WHAT BOX?
I recently came across a couple of excellent talks given on the subject of creativity. I would like to highlight one here and I will touch on the other one another time. this talk was given by an Author called Amy Tan, she wrote a book called ‘The Joy Luck Club’ that i think became a film and seems VERY highly acclaimed. She funny and interesting, and I have no doubt it might make some of you squirm, but after you watch it, I will say a couple things…
Things I liked:
OBSERVER EFFECT. - I have experienced this, I have spent so long analysing and unpacking something I am creating for its meaning, to make sure that the meaning is clear - that it looses its ‘edge’ it becomes somewhat anemic. It is no longer interesting but more formal somehow or even just bland and cognitive. Amy said that if you try too hard to to figure out what its about all you are left with is the ABOUT and you never ‘discover’ anything. I feel this is what I have known of Christianity, and why so many people find it so hard to ‘hear God’ because we are too focused on the ‘about’ or the doctrine, or the theology, that we lose the ability to explore, and therefore discover God’s voice.
COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT. - This is what she called that strange experience she has when she feels that the ‘universe’ is helping her. she gave some examples of it with her writing, esspessially the guy stacking rocks! amazing. But I cant help but wonder, is she just so good at discovering, that she has a honed eye? I think so, I think she has learned to hear God, she doesn’t know it, but He is there in everything, and we have been so ensconced in our LEARNING, that we have lost the ability to discover.
Its this ‘help form the universe’ that particularily interests me, esspessially in the field of the creative. I feel we, in our western world, can be so dismissive of these types of people. I think maybe some of us probably thought she was some bohemian hippie type right? And yet she is having these experiences, and I wonder, whats going on? Some of us are Christians and we have a really hard time understanding what Amy might be expressing. We feel we want to say that its God or The Holy Spirit, but we cant quite get there cos our heads tell us that she isn’t a christian, so it cant be, so it must be something ‘else’. But what if it is God. I think it might be. I think that God is the biggest artist/creative ever! and that he isn’t scared to reveal himself to whoever wants to see. maybe he is thrilled to show himself to anyone who wants to FEEL. I think its fascinating that Art is such a huge part of any society. in fact it has so much to do with the creation of that society. it runs deep in the very heart of it. And for that reason I think God is VERY interested in it. So I think that for Amy here, God is in on this, because he is weaving himself throughout the innards of our society. This is important We need artists, and we need artists to be hearing God, regardless if it fits our understanding of what that means. Another thing Amy said was…
WHO AM I?. - She asked this question, and basically wanted to know how and why she creates. he simple answer was ‘to ask questions’ to not be so locked down with AN answer but to explore it, to think that its not finished that its only PART of the answer as this will allow us to discover more. This is why she is so astute. There is a saying that has recently got under my skin and I now hate it with a passion - “Thinking outside the box” good grief just typing it has made me itchy with rage!!!! (hahaha) here is why I hate it. We use it when someone does something creative or different. we say they thought outside the box. or we say we should be more creative and ‘We need to think outside the box more. well I really want to know - WHAT IS THE BOX? we are so logical and safe that even pour creativity has to have some strange boundary, even if its something to stand on in order to be creative. And we think it cute to say that God is the ultimate ‘outside the box’ thinker - YUK! the only box there is, if it indeed can be called a box is GOD, God works and moves depending on himself motivated by himself and for his own self. He works within the framework of GOD - himself. He doesn’t think outside the box, there is no box, there is just God. But we create boxes. We call them things like GOD or LOVE or GRACE, we actually put these boxes in other boxes and call them DOCTRINE or THEOLOGY. We even have a box called GRACE and that box tells us that legalistic stuff is bad BUT it has struck me that grace by its very definition is a box exploder. How can we be gracious when we are doing it according to the box that is labeled GRACE? well I don’t know about you but I can’t I can only do it in the context of GOD, and I cant KNOW God if I cant FEEL him, and I cant FEEL him if I just learn the boxes. We have the bible, but its not a blueprint, its not a manual its not a box, it is God showing us how we can feel him and experience his grace and therefore be that to others. It is the bible that says that we are to be like children, well I think you can all agree that children DO NOT live according to boxes!!!! until we set them straight and we TEACH them all about boxes!
FEELING. - Amy also pointed out how important it is as a creative to FEEL and that that feeling experience is what makes us compassionate. Grace, Compassion, Mercy all spring form LOVE, they cant exist without it, LOVE springs from GOD God IS Love, it cant exist without him. And what do we know about God, well who in this world can ever say they have God figured out?
So lets destroy the box, and maybe we might be able to see/hear/feel God. Maybe some of us Christians it might be the first time ever, or maybe it will be a deeper dive down into an experience we have already been having. Maybe for those that do not call themselves Christians or even might be more likely to be atheistic I urge you to consider as you look around and as you to see/hear/feel things happening, call them coincidence, call it luck whatever you want, I do urge you consider that it might be God you don’t have to be part of the box world we call Christianity to experience God, and I suspect that you have already been experiencing Him - well its possible right?
Matthew 18:3 (The Message)
2-5For an answer Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, and said, “I’m telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you’re not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God’s kingdom. What’s more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it’s the same as receiving me.
THERE IS NO BOX!
