Creativity (How to see creativity from Genesis as an Artist)
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light;’ and there was light.” Genesis 1 vs1-3.
The legendary first verses of the book of Genesis in the bible. Creation has never been a new concept to humanity; it has been in our perspective for centuries. The first man to explore an artistic venture in the Bible, for example, Tubal-Cain. This guy probably had no premise or community of creators to draw from, except one day he saw the tents and tools or whatever was used back then, and played around with strange stones, metals, copper, and tin, and thought, hmm…what if I do this? What if I combine these? Oh my, these become mendable when you put them in extreme heat?!
He had no instructor or preconceived knowledge, just a nudge in his spirit, an excitement in his heart, and a shift of mind. He played his way into becoming, as the Bible described it, “…teacher of every artisan in instruments of bronze and iron”such an aura.
The same goes for Jubal; the Bible makes us understand that God came down and fellowshipped with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day, and there must have been words to express worship. One could speculate that the angels in heaven played musical instruments to God, and Adam heard it, but Jubal was born long after the time of the fall. They probably had moments when they looked up to God to offer sacrificial worship, like with Cain and Abel. Yet something still echoed in Jubal’s subconscious that something was missing in the worship, and he searched until he, in quote, discovered musical instruments.
This is to let us know that human-created ideas are not entirely new; in fact, the idea itself is not new, everything created is a reinvention of the original, God.
What is Creativity?
The dictionary defines Creativity as the use of imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of artistic work; this definition is misleading, as it gives us the notion that we humans create (I’ll explain further).
Everything that is ever conceived has either been created or has some form that it is replicating, or is a reinvention of an older concept, and these concepts or things are perceived by the creator. It doesn’t even have to be something seen or heard before. These are all impulsions, a strange passion stringing us to participation through imagination.
Writing a short film, for example, we get an idea and pen it in a Word document or paper, and each time we come back to it, we see new possibilities, new scenarios to make the story even better. The story can be improved over fifty times; it just keeps coming, and that is the point. It’s like there is an endless river with endless possibilities that end up standing true in every scenario. That is what creativity is.
We often gratify ourselves with the technicalities of what we create as though we ourselves created it, and no one else can. I really love how Makoto Fujimuraput it in his book Art and Faith: A Theology of Making; he wrote,
“Simply by spreading our wings of art to take flight, we “prove” that gravity, or God, exists. When we make, we are taking that flight into the New. Artists, whether theists or atheists, know this truth deeply, and wrestle with this reality, inside as they create.” Makoto Fujimura, Art and Faith: A Theology of Making (page 20)
How do we engage Creativity as a Christian Artist?
Creativity is a river of possibilities that can be drawn with anything, and by anyone; it does not have a Naughty List. It is an invitation to participate in the development of humanity, and it is not simply for Artisans, but for all who are willing to draw from that river. Creative work can be seen in any and everything, from a simple sheet of paper to a towering skyscraper.
There is a free expressive dimension to it, and there is also a structural aspect. There is a recipe for consistent results in drawing from the well of Creativity, and that is where we get niches; some come to draw for creativity in the art of singing, others in the art of crafts, and so on. The fact that there are a lot of creative spaces tells us that Creativity is endless in its supply, and the extent of our creativity is limited to how large a capacity we come with to the river.
A good example is the widow’s encounter with Elisha in the book of second Kings chapter four, where he told her to borrow as many containers as she could and to pour oil out of one vessel. She kept pouring until there was no container left, and that is when the oil stopped flowing. If she had found more containers, she’d still be pouring the oil to this day.
That is how Christians Artists should see creativity, because honestly, creativity is just like wisdom in the book of Proverbs chapter one verse twenty, it cries out to people, and that is where we get that nudge, that “Aha” moment. It is our duty as stewards of the only Creator, God, to heed that voice and participate in its instructive information with readiness to execute a drawing from the well of creativity, and to find out what God is nudging you to create.
Selah
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