What is Creativity and How Do We Access It?
The human being is creative, the same way a rose has a fragrance.
By Maria Mikhailas | Posted 4/15/05 | Updated 5/8/23
I might be getting into some 'woo-woo' territory for some of you with this Creativity Corner piece, but to me, creativity and spirituality are cut from the same fabric.
The human being is creative, the same way a rose has a fragrance. We are made this way, and there is no way anyone is not creative. The only thing that can stop us from accessing our creativity is fear — fear of failure, fear of our own limitations, of comparisons, of success, and the list goes on.
Creativity is intuitive and feeling essence. It draws on the power of the subtle realm beyond our habitual state of awareness. The invisible and the intangible are the avenues that creativity travels.
One accesses this creative space within by attention and listening, faith and feel, courage, and by a great deal of grace. We are not taught these things in school. We think because an art teacher told us we don't know how to stay inside the lines, we are not creative. It is just the opposite; it's by letting go of the limitations of the lines that we soar to the heavens!
Creativity and religion have a lot in common. They share familiar sacred ground. In all spiritual practices, color, music and song have a transcendent place in moving the aspirant, or congregation, into a devotional space of union with spirit. When I paint, I often think of the biblical quote 'I am at play in the fields of the Lord.'
If fear is the tomb of the creative heart, love is the antidote. Love of the creative process in all its power to change consciousness, in its pain, its intense pleasures, its personal challenges, the struggles with our demons, and the courage it takes to persevere in the face of dry periods and distractions in our lives.
The artist is the priest or priestess of the senses. Grace ignites the power of the heart to create, and grace nourishes all gathering around the artist who drinks from the fountain of the living waters of Creativity.
©2005 Maria Mikhailas. All rights reserved.
Maria Mikhailas is a long time painter, teacher and dreamer.