a brief meditation on the nature of God and Creativity

some thoughts and ideas, often gleamed in the most unusual of circumstances, stick with you your entire life. I was reminded of one of those on Friday morning as I drove into work listening to NPR. Something said in an an interview with Artie Shaw, played on Morning Edition, struck a chord within me. Shaw was a revolutionary figure on the Jazz clarinetist and band leader. He left performing behind years ago because his quest for perfection was driving him mad. At the end of the interview he said the following when asked about a clarinet in his home:

“That’s the clarinet I used to use… but it’s just a piece of wood, you know, with holes in it and they put these clumsy keys on it and you’re supposed to try to take that and manipulate it with throat muscles and chops… and try to make something happen that never happened before. And when you do, you never forget it. It beats sex, it beats anything… when you hit something on the clarinet, or any instrument, and you know that’s absolutely as close to perfect as you can make it… if you were God, you’d come closer. Very rarely can you say that.”

The reference to creation and God reminded me of something that I had heard a few years ago which at the time I thought it was an interesting idea. The more and more I thought about it and Shaw’s comment, I knew that I wanted to blog and share it. Craig Yoe, co founder of Yoe! Studios threw out this idea at a conference. Craig is one for the most interesting folks I think I’ve met. Eccentric is putting it mildly when it comes to Craig. At the workshop, he explained that he’s an ordained pastor and shared the following:

“If you look at the bible, the first words of Genesis, the first action God took was to create: ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’ (Genesis: 1,1). We, you and I, are the closest God, and perhaps the closest to being divine, when we create.”

The more that I think about those words, the more that I find that I agree with them. Whether while creating something myself, or more often experiencing the creations of others I feel connected to something far greater than just us. Call it what you like (feel free to mold this to your personal spiritual views), but there is something very mystical in the act of bringing something new and unique into the world. It transcends all other activites. And perhaps it does put us just a little closer to the devine. At least I’d like to think so.