Creativity and Perfection

I love all creative things.  I love creating.

 

I have listened to a fascinating talk this evening by Julie Burstein about creativity and the tension in creativity between what we can control and what we have to let go of.

 

She describes how when we are creative, we can't control everything - we have to let go of some things.  If we have a strict idea of what we want to achieve and what we want our creativity to look like, we will restrict ourselves and our creativity.

 

Creativity and perfectionism are often enemies.

 

I remember in Art GCSE at school my Art teacher telling us how she had been at a workshop and each person had to paint something.  They were asked to pause after about 20 minutes and share with the rest of the group which part of their painting they liked the most.

 

They all proudly pointed out which bits they thought were best and explained why.

 

And then the tutor asked them to paint over those perfect parts - to wipe them away - and to continue painting.

 

You can imagine my teacher's feelings as she was asked to paint over what she perceived to be the best part of her work.

 

But she said that after wrestling with the idea, when she did finally paint over the 'perfect' bit, she was much freer in her painting.  She wasn't limited or restricted by trying to make the rest of the painting as 'perfect' as the small bit she was proud of.

 

If we hold on to the idea of doing something (anything) perfectly, it will stand in the way of real creativity.  We will tiptoe around the perfect bits, scared to disrupt or ruin them.

 

Scott Adams says,

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes."

 

Or perhaps we could say, Creativity is allowing yourself the freedom to be less than perfect.

 

As someone who has spent a long time trying (and obviously failing) to be perfect, this is so freeing.  I want to be creative, I want to be free to make mistakes.

 

Paul urged the Galatian church,

"Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand!  Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you."

 

[Galatians 5:1 MSG]

 

Even something as seemingly good as perfection can become a form of slavery.

 

Let's not let our drive for 'perfection' strip us of our God-given, messy, colouring-outside-the-lines creativity.

 

 

 

 

Writing and Creating

I love writing. 

 

Stories, articles, blogs, essays, poems.  It doesn't really matter what I'm writing.  I enjoy all of it.

 

I never feel more alive than when I am writing.  It feels as though I am doing what I was created to do and I feel satisfied in the very depths of my being.

 

I have been working this evening on a story I'm writing and I've been really interested in the way that I think as I write.  I know what I want to say and I play around with the words until I am happy with them.  I feel confident and creative and I enjoy both the process of writing and the finished piece.

 

I love the feeling of creating new faces and places,  of describing a storyline unfolding and unfurling.  And I love how the characters seem to come alive in my hands.

 

But when it comes to my own life, I often forget that I have the same creative power.  I have the ability to change the way I see myself or what I believe about myself through my words.  I have the power to create new situations or scenarios for myself.  I have the power to alter how I see myself and how I value myself.  I have the power to decide what or who I will believe about myself. 

 

I have the power to create or destroy, to build up, or to tear down.   

 

Proverbs says,

"Words kill, words give life; they're either poison or fruit - you choose."

[Proverbs 18:21 MSG]

 

So often I don't choose.  I forget that I have this creative power over my own life and, especially, over my own thoughts.  I feel as though I drift along through life, as a passive tourist, rather than as an active participant.

 

But Paul writes about the need for us to be active in constructing our identity and our sense of self and making sure that what we believe about ourselves measures up with what God says about us:

"The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.  On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

 

[2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV]

 

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.

 

It is with God's word that we demolish the arguments and lies we believe about ourselves: I am not worthless, I am not abandoned, I am not forgotten or forsaken, I am forgiven, I am loved, I am chosen, I am blessed, I am delighted in.

 

And we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

 

If I only let myself believe the things that God says about me, I would have a deep sense of peace and security about who I am.

 

But we have to choose.  We have to be active in writing and creating our identity.  In the same way that a writer has to be active for the characters to live and for the story to unfold.