On Creativity #1
Practicing Art to Revive the Child Within
This is the beginning of a segment on creativity — and on using it to revive the childlike admiration we once had for the world. The goal is simple: to live in color again, not in black and white.
Throughout this segment, I’ll share some of the art I’ve been working on. I give all glory to God for any bit of beauty you may find in it. It is by my own hand that any blemishes or imperfections appear — but it is God who gives the joy of beauty, the satisfaction of completion, and the gentle encouragement that says: “Keep going.”
“If your everyday life seems to lack material, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to summon up its riches, for there is no lack for him who creates and no poor, trivial place.”
— Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
The seeds of creativity are planted in every soul.
As children, our humility kept the garden clear of shadows. The seeds were watered, and they grew toward the light.
But over time, shadows crept in — the fear of judgment, the pressure to "get it right," the symbols we clung to rather than seeing with fresh eyes.
“Most of us stopped drawing when we began to substitute symbols for seeing.”
— Betty Edwards, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
When the shadows grew, the shoots stopped rising. The flowers ceased to bloom.
As adults, this is why we feel divided from the childlike spirit — and this is the source of that familiar longing for childhood.
We miss the magic. We fear it’s lost.
But it isn’t.
The garden still lives beneath the shadows. All we must do is clear them away and make room for the sunlight once more.
How? Through art — through creative exploration. Writing, painting, carving — any act of making with wonder.
At first, the adult mind resists this. It hates it. The matured ego fears losing control. It wants to preserve its order, its seriousness.
But if we can silence the ego — if we can spend just a few minutes each day writing poems or stories, drawing from imagination or from life — we begin to feel the creator inside us stir again.
“Go into yourself and see how deep the place is from which your life flows; at its source you will find the answer.”
— Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
Look at the world as if you are the first man to see it. Write what you see. Draw what you feel. Create without apology.
Soon the black-and-white world becomes painted with color — by the creativity rekindled within you.
And the more vibrant your inner world becomes, the more alive the world around you will appear.
Suggested Resources
Letters to a Young Poet — How and why to write; how to cultivate an inner life of observation and expression.
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain — Learning to see the world differently, and to draw what is truly there — not what the mind symbolically substitutes.
Woodcarving by Everett Ellenwood— A simple guide to reconnecting with the joy of shaping beauty through your hands.
Give It a Shot:
Look at a tree and write a poem about what you see.
Don’t concern yourself with the quality — simply create.
“You ask whether your verses are good. You ask me that. You have asked others before. You send them to magazines. You compare them with other poems and you worry when certain editors turn your efforts down. Now let me ask you to give that all up... There is only one way. Go into yourself.”
— Letters to a Young Poet
Try the upside-down drawing exercise.
Follow this link to practice drawing the upside-down Stravinsky man:
Upside-Down Drawing Exercise →
This will help bypass your left-brain symbols and reawaken your true visual perception.Go to your local arts and crafts store, buy some balsa wood, and carve something simple.
Feel the joy of working with your hands. It does not matter what you make. The act itself will awaken something long buried.
Prayer for Creation
Lord Jesus Christ, source of every good thing,
I offer Thee this work — for Thy glory and the benefit of others.
Work through me. Guide my hands and mind.
Preserve me from pride. May every beauty come from Thee.
Amen.