, choices, and actions, and ask what each creates in your life and the world.
“You are an active participant in your own unfolding.” – Michael B. Beckwith