Making the decision to give ourselves permission to find a blissful creative outlet that taps our uniqueness, and then flowing with it, requires both ongoing personal effort and cosmic relaxation, trust and acceptance.

While discussing this book with two relatively recent MBA's at an alumni networking event in New York City, one stated, "I'd like to find some kind of work that I could be passionate about."

I suggested that by merely asking the question, he was already standing on the path to the answer. We talked about duality's one-in-the-sameness, as discussed here in a previous section (acorn versus the oak tree, magnet's north versus south pole).

"We cannot separate problems from solutions. They are one in the same. Accordingly, you would not have the question in your mind if you did not also have the mechanism for the fulfillment of its expression/solution," I added.

He replied, "Okay, but lets say I'm an acorn and I want to be an oak tree, but instead I get eaten by a squirrel. I don't want to be eaten by a squirrel, I want to be an oak tree." We both smiled and laughed gently. I tried to explain that perhaps by becoming squirrel food, one might be deposited as squirrel droppings near a growing oak tree and thus become absorbed into its cells as part of a larger glorious oak tree expression.

This brought us into a discussion about cosmic relaxation, trust and acceptance, which comes from alignment with Divine plan/will, e.g., "Thy will be done..."

Consider these three cosmic references from Albert Einstein: 1) "All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. All these aspirations are directed toward ennobling man's life, lifting it from the sphere of mere physical existence and leading the individual towards freedom." 2) "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." 3) "Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish."

This fool has always gotten a kick out of people who say, "I don't believe in God." As I've tried to point out, belief is a relative thing, and my ego is not that big where I'd have the nerve to discount "the things I don't even know that I don't even know about."

The reality is that I can speculate about cosmic connections, but I really don't know. I feel, I hope, I suspect, and I'd like to think I know, but ...

I once heard a saying about how not believing in God was equivalent to believing that Webster's dictionary was a result of a random explosion in a printing shop. Having been a printer and knowing how difficult it is to get things to turn out right when everybody is trying hard, let alone by accident, lack of randomness really resonates with me.

The danger in relative beliefs is comparable to talking to people a hundred years ago about putting a cup of water in a box and two minutes later it comes out boiling, or crossing the country in six hours. Most people would have laughed at such concepts. Today we take microwave ovens and jet travel as commonplace.

On an absolute level, the concept of creativity begs the notion of a cosmic creator, a creative force behind it all. Regardless of who you ascribe to as the natural world's Creative Author (e.g., God, Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Mother Nature, Alien Trash, Big Bangs), we all witness abundance in every natural category. Not one kind of fish, but zillions-and-zillions of shapes, sizes, colors, patterns and more. Just when we thought we knew 'em all, we learn to dive deeper into the oceans and are struck with new findings, or archeologists uncover evidence of species long since gone from this time/space/juncture.

I am not going to try to persuade anybody that there is one set of belief's that is more true than another. What I am going to try to do is inspire you to make room to co-create with the Source, however you may define it, whenever pursuing creativity.

Back to Einstein, "The finest emotion of which we are capable is the mystic emotion. Herein lies the germ of all art and all true science. Anyone to whom this feeling is alien, who is no longer capable of wonderment and lives in a state of fear, is a dead man. To know that what is impenetrable for us really exists and manifests itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, whose gross forms alone are intelligible to our poor faculties - this knowledge, this feeling ... that is the core of the true religious sentiment. In this sense, and in this sense alone, I rank myself among profoundly religious men."

He continues, "The cosmic religious experience is the strongest and noblest driving force behind scientific research. No one who does not appreciate the terrific exertions and, above all, the devotion without which pioneer creations in scientific thought cannot come into being, can judge the strength of the feeling out of which alone such work, turned away as it is from immediate practical life, can grow. What a deep faith in the rationality of the world and its structure and what a longing to understand even the smallest glimpses of the reason revealed in the world there must have been in Kepler and Newton ..."

I have heard artist after artist confess that somehow in the silence they have been inspired. Pop singer/songwriter Tori Amos, during a Charlie Rose interview, confided that she dances with the co-creative force knowing that at any time this force can say, "I'm done with her. Next!"

This issue of God was settled over three hundred years ago by French mathematician, philosopher, and scientist, Blaise Pascal (1623-1662). He was famous for inventions like the calculating machine, the barometer, the hydraulic press, and the syringe. Gambling was all the rage during his time. Accordingly, Pascal could prove the existence of God via a bet, and thus offered his famous "wager."

"If you bet that there is a God, and you are right, you gain everything; if you bet that there is a God, and you are wrong, you lose nothing; if you bet that there is no God, and you are right, you gain nothing; if you bet that there is no God, and you are wrong, you lose everything. Thus, given the consequences of possible infinite gain against possible infinite loss, preoccupation with thoughts of God is prudent."

Once I read about a person who had an after-death experience. She was on the other side talking with representatives of The Upper Management Team when the Managers communicated, "Everyone on this planet is a spiritual hero because in a preexistence we all chose to come to this planet and co-create with our Creator - in essence we agreed to come down, roll up our sleeves and get busy."

I really like this concept. I can see how a whole bunch of us were gazing down on the planet and elbowing our Creator and saying, "Hey, why is this going on?" Meanwhile, our Creator is busy running a universe and turns to us and comments, "Hey I'd appreciate any contributions you are willing/able to provide." After all, anyone can point out the obvious, but it takes muscle to dig in and make it happen. That's the funny thing about this plane as we know it, to get an object moved from point A to point B requires effort.

Creativity is a gift on loan from the Source. Much like the uniqueness of snowflakes, each of us is embedded with a unique creative gift that is unrivaled by any others who ever were or ever will be. Yet, like my MBA friend, it is our responsibility to discover this gift and then implement it.

Even after we have found our gifts, we still have to get the "sequence" right. Kind of like having all the numbers with which to unlock a safe but not knowing the proper order of the numbers. We need both, numbers and sequence, to get the safe to open and reach the treasure inside.

Exploring where one's gift lay hidden takes courage to succeed. It is much easier to sit in a chair and complain than to face rejection, ridicule, and loneliness, and plug away at something. Even then, any time we are filled with self doubt or self pity, just remember that we are being selfish on a relative level.

"But how do I make money?" the other MBA stated with respect to following his path. "The key is in service. The degree we serve is the degree we grow our creative outlets. If you focus on serving your customers, the money will follow," I replied.

Consider these two thoughts from Albert Einstein, 1) "Study and, in general, the pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all of our lives. He who finds a thought that lets us even a little deeper into the eternal mystery of nature has been granted great grace." and 2) "There comes a time when the mind takes a higher plane of knowledge but can never prove how it got there. All great discoveries have involved such a leap. The important thing is not to stop questioning."

So here's the chapter's summary. If you're looking for creative passion, you are halfway there. Just make sure you leave room for the Source to work with you.

PS - The only difference between comic and cosmic is the insertion of an S, as in self passionately aligned with the cosmos.   top