Category: Unit 07

Creative Spirituality

  1. How do you define “spirituality”?

I think that spirituality is a sense of ease that can lead to inspiration when you truly have a deep connection to your soul. If you have a high spirituality you can access your spirit and are more finely tuned to the world around you. Being spiritual allows you to cut through the clutter of your usual conscious egoic tendencies and think on a deeper and more profound level. This is often accessed in group settings that rely heavily on ritual like religion but I do believe you can have high spirituality without religion.

  1. Does spirituality differ from religion?

I think spirituality does differ from religion. Religion is a great way to reach spirituality. People find themselves part of something bigger, something powerful and that can lead to a sense of spirituality. However, I do not feel that religion and spirituality have to be connected. Spirituality is an inside driving force; it can lead to inspiration and creativity. Religion allows people to be part of a community where they share similar values and beliefs. Due to this connection these people may get inspired and access their spiritual selves but they aren’t the same thing.

  1. How do you define “creativity”?

Creativity is a skill. It isn’t something you can practice or get better or worse at it just the imaginative ability of your brain. You can get better at attaining your creative mindset and can push what you use creativity for to greater heights but I don’t see it as a tangible ability you can train for. You either are creative or aren’t. Creativity is the backbone to innovation and without creative people we wouldn’t have the technology and advantages we take for granted everyday.

  1. What is the source of creativity?

I think that everybody has a different source for creativity. Much like inspiration creativity isn’t something that can be forced. It has to come in its own fluid way and is most likely to come to those who aren’t looking for it. I think creativity stems from being relaxed. If you’re stressing about having to come up with an idea then your brain is unlikely to come up with anything. Creativity comes to me from relaxation. I find that I am most creative after meditation; a point at which my brain has gotten past the “egoic boundaries” (Grey 72) that normally blocks my creativity.

Creative Spirituality

Grey’s article “Art as a Spiritual Practice” within The Mission of Art really got me thinking about how spiritual art can be. He starts the article with a strong question: “What is the difference between merely looking at a thing and actually seeing it?” (Grey 71).  A very profound question to start off the rest of the reading. Art is something that you have to absorb. You have to spend time thinking about what it means. You go through your day-to-day lives looking at things but rarely do you spend enough time actually considering it, thinking about it, and processing it completely. As Ernest Watson said “There is a vast difference between looking and seeing – a difference which is fundamental to the artist’s experience“ (Grey 72). Everyday you walk around thinking about yourself. There is no time to muse on other things or process them. It takes real art to make you stop and think. This act makes us deeply see, as Grey says: “In the act of deeply seeing we transcend the egoic boundaries between the self and the otherness of the world” (Grey 72). Art makes you think and contemplate on life and Grey talks about how the artist has to put as much spirit into it as the consumer takes out of it. Grey talks about the different levels an artist must go through in order to complete a piece of art. Grey discusses the trials of inspiration, seeing art, legitimacy, and authenticity that all artists must go through.

What really stuck out to me was the section on inspiration because inspiration is one of the hardest things to achieve but when it does it can be angelic. As Grey says:  “Inspiration is beyond reason. Inspiration is like an unseen lover, a muse, an angel or demon, or perhaps an entire committee of discarnate entities who creep up to your imagination and give it the most sumptuous gifts” (Grey 82). For me inspiration hits me in the most inopportune places. I’ll get an idea in the shower or going for a run. Times I can’t really utilize the ideas I come up with but you still get such a good feeling. Grey is saying that inspiration is this great thought that you can admire with your entire being. “Inspiration means access to spirit” (Grey 82). Until Grey said that I never thought of inspiration and spirit being so close. When I think of spirit I think more of meditative practices. A spiritual person can cut through all the clutter of their usual egotistical selves and I feel like that is when you can become the most inspired and creative.  The trick is being able to access your spirit and get inspired. Grey offered help in this aspect as well by sharing the way he accesses his spirit: “Drawing is a way to enter into the spiritual practice of art and seeing” (Grey 86). So for Grey, drawing helps him contemplate and really absorb what is happening around him. I do yet have that practice that lets me access my spirit but I hope to one day figure it out as he said: “Artists must be able to absorb the depths of meaning contained within a work of art” (page 86), and as we he said earlier it is impossible to deeply see and quiet their egotistical monologue within themselves. Once they do that they can find true art.

Grey, A. (2001). Art as Spiritual Practice. The Mission of Art (1st ed., pp. 205-233). Boston & London: Shambhala.