Our creativity breeds progress, it makes innovation and disrupts the conservative structures. It is the bit of unknown territory in which the human mind walks and prospers. Too much is too scary, too little is too safe. And before the age of dissection it worked fine. But right now, we believe that everything needs a breakdown, needs to be clear, out in the open, not hidden. In order for everyone to do it, to copy it. No inspiration is needed to follow a step by step manual. But this scientific approach strips away all the magic and wonder we feel when we see something that we can’t explain. We are assured that there must be a rational explanation to everything. We are not inspired and mystified, challenged to take a step into the unknown and try, with ones creativity to guide the way and do something similar, but not to copy it. We are not encouraged anymore. As much as humans are inspired by the world around them, they are mainly moved by the actions of other human beings. Not knowing how to reach a goal and trying many possible options can lead to the most bizarre and beautiful creations. If the one way that worked is seen as the only possible option, the exclusive technique to do something, preferably patented and held by an entity that is part of the capitalistic game, exploration is discouraged or even prohibited. Everything becomes a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy that is smothering creation. In this case, it is beneficial not to know the way, to be oblivious.
The avoidance of dangers and challenges, and the constant exposure to comfort, makes our mind go dormant and retreat from engagement in life. Our mind, our motivation and our inspiration only prospers under pressure. To go where no one has gone before is stressful, but stress engages the mind. Returning to the sheltered before state is our prime directive. The longer we bathe in comfort, which is so easy to do these days, the harder it feels to venture into the unknown, to live in fear and to create. But this is what we need in order to feel alive, to find meaning in life, to, be it for a moment, set aside our fear of death and embrace creation. The word creativity comes from create, of having the quality or function of creating. Every human has it. Musicians, painters, photographers, filmmakers are just the obvious ones. But every action creates; cooks, designers, architects, engineers, politicians, leaders, humanitarians, philosophers, doctors, nurses. Every interaction with another human creates something. Every interaction weaves a tighter web.
We can do so much better, push harder and make magic. Time and time again we have proven to ourselves the breathtaking actions we can undertake in order to conjure up the most elegant solutions to the most daring problems. If we are willing to put in the work, to escape our ever present comforts and to go another way, push the envelope and introduce some randomness to what is otherwise a fairly predictable existence. There is only one escape into the limitless river that is time, to shatter the walls of reality, and that is creativity. Creativity is the solution to all our biggest and smallest challenges, it always has been and it always will be. No matter how rational and scientific we become, sparks of inspiration will light fires we cannot imagine nor predict. Being rational in itself is not a problem, it is a helpful tool, but putting logic at the forefront of existence is a guaranteed way to exterminate it in the long run.
So go out there, strike the spark, light the fire and change the path your are on. The path we all are on. In the same way we can influence the ripples in a pond by throwing in a pebble and creating our own ripples, we can influence the pond that is our existence, our destiny. Creativity is life, it is salvation and it is freedom.