You Matter!

The creative must be vulnerable, open to the wounds of this world.  He must be intensely aware of the suffering in and around him.  She must feel the full weight of the burden of being human, with all its frailty and responsibility.

This is no doubt a serious work.  And responsive work.  We do not start with a project in mind.  We do not gather information to support a view.  Rather we simply go out and learn to see what is already there.

That kind of honest attentiveness is the root of creativity.  It binds us to the realities of the universe, including its brokenness.  It breeds a special sort of longing, one intensely close to suffering (the other side of passion).

Times of tragedy, especially, bring out this sense of rooted otherworldliness.  Death and loss connect us to our history, and the ancestors who have gone before us.  Sorrow offers layers of meaningful connection that when missed, create a void in the universe.

The creative, especially the poet, must dig around in that emotional dirt, connecting us to the artifacts of our past.  The job of the artist is to remind people again and again there IS meaning to life, even amidst the meaninglessness.

We are not simply cogs in a machine.

We matter.  Our work matters.  Our thoughts matter.  Our input matters.  Our dreams matter.  Our faith matters.  In a world consumed with outputs (the external machine), we desperately need reminding that there is something more (the invisible Kingdom).

We need convinced again and again that there is something more than survival.  There is something higher in the human experience than power and animal instinct (we are the highest in the cognitive food chain for a reason).  We are more than our survival.

There is more.

In a word: love.  Love will always be the soaring space for something more.  For our imaginations love is the open invitation to see the world beyond survival — free tickets to the only show that can guarantee an inspired quickening.

Love literally makes us more alive!    

The choice to love may at times seem at odds, or in tension with, the creative pursuit.  The overwhelming needs of the world can endlessly draw us in, requiring action, dedication, commitment, time.  We could be easily be lured from our creative goals.

Though sacrificial love is certainly not bad, it must be held in tension with our creative loves.  It is NOT one or the the other; it is both!  The creative pursuits are better with love, and love is better with the creative pursuits - never in isolation of each other.

*Do creative geniuses (think Beethoven) really have time for the social needs around them?  Mustn’t their concern be strictly the next note of the symphony?  The last brush stroke of the masterpiece?  The sublime ending to their consummate novel?

Certainly some masters had such single-minded fury that it almost bordered insanity.

But was that pursuit not bound to the community and context of their time and place?  Was not their music or craft a social responsibility, a commitment, a gift to their times? Perhaps the masters found a most profound way to serve their community, not escape it.  Their gifts were their service.  That love made it more alive.  Most assuredly so!

Creative gifts are never given in isolation of the needs of the community!  They are birthed in and for a particular context, a moment in time.  They belong to that time.  Thankfully for us, beyond it as well.

Your creative expressions are gifts for the people.  Release them!  Set them free to do their work.  We will all be better for it!