What Do I Know?

Self Portrait

Living with the unknown with an uneasy comfort!

A book by David Ulrich, “The widening Stream; The Seven Stages of Creativity” has a lot of enlightening things to say about creativity.

     “Creativity is a way of life and is not the exclusive domain of artists, writers, and scientists. It is the birthright of every human being. To live a full, productive, and satisfying life, and to make a meaningful contribution to others, one must discover and employ this most distinctive of human capacities: the ability to create.” David Ulrich.

     Our creator is creative and being created “in the image of God” mankind has been given this gift and therefore has the desire and the need to create and be creative.

     My life has touched on every one of his seven points in some way or other but right now I’m in his stage four, “Retreat and Withdrawal” stage. It actually began while my art show was going on. I seemed so wrapped up and concerned about the show that my creative process just kind of ground to a halt. I noticed this and wondered about it, but put it off as temporary and making sense under the circumstances.

     Now I see that it was a time where I stepped back, thinking about my work, not only in individual pieces but really for the first time as a whole. In light of the response to my work on opening night I had to re-consider what I’d actually done. The degree of impact and emotion was striking and I needed to ruminate and seek to understand how that happened. What in fact had I done and how had I done it? Also, is this good? Is my creative work doing what I want it to do? I have also come to the uncomfortable conclusion that possibly it’s not about me but that I am simply a messenger. That brings with it another whole raft of new considerations.

     “For such a time as this...” I hear my friends tell me. This is appreciated and I believe it to be true only in that then I must continue mining my inner “something” to produce the visible “something’s” that will tell stories that need to be told, at this particular time.

     You can see the clarity there on my part eh?

     I have come to a place where I realize like most things, I have to come to accept and really embrace the discomfort and the “not knowing” aspect of my creative process. It is that, I guess, what creativity is about. It would not in essence be “creative” otherwise.

     “You have heard these things; look at them all. Will you not admit them? “From now on I will tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you.” Isaiah 48:6