THE CREATIVE PROCESS

A PATTERN OF CREATIVITY

Imagine a gardener that is absolutely passionate about gardening. He marvels at the process of organizing elements and infusing them with life, watching as they flourish, developing vibrant colors and sweet aromas. There are no two identical plants, every single plant adds it’s own unique charm to the variety of his garden. He marvels at the beauty of it all. He continually seeks to improve his garden, inquiring to know more precisely what causes the growth and flourishing of the seed.

Light – He discovers that sunlight is the primary ingredient for life. It is the energy that puts the elements into motion, organizing them from chaos into order. Dependable and constant, the sun always rises and never fails to give its light. It is always present.

Water – He learns that without water, no life or growth occurs, it’s as if the light never penetrates into seed. When the seed is moist with water, it is in a state that can receive and utilize the energy that comes from the light. The water enables the seed to internalize the energy and life that comes from the light. Though the seed is immersed in light, without water, no life enters and no creation occurs.

Soil – The soil is the material of the creation. The seed roots spring forth, gathering elements to bring into this higher order of life. Particles that are in the form of dust and dirt are refashioned into the form of stems, pedals, and leaves. Without the soil, there is no material to organize.

The seed is the mind and will. It determines the shape and structure of the species. It controls the flow of energy, deciding how the elements will be organized and what kind of beauty it will develop. This creative determination is an expression of the inherent desire to grow and realize it’s unique potential. Every seed has a potential creation within, following the pattern of it’s species, but still unique from every other seed. If the seed never receives the life-giving power of the light, the desire of creativity within can never become reality.

CREATIVITY IS INHERENT WITHIN US

We are seeds with a desire to release the infinite creativity that is interwoven into the fabric of our beings. Just as we inherit the physical qualities of our physical parents, we also inherit the spirit qualities of our spirit parents. We are all children of God the Great Creator of the universe. We have inherited His attributes of creativity as part of our spiritual DNA.

Our soil is the medium of our creative expression. To the musician it is sound. To the poet it is language. To the visual artist it is color, shape, and shadow. To the chef it is taste and smell. It is the thing that we transform and organize into beauty. Our creations become an extension of ourselves as we add our own beauty and color to the garden of our world.

The water is the method of putting ourselves in a state that can receive the light. As an un-watered seed receives no life from an abundance of light, we too can be immersed in creative light without ever allowing it to penetrate into our souls. As water enables the plant to receive the life of light into its’ system, we too must water our souls in order to invite the light into our beings. The water is the spiritual process of tapping into the infinite source of light that surrounds us.

The light is the energy source and the power that unfolds the profound beauty and creativity within our souls. It is constant, reliable, ever-present, and always shining. As we receive the light and let it penetrate into the core of our beings it draws out the majesty and divinity from within, and it reveals to us our true nature. As we experience these infusions of light, inspired creative expressions emerge from within, the process enriches and flourishes. The inner most part of our soul has an unquenchable thirst for the taste of light.

GROWING OUR GARDEN

The gardener must understand how soil, water and light work together in order to make his seeds bloom to their fullest creative potential. We too need to understand the soil, the water, and the light required for us to grow to reach our creative potential.

I didn’t come up with these ideas on my own. I discovered them by studying some of the greatest and most creative minds of this earth. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, Isaac Newton, and Nikola Tesla to name a few. The ideas are expressed more powerfully directly from personal experiences of the masters themselves, and in their own words. As you read their own personal accounts you’ll find that they use different words to describe it, but the context shows that they’re all talking about the same thing.

Imagine that you saw a new color that is outside the color spectrum that we all know. How would you describe it to others that haven’t seen it? Imagine that someone else saw that color as well. It’s likely that they would use different descriptive words than you. It is the same with all of the following descriptions of the creative process, when inventing and creating they experienced things that transcend the physical experience. As we read their different experiences and try to understand what they’re talking about we begin to discover that they are all describing the same thing.

THE SEED – THE INHERENT QUALITIES AND DESIRE WITHIN US

“The great secret of all creative geniuses is that they possess that power to appropriate the beauty, the wealth, the grandeur, and the sublimity contained within their own souls, which are parts of Omnipotence, and to communicate those riches to others. The conscious, purposeful appropriation of one’s own soul forces is the supreme secret.” (Puccini)

Oneness with God

“The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not; nevertheless, the day shall come when you shall comprehend even God, being quickened in him and by him. Then shall ye know that ye have seen me, that I am, and that I am the true light that is in you, and that you are in me; otherwise ye could not abound.” (Doctrine & Covenants 88:49-50)

THE SOIL – THE MEDIUM OF OUR CREATIONS

“God does not do for man what he can do for himself. We mortals here on this earth are partners of the Creator but few there be who realize it. For instance, God makes the tree grow, but man, if he wants to build a house, must cut it down and saw it up into boards.

