There are many paths to creativity - and to spirituality
by The Rev. John Billam
When my wife and I enrolled for a painting course we started to look at things differently.
Asked to consider perspective, colour and tones we found ourselves climbing to new levels of awareness as we realised everything we looked at is far more complex than we’d noticed before.
And the differences in our individual perception of the same thing fascinate me too. When we draw or paint I’m impulsive, working quickly, simply and brightly for an impression. My wife puts in far more details and her work is more closely related to what is there.
This is like spirituality. You learn to appreciate the different aspects of how people think about life. It’s like two people approaching a trig point from opposite sides of a hill – they arrive at the same place but their journeys are very different.
Similarly, some try to go from A to B following a straight path. Others move towards their destination but aren’t scared to deviate from the direct path along the way. And although all may arrive in the same area, they may each have a completely different impression of it, or see and inhabit various parts of it.
Spiritually, our approach may different, but we can all still get there, and though in essence we are talking about the same dimension, we may not sense it in the same way.
Christianity is a way – my way – of seeking a spiritual goal. But our society - our whole world - is a multi-cultural place where the definition of spirituality and our spiritual destiny can vary tremendously although we share the same essential faith and longing for goodness and love.
The practises of worship, and awareness of our spirituality, help you see things that perhaps you’ve missed in a very long time, just as painting have helped me see the complex beauty of the world around me.
As in gardening, too – or when ‘in flow’ in any activity, you can get lost in the rhythm and it takes on an almost completely spiritual element.
Even something laborious can transform your way of looking at things.
If you don’t believe in God you can still experience the emotion of feeling there’s something other than you and appreciate your spirituality. I wouldn’t want to claim spirituality for Christians or any other faith – it’s something we all have.
Another thought: Each day when I feel my aches and pains I think “I must go cycling and get fit again,” but the frustrating reality is I can’t do what I could when I was younger. Then I think of St Paul saying our bodies are tents for our spirits, and though there comes a time when the tent is worn out and has to be folded up and put away, the spirit has a continuity that doesn’t end when the body packs up.
We’re unique in our creative power and it has its core in how we experience the world and our spiritual existence.
Once again, we experience this differently. Recently, watching many interviews with survivors interned after V.J. Day, I noticed how some were crushed by the experience which, although they were freed, ruined the rest of their life. But others were able to stand spiritually outside the wretchedness of their captivity and retain a greater sense of what life was all about so that when they were freed they were able to leave the horror largely behind them and enjoy the wonder of life again.
You find this spiritual sense in all those who stand above the crowd and become great leaders.
Winston Churchill believed from a young age that he had a purpose, a destiny.
There is no simple answer to the question “What
is spirituality?” That’s what makes life – and
faith - so colourful.