the way before us: creativity or “death-bringing”

I picked up the book Creativity by Matthew Fox to pour over it a second time.  His subtitle is "Where the Divine and Human Meet" - it's at this point of creativity, for Fox, that we've been made.  I find the idea quite intriguing.  Creativity---seeing life emerge in our way of living, in our expression, in our work, in our sons and daughters, that this is the essence of the ikon of God humanity carries.

He builds his case for creativity in the first chapter by stating what humanity is not (via negativa):

We are not consumers - for most of our existence humanity has been makers not consumers.

We are not addicts - we have exchanged our interior expression for external dictatorships.

We are not passive -

"It is not the essence of the human to be passive.  We are players.  We are actors on many stages.  We initiate contacts, ideas, movements, inventions, babies, institutions, sport, exercise, relationships of all kinds.  We are curious, we are yearning to wonder, we are longing to be amazed, we are eager to grow, to learn, to be excited, to be enthusiastic, to be expressive.  In short, to be alive.  Passivity is a sign of sickness, of weakness, of dying." Matthew Fox, Creativity

We are not boring - wonder, beauty, and life can be seen everywhere in us.

We need not be bored -

"If we are alive and interacting with all the marvel of daily existence, if we are learning how others, living and deceased, related to the marvel of existence, then we will not be bored.  We will not be reduced to depression where we have no energy to begin new things." - Matthew Fox

We are not cogs in a machine - the modern era left us with the notion that the universe is a machine. Meaninglessness, numbness, isolation, coldness, sterility, and dysfunction choke out creativity.

We are not destroyers - We often choose to destroy, but this is a choice.  Our imaginations are so powerful, we can either create or destroy.

"What is before us is the power of creativity--it is a life-and-death power.  What is also before us is choice: It is a daily choice, an everyday choice, one that arises in all our relations from parenting to grandparenting, from work worlds to educational ones, from religion to economics, business, politics, and citizenship in all its forms.  It affects what we eat and what we throw away; how we live and what we choose to say no to.  This is the power of creativity.  'Creativity' may be the nearest one-word definition we possess for the essence of our humanity, for the true meaning of 'soul.'"

After reading Fox's thoughts - I can't help but ask myself - What affect/effect is awareness having in me/us? What is being birthed?  What way of life is emerging beyond this life of addiction, consumption, boredom, and passivity?

Read Deuteronomy 30 - do you see this contrast of life and death - creativity or "death-bringing"?

How do you react to Fox's attempt to wake us up from the slumber that quiets creativity?