Spirituality Lends Itself to Creativity « Shonna Wells' AAD250 Page

Spirituality Lends Itself to Creativity

by Shonna on November 15, 2013

How do you define “spirituality”?

To me spirituality is about being connected to a higher consciousness or presence. To me, it’s not all about God or the divinity, but rather just more awareness that the world and existence is bigger than we are. We are a mass of energy, but I also believe that we have spirits and when we pass on, our energy and spirit do carry on and change into another form or essence of being.
Spirituality can be religion or meditation or something as simple as walking in the woods. I have always viewed it as what can ground you to the world and simultaneously allows you to see outside of yourself.

Does spirituality differ from religion?

I do believe that religion is a way in which you can express your spirituality. Spirituality is not all religious though. I do believe that religion has a much more structured set of rules and beliefs that defines it. Spirituality is a lot more ambiguous and able to melded to what each person needs it to be. Religion has always been something that tries to explain the unexplainable for me and helps to give people answers to the questions of where we came from and why we are here. I don’t see spirituality as needing to answering the questions, but more as being okay with not knowing the answer and being at peace with where you are and your part in it all.

How do you define “creativity”?

Creativity is such a diaphanous term, that it’s hard to really nail it down and define it. I think it is about the ability to translate your ideas and thoughts and feelings as well as a way to express your ideals and beliefs. Through creativity one can express parts of their imagination and delve into exploration of new ideas and they can transcend the earthly realm. This can be done through an enormous cacophony of mediums: song, writing, traditional artistic methods (painting, drawing, sculpting, etc.), dance, amongst many others.

What is the source of creativity?

I do see the source as being pretty spiritual, even if the person expressing their creativity doesn’t necessarily think of it like that. Creativity comes from within you and is inspired by where you’ve been, what you’ve seen, the varied experiences we have in life, from values and belief structures that were imposed upon us. I think the real source of creativity is the desire to express what we have inside and what we see and feel. It’s the conscious effort to put it on paper, or sing it through song, or to push the clay in just a certain way. Creativity is you.

Posted in Assignments, Unit 7