“It is the same with a composer. He must acquire by laborious study and application the technical mastery of his craft; but he will never write anything of lasting value unless he has Divine aid also. There is a vast amount of good music paper wasted by composers who don’t know this great truth. We are dealing in this domain with higher spiritual laws.” (Puccini)

THE WATER – THE METHOD FOR RECEIVING THE LIGHT

“I first grasp the full power of the Ego within me. Then I feel the burning desire and the intense resolve to create something worthwhile. This desire, this longing, implies in itself the knowledge that I can attain my goal. Then I make a fervent demand for and from the Power that created me. This demand, or prayer, must be coupled with full expectation that this higher aid will be granted me. This perfect faith opens the way for vibration to pass from the dynamo, which the soul-center is, into my consciousness, and the inspired ideas are born.” (Puccini)

“The music of this opera was dictated to me by God; I was merely instrumental in putting it on paper and communicating it to the public.” (Puccini)

Brahms

“To realize that we are one with the Creator, as Beethoven did, is a wonderful and awe-inspiring experience. Very few human beings ever come into that realization and this is why there are so few great composers or creative geniuses in any line of human endeavor. I always contemplate all this before commencing to compose. This is the first step. When I feel the urge I begin by appealing directly to my Maker and I first ask Him the three most important questions pertaining to our life here in this world—whence, wherefore, whither?

“I immediately feel vibrations that thrill my whole being. These are the Spirit illuminating the soul-power within, and in this exalted state, I see clearly what is obscure in my ordinary moods; then I feel capable of drawing inspiration from above, as Beethoven did. Above all, I realize at such moments the tremendous significance of Jesus’ supreme revelation, ‘I and my Father are one.’ Those vibrations assume the form of distinct mental images, after I have formulated my desire and resolve in regard to what I want—namely, to be inspired so that I can compose something that will uplift and benefit humanity—something of permanent value.

“Straightaway the ideas flow in upon me, directly from God, and not only do I see distinct themes in my mind’s eye, but they are clothed in the right forms, harmonies, and orchestrations. Measure by measure, the finished product is revealed to me when I am in those rare, inspired moods. . . . I have to be in a semi-trance condition to get such results — a condition when the conscious mind is in temporary abeyance and the subconscious is in control, for it is through the subconscious mind, which is part of Omnipotence, that the inspiration comes. I have to be careful, however, not to lose consciousness, otherwise the ideas fade away.” (Brahms)

“…You see, the powers from which all truly great composers like Mozart, Schubert, Bach and Beethoven drew their inspirations is the same power that enabled Jesus to work His miracles. We call it God, Omnipotence, Divinity, the Creator, etc…

“It is the power that created our earth and the whole universe, including you and me” (Brahms)

“‘The Father that dwelleth within me, he doeth the works.’ The real genius draws on the Infinite Source of Wisdom and Power as Milton and Beethoven did. That is, in my opinion, the best definition of genius. Jesus was the world’s supreme spiritual genius, and He was conscious of appropriating the only true source of power as no one else ever was, although Beethoven and Milton realized too they were tapping that same source in a lesser degree. It is all a question of degree.” (Brahms)

“…great poets like Goethe, Schiller, Milton, Tennyson and Wordsworth received the Cosmic vibrations of eternal Truths because they linked themselves to the infinite energy of the Cosmos–in other words, to God. I ponder over all these things before I commence to compose and such meditation has a most illuminating effect on my imagination and puts me in rapport with that same Power.” (Brahms)

