I’m continuing to follow the new installments of Conservative Estimate, the recently founded website that is devoted to demolishing Conservatism.
Yesterday, Alfred George set out a simple approach to freeing ourselves from our fears and becoming more creative.
Today he discusses the relationship between Creativity and Happiness.
Join me over the orange-colored ribbons for his post from today.
The following is reposted from today’s Conservative Estimate blog with the express permission of Mr. Alfred George.
Today Mr. George writes as follows:
Yesterday we laid out a simple two-step plan for enhance freedom and creativity in your life.
Today we will discuss the link between creativity and happiness. The bottom line is: you cannot be fulfilled if you are not creative in some way. And the more creative you are, the more fulfilled you are.
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Creativity and Happiness
Humans can’t be happy unless they are fulfilled. And they can’t be fulfilled without creating, without seeking out new ideas, fixing them in mind, and working out ways to bring these new ideas into reality. You don’t have to be a genius to do this. People can create with gardening, by playing games, sports, or musical instruments, or by practicing innumerable hobbies. The person who has no creative outlet lives a life of diminished freedom, because we are freest when we are creating.
It’s sad to think how many lives are wasted because people don’t know this secret. Even in an affluent in society like that of the United States, the vast majority of people live their lives vicariously by trying to absorb the creative activity of others. They immerse themselves in entertainment, in spectator sports, in reading, in having pre-packaged experiences—in short, they spend their time consuming. They wouldn’t have to do this if they spent just a little time creating something in their own lives, even if it was just a new way to behave.
If you’d like a more theological explanation of why human beings must create in order to fulfill themselves, Dorothy Sayers provided it in The Mind of the Maker, a book first published in the 1940s. (Dorothy Sayers, The Mind of the Maker [New York: HarperOne, 1987].) Sayers believed that where the Bible speaks of man being created in the image of God, it means that humans were made to be creators like Him. If that is so, then it stands to reason that refusing to exercise the capacity that makes us most like God will frustrate us, and lead to an unhappy existence for us.
So by aligning yourself with creativity, that is, with the Force of the future, you also prepare yourself for happiness, that is, a life full of creative activity that will be a continual solace, joy, and wonder to you, to your loved ones, and to the human community.
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Tomorrow we have one more word to say about the crucial importance of Creativity for anyone who wants to be free of the Major Myths of Conservatism, and who wants to live in a world that is no longer hobbled by the conservative mindset.
Until tomorrow, then.
I'll return with Mr. George’s next installment tomorrow.