This is going to be one of my more wordy posts; indeed the topic at hand is more of a lexical intrigue, so if word usage and choice isn't of much interest to you you might not get what it is I'm trying to explore throughout this post.
As always, I give fair warning that many of my posts here are, by their nature, not very polished. I write on my blog not to have some shiny finished product to offer, rather as a means of developing and shaping that which is in my brain, getting it out on 'paper' in some way.
The topic at hand comes from some reflection on the Creation (with a capital 'C') and the various accounts we have of it. The most common account, of course, is that of Genesis (ch. 1), which describes the creation with very powerful vocabulary: "created" (v. 1, 21, 27), "make" (v. 26), "made" (7, 16, 25, 31). This account has always evoked images of, well, genesis. Creation. In brief, the existence of something that simply wasn't there before, I always assumed, somewhere in the back of my head, that God merely spoke and the world was. From nothingness there became something. But this is only one account.
Upon reading in the book of Abraham (in the Pearl of Great Price) one finds very different vocabulary at use (ch. 4): "organized" (v. 1, 12, 14-16, 25, 30), "formed" (1-2), "form" (26-27), "ordered" (7, 9, 11, 18), "prepare" (11, 20-21, 24). To me, these words speak more of shaping something already there, of manipulating some pre-existing matter. I think they are all very well summed up by the verb "to organize." One very good definition of "organize" as found on the interwebz is: "arrange into a structured whole; order."
Now, hold on a minute, both the Genesis and the Abraham accounts speak of the same event, right? Written by different prophets (Moses and Abraham, respectively) at different times in mankind's history, it is probable that when the revelations were received they were each directed to the people of that time period, using language and a direction best suited to the spiritual maturity of the people in that time. We know that the people whom Moses led were not exactly quick to follow the Lord; see the subsequent 4 books of the Pentateuch for evidence of that (i.e. Law of Moses). Thus it is not surprising to see that things were dumbed down for them. However, we can assume by the same logic that Abraham's family/people/contemporaries (we really don't know a lot about him) had a larger understanding of the universe and were more obedient to the Lord, thus were able to understand something a little more in depth regarding the organization of this world.
The thing that really got to me, though, besides just comparing these two accounts, was realizing that not only was the event they were describing the same, just on differing levels of understanding, but that really, the words they use are the same. Obviously, if you put in ("create" == "organize") you're going to get returned a big fat boolean FALSE. The words themselves are, of course, different. But the thing they describe is actually the same. What did God do when He created the earth? He organized the matter that was there. (This of course makes perfect sense with our best theory of how the world came to be, the big bang, which states that the world came together out of drifting, unorganized, matter, most of it basic stuff like hydrogen. Now unfortunately, it would seem that Abraham and his compatriots were not nuclear physicists, or perhaps we would have a better idea of how God acted on those basic particles to shape them into a solar system and a world and everything else. As we stand, though, and as far as the purposes of this post, I'm going to shelve those questions and return to the lexical discussion at hand.)
So what is creation, then? We know that God "organized...the earth" (Abr. 4:1), "divided the light" (:4), "ordered the expanse" (:7), "the waters...gathered together" (:9), "organized the earth to bring forth grass" (:11), "organized the lights" (:14), "prepared the earth [to bring forth animals on it]" (:24), and "form man" (:26), but there doesn't seem to be any evidence of him blatantly bringing new material into existence. Even with our own spirits, God didn't pull us out of nowhere, rather we learn that Abraham was shown "the intelligences that were organized before the world was" (Abraham 3:22, emphasis added). Indeed, the laws of science stipulate that matter cannot be made nor destroyed (laws of conservation of mass/energy). So what was the process used to create our world, but careful and well planned organization of the fundamental building blocks of the universe? What is the creative process in and of itself, but organization of surrounding materials and ideas? This leads me to my first realization, that to create is to organize.
Where this is of greatest import to me, however, is personally. For my entire life I have characterized myself as one devoid of any creative ability. I continually excuse myself or under represent myself by stating simply "Oh, I can't/couldn't do that, I'm not very creative." Because to me, being creative or exercising creative ability has always meant being able to pull ideas out of nowhere. Bringing substance from the void. Now, however, I'm starting to gain a greater appreciation for what is going on inside of "creative" people's heads. Just as the earthly creative process involved assembling and ordering blocks of matter, any other kind of creative process merely involves assembling and ordering ideas, thoughts, stories, characters, designs, colors, songs, words, etc. That's pretty easy to say, but to actually do it is another matter entirely. I'd take a guess that most people aren't even aware of this when they create. The building blocks that go into their works are brought in over their lifetimes and filter through their subconscious, where they gradually build up until noticed by the awake brain. It is there they start to become something new.
