Spirituality as Creative Expression

Is a person spiritual because they are creative?

Or is a person creative because they are spiritual?

But then again, I don’t think these two questions are mutually exclusive.

Exploring spirituality and the idea of creativity

After I moved into my house a little over two years ago, I had decorated it for a house-warming.

Until I was finished, I had no idea, and I mean no idea that everything hanging was something I created.  It wasn’t until everything was hung and I looked around that I realized I’d created virtually everything that hung on the walls.

Some are paintings that I did over ten years ago. Some are drawings. Some are images I created digitally. Some were inspired from projects. Others were inspired by watching other artists.

I don’t have any recent paintings because I have sold most of them, given them away, or have been drawing like crazy for things like, you know, coloring books.

But regardless, I have an insatiable need to create. I just need to.

When I’m not drawing or painting, I’m writing. When I’m not writing, I’m knitting. Or trying to cultivate my garden. Or trying out a new recipe for cooking.

The more inner-work I do on myself, the more I realize that whatever I do, I must honor this need.

And I find that as I honor this need, the innermost part of myself bubbles to the surface, connecting the spiritual realm to the physical realm.

Take a look at some of the things I’ve created that decorate my house:

spirituality and creativity

This is a self-portrait. I love bright, vivid colors. I painted this in 2007. I was influenced by the work of Frida Kahlo.

spirituality and creativity

I painted this in 2010. I am fascinated by owls.

spirituality and creativity

I’m fascinated by geometric shapes. I painted this in 2006 and wanted to explore what I could do with circles

I created this little series for a digital imaging class in 2005. The top image is my face, overlaid by a lake. The middle image is my hands, overlaid by towering rocks. The bottom image is my feet, overlaid by a waterfall.

spirituality and creativity

I drew this with conte crayon in 2013 for a project on my old artist blog. It now hangs over the fireplace in my living room. It’s called “The Overlook on Highway 209.”

spirituality and creativity

I painted these two in 2013 for a project I was attempting on my old blog. I photographed these leaves, drew them out, and then painted the image.

spirituality and creativty

I created this image in 2005 for a digital imaging class. It is a “washer” taking all the pollution out of the environment.

I painted this image in 2007 or 2008. I was inspired by the Inca Native American Indians.

I painted this in 2009. I love the symbolism of ravens and was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s poem.

spirituality and creativity

I also painted this in 2009. At the time, I was heavily influenced by Native American Indian patterns and designs.

I love shimmer and thought creating feathers with gold lines would be…neat. Painted in 2009.

spirituality and creativity

I love butterflies and wanted to capture their color and beauty in this painting. I completed this in 2009.

spirituality and creativity

The idea for this came after watching someone paint a nature scene. Painted in 2006.

Creativity isn’t just about art

Admit it: when you think of a creative person, you don’t think about an architect or civil engineer do you?

But we are all equipped with the potential for creativity.

A creative civil engineer…

It doesn’t have to be just be about fine art, the performing arts, the art of crafting or even the art of cooking.

My late father-in-law was a civil engineer. In the town where I now live, townsfolk knew that he had creative solutions to everyday problems.

They once asked him how they were going to get a statue to the top of a mountain that overlooked the town. There was no road to the top, and it was too heavy for even a team of people to carry.

They asked my father-in-law what to do. Almost instantly, he matter-of-factly said, “just build a pulley.”

Town planners marveled at his ingenuity. They built the pulley and hoisted the statue to the cables and “pulled it” to the top of the mountain. This was about 50 years ago and the statue is still there today.

The architect who led an internet revolution…

A couple years ago, I discovered podcasts. I subscribe to quite a few, and I love to download and listen to them when I’m in the car.

The Smart Passive Income podcast is one of my favorites. Pat Flynn is a down-to-earth guy who interviews people who figure out how to make a living online.

He created the website after getting laid off as an architect. Not only did he get to create beautiful works of art in the form of building design, then he got creative and figured out how to make a living with passive income.

Creating Your Universe

Here are some powerful quotes about creating the universe in which you exist:

Never forget that you are not in the world; the world is in you. When anything happens to you, take the experience inward. Creation is set up to bring you constant hints and clues about your role as co-creator. Your soul is metabolizing experience as surely as your body is metabolizing food — Deepak Chopra

Once we realize the extraordinary power we have to compose our lives, we’ll move from passive, conditioned thinking to being co-creators of our fate. — Jason Silva

Understand that we are all co-creators of our respective destinies. — Mahershala Ali

I was exhilarated by the new realization that I could change the character of my life by changing my beliefs. I was instantly energized because I realized that there was a science-based path that would take me from my job as a perennial “victim” to my new position as “co-creator” of my destiny. (Prologue, xv) — Bruce H. Lipton

[I am a co – creator], an active agent in this universe who makes things happen. If I want the world to change, I have to change it.” — Danah Zohar

Creativity connects me to my truest self and vulnerability. There is nothing more personally liberating, than reaching for my face and peeling off the social mask that hides my; shadow self, pain and weakness. When i produce from this place of truth, the results transform both creator and beholder. — Jaeda DeWalt

Right brain vs. left brain

We can all identify those “left-brained” people and those “right-brained” people.

The left-brained folks seem to be brilliant at math, gifted in science, use analytics, data and logic, and seem just fine with conforming to society’s rules.

Then there are the right-brained people who often seem dreamy, artistic, creative, and follow their hearts and intuition.

In the book, Spirits of the Earth by Bobby Lake-Thom, he devotes an entire graphical page to the “mind-brain complex” (page 45).

Just as I mentioned above, those who operate out of left-hemispheric thinking are linear, masculine, and operate more concretely.

Those who operate out of the right hemisphere are more in touch with the feminine, their intuition, and tend to be more spiritual, among other things. Lake-Thom also has one key word there: creative.

Humans have two sides to their brains, and so are capable of operating out of both hemispheres, though my hunch is that individuals tend to favor one side or the other.

You can imagine, with the title of this website, which side I might favor. But that’s a whole other tangent on which I could go.

But what do all these topics – that creativity isn’t just about art, and that we’re co-creators, and right-brain vs. left-brain – have in common?

The path to spirituality via creation

We are spiritual beings. We don’t have to subscribe to an organized religion or believe in anything to understand that we’re part of something greater – much, MUCH greater – than we are.

We’re connected to the universe. And when we sync to its higher energy, we can create our own reality, as well as create things – events, art, people, beauty, love, good vibes, and much more – to generate and forge an existence.

Those who tap into this energy often can cultivate intuition and their spirituality.

The thing is, when we create we pull from an unseen energy. When you ask someone where they got an idea, they often can’t tell you the source (unless it was inspired from someone or something else – but even still, the original idea came from someplace unseen). It comes from within. It comes from the soul.

That place within is silent. It is non-judgement. It is love. It is intuition. It is the place where all the answers lie.

When someone is being creative, they are in touch with a higher energy – that which is unseen. Those who cultivate their creativity often spend time in the silent recesses of the core, drawing upon the energy that is the genesis of ideas.

This is why mindfulness and meditation can also help with creativity. And vice-versa.

In looking at all the creating I do, I can say that I definitely feel Spirit as I work. I have no idea what an image will look like as I create it. I just know that I trust in my ability to put together an image that is balanced and beautiful (at least in my own eyes).

So go forth, friends, tap into that silent part of yourself and co-create your universe. Generate those ideas. Think outside of the proverbial box to create within your own existence.