Intro to Creation

 "There is no greater joy than that of feeling oneself a creator. The triumph of life is expressed by creation." -Henri Bergson 


    For our in class creative activity yesterday, we had to conjure up and reflect on a past experience of creative genius. Immediately, one came to mind. It was probably the most significant instance of such a thing since it happened. 

    It was November 2023. I had just moved to Georgia and was desperate for work. The only place I heard back from in a month was a Publix for a shelf stocking job so I had no choice but to take it. I hated it. I had worked a similar job at Walmart a couple years back and while it isn't hard work, it really isn't the type of work for me. Everything feels so corporate and soulless so I was counting down the minutes to when I got off the moment I had clocked in. To keep myself occupied and make time go by faster, I would spend time trying to come up with stories. I've always enjoyed various types of storytelling and it was just a thought exercise to experiment with different ideas.

    There was one story that was different from the others I came up with though. Normally, I'd think deeply about characters, setting, plot devices and so on but this story felt like it required almost no thought. It started pouring out of me. Unfolding spontaneous in my head. I thought to myself that it must be my idea since its in my head right now but I didn't feel like I was the one thinking it. The whole thing started and finished and I was really into it. Made the time go so fast. Eventually when I was able to sit down and work with it, I realized something. It wasn't until I reflected on what the story was about that I realized the thesis of the story was the answer to a completely unrelated major conflict in my life. It was the answer I needed at the time but it was delivered to me in strange and unassuming form.

    The story had come first and then the revelation. I found it so fascinating that the mind can come up with something so symbolic that the conscious mind doesn't even realize what it was getting at until later. While this has happened before, it still has always had that sense of awe surrounding it. 

    When reflecting on my creative process and similar incidents in the past, I notice that the common theme seems to be that I am always in pretty bad places when I come up with them. It is like a surprise gift I get from myself to remind me that even though things are tough, there is still magic out there and it can completely transform the day. For my picture that I drew in class yesterday, I made a picture of myself in a jail cell and my heart as my cellmate. In the picture, we are laying in our beds and I am listening to what the heart has to say. This is meant to symbolize that when I am doing well, I am always busy and moving and I am not really thinking about things too much. When I get to those dark times though, when I feel like I am stuck in a jail cell, those are the times that I am left with nothing but to listen to my heart. And from that, great things usually come out of it to change my perspective on things.

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