Flea markets, bazaars, and other sundry delights give rise to all kinds of thoughts.
Forget Waldo
Finding creativity, where something new and valuable is created, can be perplexing. Just when you need it most, creativity becomes the most elusive creature on the planet.
But there are some things we do know about creativity. For many of us, out-of-the-box ideas come in a most unusual manner. Just when you least expect it, an idea pops into your mind and, if it is not written down immediately, it vanishes like a puff of smoke, both elusive and tantalizing.
A Look Back at Creativity
In ancient times, creativity was thought of in a completely different fashion. The ancient Greeks believed that creative ideas came from Daemons, benevolent, playful spirits that reside outside of ourselves — divine spirits.
Roman mythology had a similar concept, which they called genius. For the Romans, genius is the divine nature that is contained within each of us. It was similar to the Judeo-Christian concept of a guardian angel, a guardian spirit, unique to each of us, who guards and protects us from birth to death.
Transitions in Thinking
In recent times, the concept of demons have evolved into a strictly malevolent or dark, malicious force to be avoided.
The concept of genius has changed dramatically from a spirit that resides within each of us to that of an individual who displays a unique gift of superior intelligence, creativity, and originality.
For the ancient Greeks and Romans, creativity, the creative spirit, resided outside of the individual.
It’s Not Your Responsibility After All
What would happiness be if you take the genius out of your mind and gave it up to your higher spirit?
Turning the contemporary view of creativity upside down, it now is not your responsibility, but the responsibility of a higher spirit; your responsibility is to show up.
Your responsibility is to have the sheer stubborn love to show up everyday and allow your higher spirit to give you a glimpse of the divine.