Stoke that Engine!

 

Creative Fantasy

“All the works of man have their origin in creative fantasy. What right have we then to depreciate imagination.”

Carl Jung (“Modern Man in Search of a Soul”, p. 67, Psychology Press, 2001)

          I have never been to the Sistine Chapel in Rome, but I have seen photographs of some of the ceiling panels. Perhaps the most famous one is called, “Creation of Adam,” and features a gorgeous, muscular, young, white man reclining on a bank of earth, hand outstretched toward an old, equally white, man God, with white hair and white beard being carried by winged cherubs across the sky. His arm is outstretched with his finger almost touching Adam’s. Now, we know from archeology that the first humans lived in caves in southern Africa, and were not, in anyone’s imagination, lily white and sensuously muscular. The images of Adam and God in the Sistine Chapel came directly from Michelangelo’s imagination. Think how they have impacted the human world ever since.

          Carl Jung said that the creative mind “plays with the objects it loves.” Michelangelo studied human physiology and anatomy by dissecting corpses at the convent hospital where he lived and by drawing living human models. These were the objects that he loved, and he used them in his forevermore famous paintings in the Sistine Chapel and elsewhere. He had no idea of the impact they would have on humanity for thousands of years.

          Intellect plays a role in the actions of creative people, but not in the formation of images and ideas. That comes from looking within and following through with what you see and hear. I remember, for instance, Lonnie Holley, who was called the “Sand Man”, because his early art was made from discarded casting molds used for pouring liquid steel in the forges around Birmingham. Those molds were made from sand. Whereas most people would simply see a pile of burned black rubble, Holly’s creative imagination saw sculpture. All his work was made from gathered objects found on his rambles. Now some of them are in the Smithsonian.

          Imagination is the engine of creativity. Our world simply would not exist without it. If you have a creative child, or are yourself creative, stoke that engine. If you can, provide whatever is needed for that creativity to flourish. These are the engineers and problem solvers of today and tomorrow. We need them.

          I ran across a quote from Jung this morning that I had never seen before. It’s for all you folks who swear that there isn’t a creative bone in your bodies. “But if you have nothing at all to create, then perhaps you create yourself.” Perhaps, indeed.

                                        In the Spirit,

                                        Jane