Category: Unit 07

I believe that spirituality is something that comes from within a person.  It is a certain kind of beliefs.  I think that a person’s spirituality is their own personal set of beliefs about a higher power, or lack there of a higher power.  It is their explanation of why things are the way things are in the world.  Spirituality is how a person transforms within their bodies, and in their minds.  Being spiritual means that a person in connecting with their physical spirit and soul and ignoring the impacts that physical objects have on their lives.

Spirituality has some similarities to religion but they are different.  I believe that if you are religious you are spiritual, but to be spiritual you do not necessarily have to be religious.  If you have religious beliefs then those are also your spiritual beliefs.  Many people have spiritual beliefs that do not coincide exactly with a certain religion’s beliefs.  Religions almost always believe in a higher power of some sort, but to be spiritual you can believe in other things besides God.

Creativity is being able to come up with ideas.  These ideas can be physical or just imaginary.  I often associate the word ¨creativity¨ with artistic.  I think many artists have creative minds, that is they are able to come up with original ideas of some sort and create some sort of physical object that expressive a creative idea.  Creativity is a way to express one’s imagination and original ideas.  These ideas are then considered to be valuable or important to others.

I think that the source of creativity comes from multiple things.  I think that creativity often comes from the experiences that a person has in their life.  As we read in this weeks reading, creativity can also come from a person’s spiritual beliefs.  I do not believe that there is one specific way to describe the source of spirituality, I believe the sources are unlimited and vary from person to person.  The source of creativity can also be both physical, or it can just be an idea.  Someone could see something that could strike creativity within them, or they could also engage in a conversation or read a book that could strike creativity within them.  There is no way source of creativity.

I have never really considered myself an artist, or artistic/creative person.  The creative process has always been somewhat of a mystery to me.  After reading this week’s reading, I have began to gain a better understanding of the creative and spiritual side of creating a piece of artwork.  In the article “Art As Spiritual Practice.  The Mission of Art” Grey’s walk through of his personal experience of all the steps involved in the creative process, really opened my eyes about what it takes to create artwork.  I’ve always assumed that there is some reason or explanation behind a piece of artwork, and I’ve always thought that artwork can be interpreted any number of ways by viewers, but I’ve never really had any idea how much spiritual thought really goes into creating a piece of artwork.

One part of this article that I found especially interesting was when Grey discusses seeing art.  The very beginning of the article made me stop and realize how often I glance over things without stopping and appreciating it.  Grey says that, “Seeing occurs when our attention is arrested by a person, object, or scene.  Our mind stops chattering and pays attention.  We see both the shape of the thing and its meaning to us” (pg. 72 Grey).  It’s incredible to me how we look over so much every day.  I look or glance at pieces of artwork everyday while going through my everyday life, but rarely do I really take the time to see them.  Grey also talks about how only the deepest art connects to us spiritually.  This made me realize how a majority of the common art we see in every day life, is not really deep art that connects to us on a spiritual level, but really connects to us more on a social level.  Grey refers to Stephen Dedalus and states that, “improper or lower works of art inspire movement in the viewer and that the higher or proper works of art inspire static contemplation” (pg. 82 Grey).  This really made me realize how we rarely see proper works of art, and instead and faced with improper and lower works of art on a regular basis.