Wednesday, February 13, 2013

17 Days till Launch: Seeds of Creativity




I recently came across a speech I presented two years ago at an event in support of the “This I Believe” organization.  A group of individuals from our community were asked to write their beliefs and then share them with the audience.  It's a good thing to periodically review your beliefs and determine if those beliefs serve you well.  Here is what I still believe.

I believe one of the greatest treasures within each human being is the gift to create, and that our ability to do so is only limited by our imagination.  I believe children innately possess the quality of mind and soul that allows them to tap into their own creative imaginations.  They instinctively live in their own reality—in the now—created by their imaginations.  This is why they are so joyful, honest, and determined.  Often, somewhere between childhood and adolescence, humans become disillusioned by the imprinting of their circumstances, by other individuals, and even by entire societies of people who have forgotten how to live with creative imagination. 

Renowned attorney and author in the mid 1950’s, Hugh Brown, quoted a Dr. Stockdale in one of his writings: “When God made the earth, he could have finished it, but He didn’t.  Instead, he left it as raw material to tease us and tantalize us and set us thinking and experimenting and risking and adventuring, and therein we find the supreme interest in living.  God gave us a world unfinished so that we might share in the joys and satisfaction of creation.  He left the electricity in the clouds.  He left the rivers unbridged and the mountains untrailed.  He left the cities unbuilt. He left the laboratories opened.  He left the diamonds uncut. He gave us a challenge of raw materials, not the satisfaction of perfect, finished things.  He left the music unsung, the dramas unplanned. He left the poetry undreamed in order that men and women might not become bored with life, but engage in stimulating, exciting, creative activities to keep them thinking, working, experimenting, and experiencing all the joys and durable satisfactions of achievement.  Work, thought, creation—these give life its stimulus.” (Hugh B. Brown, “The Abundant Life”, 1965, p.156-157)

In November 2008, at a worldwide conference for women, former international airline pilot, Dieter F. Uchtdorf, said this about the process of creative imagination: “The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul.  No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before.  Everyone can create.  You don’t need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty.  Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment.  We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty.  Creation means bringing into existence something that did not exist before.”

As an author, I explore and create stories that didn’t exist before.  In my young adult fantasy, “Stelladaur: Finding Tir Na Nog” the main character makes personal connections between imagination and reality, inviting the reader to do the same.  Here is a brief synopsis:

Reilly, a teenager with extraordinary abilities, lives in an idyllic island town in the Pacific Northwest.  After his sixteenth birthday, everything changes! Unforeseen events threaten his confidence, his peace—even his life—and he needs answers.  His friend, Eilam, an old guru from another time and place (who most people call crazy) guides him to find a magical heirloom—a Stelladaur.  With this treasure, Reilly travels through invisible portals to different dimensions where he learns how to help others discover their own hidden powers.  The Stelladaur can give him what he wants most, but when a beautiful girl captures his attention, he questions his deepest desires.  Meanwhile, Reilly believes that Travis Jackson, a wealthy, Novel Prize-winning scientist, is trying to steal the secrets of the Stelladaur to use in his ominous new invention.  Driven by an intense desire to make a difference, Reilly decides to expose the famous Mr. Jackson, and his courage is put to the test.  It takes an even greater courage for Reilly to trust his heart when someone he loves vanishes.

The Stelladaur Series is about realizing your greatest desire by understanding the universal connection between imagination and following your own heart.  In one scene, Reilly goes through a vortex in the violet stream of a rainbow to a place called Jolka.  There he meets Fiala, who tells him that his desires must be "educated with imagination."  She tells him "imagination gives great power to envision and believe".

"Each colored vortex provides a specific education for the attainment of one's greatest desire.  One perspective, and then another, and then another.”

A comfortable silence that reminded Reilly of quiet moments with Eilam now settled upon him.  They moved along for a while without talking as he continued to digest what Fiala had told him.  Still trying to absorb the extraordinary experiences, Reilly was, nevertheless, certain it was all very real.  He broke the silence between them.

"Can a person have everything he or she wants, or does it only happen if it is a greatest desire?"

"Every desire is for receiving and enjoying.  One must only be in alignment with the law that manifests the desire.  Most beings from the place of habitation where the One called Reilly resides do not allow such understanding.”

"Then what is the purpose of a greatest desire?"

"To reveal the endless potential within every One."

Like Reilly, I believe imagination is an innate gift.  Any dream, goal, or desire we imagine is a seed of endless possibilities.  These seeds of creativity are given to cultivate our greatest potential as human beings.  This I believe.

(To explore more ideas that support imagination and creativity visit The Stelladaur Academy online.)

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