There's a scripture in Proverbs that was very helpful to me in understanding this new meaning of "to create" which is found in chapter 3 verses 19-20:
"19 The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.
20 By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew."
I like this passage for several reasons; primarily it is speaking of God's power over the earth including the founding thereof (note the verb used: found). Moreover, it is the attributes of the Lord by which He affects all these things that really caught my attention: by His wisdom he hath founded the earth. By His understanding hath he established the heavens. By His knowledge the depths are broken up and the clouds drop down the dew. By looking at these three attributes, wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, we can better understand how the creative process works. After thinking about it, I ordered them thus:
1) To create, you must first understand the resources at your disposal. You must be able to get a sense of what you have around you before you can ever hope to use them to create, or organize, something. As a writer, having words in my head isn't going to do me any good if I don't understand what they mean or what they connote, what feelings they evoke when put together in a certain way. You must first understand the building blocks from which you can draw.
2) To create, you must then have the knowledge to put them together. God has a knowledge of how all physical matter interacts; that is how he is able to manipulate it however he wants. A sculptor has a knowledge of how his medium is best shaped, of how to carve the wood or chip the stone so it will look exactly how he wants it to appear. To create you have to have knowledge, or experience, in assembling your creative building blocks.
3) Above all, you must have wisdom in order to create. Your ideas must amount to something. No one can just start putting words in sequence and hope that they will weave a great story. You must have wisdom, or a vision, of what it is you want your building blocks to assemble into. Perhaps that is why we still look to the creation/organization of the earth as the supreme example of creation; not only was it the largest scale creation ever accomplished (that is known about among humankind), but it also has the most sublime purpose; the perfect environment to pass through our mortal journey and gain the preparation we need in order to return to live in God's presence again (see 1 Nephi 17:36).
In this light I begin to understand that I really am a creative person. I think back to my mission, where at a certain point I started using certain teaching strategies, or making changes to our apartment, that I hadn't done before nor seen done before. When my companion commented on one of them, I told him (and myself) that it wasn't anything I hadn't already seen one of my previous companions do. However, that wasn't entirely true. What I had done was take an idea or a concept that I had observed from a former companion, and then I ordered it to fit the new situation. In reality, it was not was I had seen my companion do; it was based from that, but that was merely a creative building block in the process of creating something new.
The implications to this, for me, are enormous. It means that my range of what I define as "creative," or "creation," has vastly expanded. It means that I can no longer tell myself or others that I am "not a very creative person" without doing some serious reflection, upon which I will probably realize that I actually can create. It means that I can stop feeling like I can't take credit for things I produce when the inspiration comes from outside sources (because that what all creation is; taking bits and pieces from outside sources and shaping them, forming them into my own). More than anything, it helps me be more creative myself.
The implications are not limited to the secular realm only. Another implication of this realization is that I have a better understanding of the journey we must make to become more like God and Jesus. To help explain what I mean by this consider the following:
The Egyptians believed in two basic, opposing forces in the universe: isfet and ma'at; chaos and order. In their pantheons the gods were upholders of ma'at, preserving the existence of creation against the degradationary effects of chaos. Isfet, or chaos itself, was sometimes given form in the shape of a giant snake apophis that regularly did battle with the sun god Ra. (An interesting aside, we know that Abraham spent some time in Egypt; I wonder how big the flow of ideas was the went between the two.) To the Egyptians, ma'at was the symbol of good and of order, while at the same time being representative of their gods.
Not only has my understanding of creativity increased, but my appreciation of the divine nature of creativity has deepened. I've come to realize that acts of creation are acts of divinity, reflecting potential within us to improve on our estate and return to our Father in Heaven. Therefore, I am more aware of those around me who create, and I can appreciate that they are striving to unlock their divine potential.
I also understand that creation can take place in many different forms. There are the more obvious ones, done by authors and artists and architects, musicians and dancers and singers, but there are also the creative works that take place under the hands of teachers and mentors, who create a better person, or a more capable student. Any organization of existing resources in the wisdom of creating a better society, or person, or simply creating a new idea, is an act of good and also an expression of gratitude to He who bestowed those talents and abilities in the first place.
So let me be just one more among thousands and millions who create every day. This simple blog post, like my others, is nothing special, and isn't seen by many, but I do intend it, to some degree, as a means of thanks to God who gave me my inquisitive and analytic mind. I intend to continue discovering more about myself and about this life while I can, looking for enlightenment and understanding in the world around me.
That's as far as I've thought through this for now. I might add more as more thoughts come to mind, but this seems to be pretty inclusive. Best to have it all written out than to have it lost in the recesses of my mind. Though it's strange to think; I never would have spent this much time on a paper for school I guess that shows where my priorities lie (not in English class!).
That's enough from me for now. Take a break from my monotony while enjoying some of my favorite creative people:
And another:
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