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Deutsche Version | Wiki Start | Topics Collection vi
Silence V - Creativity and Inspiration ...
Tuesday, Aug 12, 2014. We have been in central London yesterday - it is a busy place in the summer time, with many tourists flooding through the roads and attractions. After living in the London area for many years, I know and even love this busy environment, where business, science, art and tourism merge into a very special atmosphere.
Between Inspiration and Silence …
I feel as somewhere between inspiration and silence. Yesterday, we spend several hours in Tate Modern, marching through 200 years of art history. I have been studying the different steps which artists went through since the 19h century. When art moved from realism into impressionism and expressionism and then dissolved its traditional framework further, to study all the components of art, focussing on the process of art itself.
I must say that I think that life can be as exciting as art history. Imagine you start with your ordinary life, with what you believe to be some kind of realistic description. Then, you move to an impressionistic view, studying your feelings, your perception of the things around you, but also the things inside of you. That leads your to expressionism, giving your inner being a tool for expressing itself. That can be a painting, but it can also be different, it can be music, it can be sports, action, behaviour, words, friendship …
Imagine you now start to take your own personality into pieces. You start to study parts of what you do, what you want, what you desire, hope, believe. You start to study not the whole, but parts of it and give it some expression. Art and life merge. You find your way to express and view yourself, and others.
God and Creativity …
We know that God is the creator of this universe. He is the creator of all things, of physical processes, of waves and fluids, of structures and components. God is the creative source of life … that is a key message of Christian teaching. And he knows it all, the large structures like galaxies or stars as well as the tiny things, our molecules, the chemistry of our body. He knows it all, and he has created it and is creating with it today.
I cannot separate my faith from the creative activities I am a part of. I cannot separate inspiration which I get from art and art history from the belief I have, from my knowledge about Jesus, who was with God at the beginning, was there when the earth has been created. It is a part of my meditation, to learn more about our world, and to learn more about God at the same time. Creation is not God, but it has been shaped by his hand. Creation tells us a fantastic breathtaking story of a God who is creative far beyond our understanding, far beyond our measures and our ability to comprehend.
To grow in understanding of creativity, silence is an important ingredient. You cannot just rush through the art works - nor can you to understand God and Christ Jesus. You need to slow down a little, sit down, become silent, and then start to understand. You need to take time, for a particular piece or question. You need to sort your feelings, your reason, your understanding … and see it evolve, in slow motion, giving this process what it needs: silence and time! (Roland Potthast) ... more texts