Category: Unit 07

Spirituality to me is defined as the personal ability to find peace within you. Those that say that they are spiritual to me means that they believe are seeking truth with a higher power. Spirituality and religion differ in the way in which people seek to demonstrate their values and beliefs. Spirituality is associated with the realm of personal thought and experience in seeking a relationship with that higher power. Religion is the ability to share your beliefs with other individuals who believe on the religious beliefs as you do. The idea of religion is connected to the public realm, allowing you do attend mass and perform formal rituals with. Both areas allow you to question who you are and seek guidance from a higher power. I would consider myself and a spiritual person and someone who believes in religion.  I am a Catholic and go to mass at least once a week or more, the atmosphere of being surrounded by my peers who have similar beliefs allows us to continue in the path to follow God’s word. While I love being surrounded by my peers, I also enjoy being alone with my thoughts to really dive in to understand the word of God. How I personally find my place to be spiritual is when I am out in nature. An example of this is when I go hiking and reach my ending destination, I stop and take the time to soak in the beauty that surrounds me and take time to run through all of my thoughts.

Creativity can be defined in so many different ways.  Creativity to me is being able to express oneself in any type of outlet. Individuals all differ in the way in how the express their creativity. Creativity is an important aspect of life, because it is one way how we separate ourselves from others. It can be demonstrated by the way we dress, cook, write, draw, and paint.  Being able to be creative allows us to have an outlet so express our thoughts and emotions out on a palette so that others can see. Creativity is a way for us to lose ourselves with our work, to express anything we have been holding in and getting it out of our system. It comes in varies ways for everyone, some need to be inspired by something or someone to begin the creative process. Others just have the creative bug and produce something at any kind of expense. In the end, we all have the capability of expressing the creativity within.

“ Things are because we see them, and what we see, and how we see it, depends on the Art that have influenced us. To look at a thing is very different from seeing a thing. One does not see anything until one sees its beauty. Then, and then only, does it come into existence.”- Oscar Wilde (Grey 71) The fact that the article began with a quote from Oscar Wilde set the tone for the rest of the article. It was almost as a wake up call, in the sense of setting the mind set of how we as individuals go through our daily activities seeing different images but never taking the moment to notice the beauty in all we see.  Grey explains this kind of looking, “necessary for survival.” (Grey 71) The only times we stop to look at something much deeper is when something grabs our attention, such as a person, object, or a nearby scene. Deeply seeing allows us to look within ourselves and experience something we might not experience everyday. “ The act of deeply seeing, we transcend the egoic boundaries between the self and the otherness of the world, momentarily merging with the thing seen.” (Grey 72) The whole act of deeply seeing is a moment in which we see something that captures our eyes and turns into inspirations. We then take the inspiration and turn it into something. As mentioned in the article, inspiration is what leads to an artist producing a piece of art. In order to draw, paint, or photograph the artist must be inspired by something in order to produce something that is meaningful to them. Even if someone doesn’t consider himself or herself as a typical artist, we are all artists in some way. Regardless of what someone is passionate about, the passion that we pursue has some back-story, and typically is driven from inspiration. Inspiration can come from anything and anyone, it is that moment that we stop and deeply see what is laid in front of us, and run with it.

Inspiration comes in it’s own unique process. As human we are all different in many ways, and how we are inspired is no exception. “ Inspiration is the most mysterious step in the creative process.” (Grey 81) This idea of inspiration I believe helps contribute in finding one’s spirituality.  Finding something that inspires you allows you to look within side yourself and allows you to find peace within yourself.  “ Spirit brings vision to the artist via the imagination, the multidimensional media center of our minds.” (Grey 82)  In the article Grey discusses that art is a matter of inspiration that an artist achieves through a vision of spirit. While this mainly focuses on the painting, there are many forms in which a individual can express their inspiration and find that spirit within themselves.