I personally define spirituality as a belief that an individual feels emotionally attached too and makes an effort to adjust their actions to go along with this belief. So for example, if someone feels very strongly about being in shape and they feel that by working out they are an all-around better person than if they were to not do this activity, I would define that as spirituality. The reason being is that this individual feels so strongly about being in shape that they contribute many of their outcomes to this belief.

Although I see spirituality and religion as very similar, I believe they differ from one another. I see religion as a more defined form of spirituality. As stated above, spirituality is very open and can be anything that a person has a strong personal, emotional belief towards. As for religion, I think that this strong emotional belief is focused on a God. Therefore, I believe someone could classify their religion as part of spirituality but they cannot classify their spirituality as part of religion unless it involves a God.

I personally define creativity as the process of coming up with an idea. The reason I defined creativity this way is because whenever we come up with an idea, we need to use some form of “creativity” to get there. For example, if I am trying to find a way to complete a task, I am “creating” an idea in my head to get from where I am to where I want to go. I personally see this “creating” process as a form of “creativity” because your mind is using its tools to think abstractly and come up with a solution.

I believe the source of creativity can come from anywhere. If I follow my definition from above, then creativity can come from anything that you get an idea from. An example of this can be if I am walking down the street and I see a cool looking building but I think it would look better red. In that situation, I am “creating” an idea that I gained from looking at a building by thinking abstractly that the building would look better red.

The part of the reading that I found to be the most interesting was the creative process steps. As I was reading through these steps, I was having some trouble relating to them. Although some steps made sense to me, I realized that this was my first time seeing the creative process put into a step by step basis. Before reading these steps, I had never thought about the method that took place for me to reach my creative solution. Then as I started to think more, I realized that putting the creative process into a list of steps seems counterintuitive. When I think of creativity, I think of a free flowing process that everyone does differently. There is no right or wrong way to be creative and therefore you cannot categorize creativity into steps. Although these steps do have some valid points, overall I do not think you can categorize creativity into steps.

Another part of the article that I enjoyed reading was the inspiration section. During this section, the author writes, “Inspiration is the most mysterious step in the creative process. The artist is possessed by a creative force, overtaken by a vision and driven to create” (Grey 81-2). I find this quote very interesting because although I have a set of goals that I get inspired by, I often times get random bursts of inspiration that I am unable to explain. In addition, when the author discusses how he and his wife differ in styles of inspiration, I found myself relating to the author much more. The author describes how he gets inspired when he says, “For me, pressure is my greatest catalyst. Important ideas can come at the last minute under a deadline. Often as a painting is coming to completion, I will have to change an entire section because an essential insight suddenly arises” (80). I personally found these sentences to relate to me perfectly. When I am on a time crunch trying to complete something, I usually have a moment of clarity where I find great insight for a better way to complete my topic at hand.

 

References

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