Many different qualities characterize a person's life: how kind or unkind they are, how hard they work, and things beyond their control, like where they're born and to whom. One crucial quality is often overlooked by others: how actively creative a person is.
Being actively creative is a life path, not a hobby. It's the choice to try to change the things you don't like, to face the risk that you will fail but go on anyway, to make stuff your way instead of always just settling for what's offered to you. Active creativity has to be a choice because your whole self is involved--will, personality, quirks, faults, talents, luck.
The stories of tragic geniuses who hurt themselves or those around them show us that it's quite possible for someone to be creative in a single area of their life, for example in using a talent they were born with, yet still be operating habitually in other areas. Operating habitually, or driven by impulse, is passive, not active, and often destructive.
The insight that inspired Actively Creative is this: where we are not active and creative, we are victims of luck and circumstance. For me, active creativity is a great way to live with will and purpose. Being actively creative means reaching out to the world and engaging with it. Only out there, in the real world that surrounds us, can we actively be ourselves.
Being actively creative is a life path, not a hobby. It's the choice to try to change the things you don't like, to face the risk that you will fail but go on anyway, to make stuff your way instead of always just settling for what's offered to you. Active creativity has to be a choice because your whole self is involved--will, personality, quirks, faults, talents, luck. The stories of tragic geniuses who hurt themselves or those around them show us that it's quite possible for someone to be creative in a single area of their life, for example in using a talent they were born with, yet still be operating habitually in other areas. Operating habitually, or driven by impulse, is passive, not active, and often destructive.
The insight that inspired Actively Creative is this: where we are not active and creative, we are victims of luck and circumstance. For me, active creativity is a great way to live with will and purpose. Being actively creative means reaching out to the world and engaging with it. Only out there, in the real world that surrounds us, can we actively be ourselves.
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