“I always have had a definite purpose in view, before invoking the Muse and entering into such a mood; and as I pointed out to you before, contemplating what Goethe, Milton and Tennyson said stimulated my fantasy to a powerful degree. Then when I felt those higher Cosmic vibrations, I knew that I was in touch with the same Power that inspired those great poets and also Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. Then the ideas which I was consciously seeking flowed in upon me with such force and speed, that I could only grasp and hold a few of them; I never was able to jot them all down; they came in instantaneous flashes and quickly faded away again, unless I fixed them on paper. The themes that will endure in my compositions all come to me in this way. It has always been such a wonderful experience, that I never before could induce myself to talk about it–even to you, Joseph. I felt that I was, for the moment, in tune with the Infinite, and there is no thrill like it. I can understand why the great Nazarene attached so little importance to this life. He must have been in much closer rapport with the infinite force of the Universe, than any poet or composer ever was, and He no doubt had glimpses of that next plane, He called ‘heaven’.” (Brahms)

THE LIGHT – THE DIVINE ENERGY SOURCE OF ALL THINGS

“The inspiration from above stimulates the intellect and the emotions. An inspired person sees things in a totally different light from one who is not inspired. Inspiration is an awakening, a quickening of man’s faculties, and it is manifested in all high artistic achievements. It is an overwhelming, a compelling force. In short, it is a Divine influence.” (Puccini)

Brahms

“Spirit is the light of the soul. Spirit is universal. Spirit is the creative energy of the Cosmos. The soul of man is not conscious of its powers until it is enlightened by Spirit. Therefore, to evolve and grow, man must learn how to use and develop his own soul forces. All great creative geniuses do this. Although some of them do not seem to be as conscious of the process as others.” (Brahms)

“…All true inspiration emanates from God, and He can reveal Himself to us only through that spark of divinity within…” (Brahms)

“It is the power that created our earth and the whole universe, including you and me…” (Brahms)

There is a creative light that flows through us all. It is an energy that permeates all space.

Beethoven

“When I composed that passage, I was conscious of being inspired by Almighty God.” (Beethoven)

Beethoven had such a spiritual connection with music that he equated music and the spirit as the same thing,

“Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents.” (Brahms)

Nikola Tesla

“My brain is only a receiver, in the Universe there is a core from which we obtain knowledge, strength and inspiration. I have not penetrated into the secrets of this core, but I know that it exists.”

“He that ascended up on high, as also he descended below all things, in that he comprehended all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth; Which truth shineth. This is the light of Christ. As also he is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made. As also he is in the moon, and is the light of the moon, and the power thereof by which it was made; As also the light of the stars, and the power thereof by which they were made; And the earth also, and the power thereof, even the earth upon which you stand. And the light which shineth, which giveth you light, is through him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth your understandings; Which light proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space— The light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed, even the power of God who sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things.” (Doctrine & Covenants 88:6-13)

“The Comforter knoweth all things; he is commissioned to bear witness of the Father and the Son, to reveal, to teach, and to testify—and he is broadcasting all the truths of salvation, and all the knowledge and wisdom of God, out into all immensity all of the time.

How this is done we do not know. We cannot comprehend God or the laws by which he governs the universe. But that it does happen we know because here in the valley below, when we attune our souls to the Infinite, we hear and see and experience the things of God.” (Bruce R. McConkie “The Lords People Receive Revelation” June 1971)

“But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God… For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God. (The Book of Mormon, Moroni 7:13,16)

Isaac Newton “And these things being rightly dispatch’d, does it not appear from phenomena that there is a Being incorporeal, living, intelligent, omnipresent, who in infinite space, as it were in his Sensory, sees the things themselves intimately, and thoroughly perceives them, and comprehends them wholly by their immediate presence to himself: Of which things the images only carried through the organs of sense into our little sensoriums are there seen and beheld by that which in us perceives and thinks. And though every true step made in this philosophy brings us not immediately to the knowledge of the first cause, yet it brings us nearer to it.”

“He comprehendeth all things, and all things are before him, and all things are round about him; and he is above all things, and in all things, and is through all things, and is round about all things; and all things are by him, and of him, even God, forever and ever. And again, verily I say unto you, he hath given a law unto all things, by which they move in their times and their seasons; And their courses are fixed, even the courses of the heavens and the earth, which comprehend the earth and all the planets. And they give light to each other in their times and in their seasons, in their minutes, in their hours, in their days, in their weeks, in their months, in their years—all these are one year with God, but not with man. The earth rolls upon her wings, and the sun giveth his light by day, and the moon giveth her light by night, and the stars also give their light, as they roll upon their wings in their glory, in the midst of the power of God.” (Doctrine & Covenants 88:41-45)

“He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things… And every man whose spirit receiveth not the light is under condemnation… The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth.” (Doctrine & Covenants 93:28,32,36)