Monday, July 9, 2007

This idea of creative spirituality



It exists! I know it does, I'm from a place where all this seems to be always happening. That place is Ojai California just a little east of Santa Barbra. I feel like my home if it had a sloganized sign (it wouldn't because the city council would fight on who to what would to use) would somehow say "Ojai, home to the creative spiritualists". No kidding, I'm pretty sure that's why there is lack of sloganized sign.
Below is my process of trying to define terms within this idea of creative spirituality....


Spirituality to me is a place in oneself that is used for communicating on a higher level of existence, it's non-physical, it's emotional, it's both rational and irrational at the same time and it's a mental process that concerns the spirit within. I mean to me its something I feel inside when I make connections with nature and existence its this feeling that's complex but makes me personally feel whole when I connect to myself.

Religion and spirituality to me feel like they co-exist, I think of religion for some people as a tool to become spiritual. I sense we all have a different definition of what spiritual means to ourselves, this obviously is what makes us unique. I think that religion for some people, given for some reasoning, gives people the ability to get in touch with their spirituality. I feel for myself that since I never had just one religion to study and devote to, I found spirituality through a process of learning about religions and nature. I can't stress how important though that none of us see our spirituality the same way. It can be in common with other but its a unique experience for each individual so it must have different meanings and different existences.

Creativity, is one of my favorite words ever, in the entire world! It's Latin creatus means "to have grown". This word defines so many possibilities that generate and foster new or individualized ideas and object. Creativity can be going against the traditional ideology, it could also be this step into a brand new thought. I like the idea of creativity because its a beautiful characteristic to describe a positive and abnormal perception. It's this word that means there is something in action that will not be what you might expect and it's always pleasing to my ears to hear.

The Source of Creativity
is within the self. Creativity is often defined for 'thinking outside the box'. So where does this source come from? It's taking everything you know and doing something with it because the spirit is inspired to. The inspiration for creativity is different which makes the outcome generated the self (the inner source of creativity) so incredibly creative & so different from the expected.

2 comments:

Scott said...

Melissa,

I really enjoy your inclusion of an image for each assignment. I think I will ask students in the future to do this. Do you mind if I use your blog in the future as an example?

Best,

Scott

Melissa Dye said...

no I don't mind at all. I wish there was a way to properly document who made the image though so that people get credit, and it would be awesome for photography students