“The term creatio continua refers to God’s continuing creative activity throughout the history of the universe. In a sense, most theologians accept creatio continua, since creation is the dependence of the whole of space-time on God. But more traditional views hold that because God is timeless and immutable, there is only one divine creative act, which originates the whole of space-time from first to last. Those who speak of creatio continua think of creation taking place in many successive acts, partly in response to events in time. Thus, at any particular time God’s creation has not been completed, and the future is partly open, in some theological views, even for God.”
I’ve been asking myself repeatedly what this so-called Creative Process is.
How does it manifest, and is it a process that involves control, or are we thrown into it, pulled into this vortex, and only released from its grip after the “dancer of chance” finishes expressing itself through this symbiosis with us?
It’s no coincidence that I came across this concept in Carl G. Jung’s book Man and His Symbols.
And it’s no coincidence because reading Jung is like an inception of questions and answers with reality, and sometimes beyond it… He calls it synchronicities, and I think we’re all a bit tired of hearing this term. Right?
In my (non) quest to understand my processes, my productivity, and my desire to build my projects and reach my goals, I always come across two essential forces for everything to flow: cleanliness and routine.
Everything organized, things in their place, the bed made, and the smell of cleanliness helps me produce.
Many times, a productive day is simply getting these things aligned. And once all of that is done, routine starts falling into place, schedules become easier to follow, and distractions decrease significantly.
It’s a productive marriage, we could say: being able to do what you always do, with things where they “should” be, and without any kegare (a Japanese term, look it up) along the way.
When we encounter the concept of creatio continua, paying more attention to this productive marriage and linking it with the quote above, a lot starts to make sense, but it also raises more questions: what if the Creative Process is, in reality, an eternal repetition?
What if our relationship with God, the Universe, or a Higher Power is also an eternal repetition?
And what if the Freedom of Habits is literally the sacrifice of abandoning distractions combined with the struggle of doing what you want until it becomes pleasurable? Could Renato Russo have been right, and Freedom is really Discipline?
From this point of view, inspiration wouldn’t be the artist’s peak, but rather a cry for help from the unconscious saying:
“Hey… how long are you going to keep procrastinating!?”
(Unconscious)
And when it comes, it hits with a burst of creative power just to remind you how awesome it is to obsessively play the game of life.
So what makes sense then?
Many times, part of the game isn’t even about forcing creativity or investing energy to create.
The game is probably just preparing the house to welcome the creative guest.
It’s like a guest who comes over, has a good time, makes us laugh, and leaves the house for us to clean up. But it’s worth hosting this guest because we love their company… at least, I’m head over heels for it.
Creativity lives within the attention to the mundane, treating it as if it were the most important thing in the world.
And, in fact, it is.
Creativity hides in what truly matters, not in what merely wants to be… creative.
It’s the most important because it allows us to pay attention to what was once just action. It brings closer what was just over there.
I read the other day: A river carves a rock not by force, but by persistence.
The art of the river.
The art of the stone.
The art of dance.
The art of time.
dive in.
