1. Spirituality is that which gives meaning to one’s life and draws one to transcend oneself. Spirituality is a broader concept than religion, although that is one expression of spirituality. Other expressions include prayer, meditation, interactions with others or nature, and relationship with God or a higher power.

2. Yes, spirituality differs from religion. Religion is an institution established by man for various reasons. Exert control, instill morality, stroke egos, or whatever it does. Organized, structured religions all but remove god from the equation. You confess your sins to a clergy member, go to elaborate churches to worship, told what to pray and when to pray it. All those factors remove you from god. Spirituality is born in a person and develops in the person. It may be kick started by a religion, or it may be kick started by a revelation. Spirituality extends to all facets of a person’s life. Spirituality is chosen while religion is often times forced.

3. I define creativity by the creative process which includes formulation, saturation, incubation, inspiration, translation, and integration. Formulation is the discovery of the artist’s subject or problem. Saturation is a period of intense research on the subject or problem. Incubation is letting the unconscious sift the information and develop a response.  Inspiration is a flash of one’s own unique solution to a problem. Translation is bringing the internal solution to outer form. Integration is sharing the creative answer with the world and getting feedback.

4. The source of creativity is from inspiration. Every artist has his or her own unique process of inspiration. A quote from the reading, “My wife and I have noticed in our workshop on visionary art that some people receive full blown, detailed images in a flash. Others may receive only the briefest glimmer or feeling and it is not until their pencil touches the paper that the imagery comes flooding through. For me, pressure is a great catalyst. Important ideas can come at the last minute under a deadline.”

I found this video really interesting. The video really started to get my attention when the first lady placed a camera in her mouth and disposed the film from her mouth to capture moments. She would stand still with people face to face and open her mouth to expose the film. She described it as soul to soul and revealing something we don’t often show to the world. She said “the shape of the mouth is very much the same shape as the eye, and the image becomes almost like the pupil.” The next guy John used kitsch objects to create spiritually like altars. It was interesting hearing about his Native American history. His grandmother was a hand trembler, almost like an oracle and his grandfather was a dancer where he puts on a mask and becomes a god. The spirit enters them when they start to dance. It was a ritual dance. I found it interesting when he talked about how the bear totem is a very powerful symbol because the totem was meant to giving the bear power and people turned them into a product and stripping away the power and meaning behind the bear totem. The painting he did of the corporation setting displaying the CEO as a deity in the center of the painting, with the employees of the company as the angels under him was really fascinating. The painting caught my attention in the movie and made me analyze it further. It’s really interesting and cool to see how spirituality can be a source of inspiration to create art.